Alexandre Aja Talks PIRANHA 3D - Will be Converted in Post

Michael here. ShockTillYouDrop.com visited the set of Piranha 3D and came back with an in-depth interview with director Alexandre Aja.

It's a very good read. Among other things, Aja discusses his decision to convert in post instead of shooting the film in 3D:

Shock: What 3-D process are you using for this film?

Aja: It's very bizarre because we started the process by talking about using the new system that James Cameron used [for Avatar]. I realized along the way that those cameras were forcing me, first, to shoot in HD and then there were too many technical parameters that were not good. So, we heard about a new technique they were developing that nobody really used before which is the conversion. The conversion is more expensive, much more work in post-production. You're basically shooting the movie in the traditional way thinking 3-D and then the whole movie would be converted by computer. The camera in 35mm is shooting all of us here and then the computer is going to modelize each of us in 3-D and inside the computer you're going to screen, you're going to project the image on the 3-D model and you create that space and that whole style. It's very complicated. I was kind of like, "Oh, it's impossible it's not going to feel natural," and I saw 20 minutes of King Kong being converted and it's the best thing I've ever seen. When I see 20 minutes of that, I mean, I don't understand why the studio is not finishing the movie and releasing the movie again in 3-D. It's the best, best, best, best. I've also seen stuff from The Matrix and from Star Wars, the original.

Shock: Whoa. They're just converting it for 3-D?

Aja: Yeah, it's unbelievable. It's not like black and white convert in color where you see that it's stained and it's not natural. It's amazing, there is no word. It was great for us because we are shooting for real on cinemascope anamorphic on film, shooting it as a normal movie. So, it's much faster and we have a full control on the 3-D. Without being presumptuous, I think the 3-D experience on Piranha is going to be the best one that's ever made.

Head over to ShockTillYouDrop.com for the full interview.

What do you think of Aja's decision not to shoot in 3D? I'm expecting that some big budget live-action movies will be announced for 3D soon - and I hope at least some are shot that way.