James Cameron Podcast & More News from "Produced By"!

UPDATE 06/08/09 - I was asked by a PGA public relations representative to please take down the audio.  I am complying.

Hi, Michael here with a podcast of James Cameron's "Seeing the Future In 3D" panel that took place this morning at the inaugural Produced By conference.  Once again, I was lucky to get in.  As is always the case, Cameron is a fascinating listen.  I am grateful that he chooses to share his thoughts and experiences, and feel privileged to hear him speak with such depth and passion about the stereo technology he helped will into existence.  In the session he delves deeply into the nuances of the technology, artistic techniques, economics, and potential future of stereo filmmaking.

This is a must listen: 

::AUDIO REMOVED AT REQUEST OF "PRODUCED BY" MEDIA RELATIONS::

The audio quality is fuzzy (something to do with the ambient noise in the room I would imagine), but not hard to make out if you turn the volume up.  Headphones and a quiet room also help a lot.

Some new pieces of info:

-Cameron said that he has "officially shipped all our turnovers to the various effects vendors."

 -WETA is doing "well over 100 minutes of pure photoreal CG for the film", and ILM is doing a large number of shots as well.  Plus a few well respected smaller effects vendors.

-They are "out of the woods" in regards to the effects, and are "on good track to be there on December 18.  I get to breathe again, and get to do cool things like today.  I feel like I've been in a cave for a year."

-Real D President and Co-Founder Joshua Greer told us that the tally of Real-D screens will be 3227 screens worldwide by the time Ice Age 3 releases, (and about 4000 including other 3D systems).  By Avatar's release, he expects 5000 Real D screens, and 6000 to 7000 including competitors.

Other news from Day 1 of Produced By:

1) A nearly finished sequence from Roland Emmerich's epic disaster movie 2012 was previewed during the "Collaborative Proccess of Visual Effects: From Previs to Post" panel.  The sequence takes place during a 10.5 magnitude earthquake, following a family as they escape their collapsing house and drive into a city whilst dodging falling skyscrapers, tumbling highways, and giant pillars of earth that rise from the ground.  The surface ripples and cracks as huge waves of seismic force wreak havoc on everything.  The visual effects in this sequence are astounding, and the scale of what is happening is massive.  The team studied in detail how various structures, trees, etc would react to such a 10.5 quake, and the results are apparent in how scary and real the footage seems.

2) 3ality Digital Systems founder & CEO Steve Schklair told me that he was recently down in New Zealand shooting 3D test footage with Peter Jackson.  Of course, Steve was mum on what project the test footage was for.  But the following was made clear to me - Peter Jackson's next directorial effort will be in 3D!

I'll be back at the conference tomorrow for Day 2, where I will be talking further with Schklair, as well as attending panels on 3D Stereoscopic Production and Motion/Performance Capture technology.

Thanks very much to the PGA and the Produced By organizers for putting on such an educational and exciting event.