Mary Blair: Everyone's Favorite Disney Concept Artist

Walt Disney has always been a leader in the animation world. From the first flickering images of his Laugh-o-Grams in the early 1920s to the creation of Micky Mouse in 1928 to the first full length animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Disney has been a pioneer in this unique form of entertainment (Visit this site to read a fascinating article on "The Building of the Disney Studio" from a 1939 publication of Valley Progress).

Hurter working on Pinocchio

The first Concept Artist hired by Disney was Albert Hurter. He joined the team in 1931, at the age of 48. His job was as Disney's first inspirational sketch artist, where he would design characters for the animators to then bring to life, since his talent lay in his "ability lay in humorous exaggeration and the humanizing of inanimate objects." He was the "spark that kept others inspired" (They Drew as They Pleased: The Hidden Art of Disney's Golden Age - The 1930s. Didier Ghez). Other "inspirational artists" were hired to work with Hurter, including Bill Peet who stayed on for several decades, but Hurter had the final say and was the one Walt Disney went to to draw and approve the concept art for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). During his decade working at Disney, until his death in 1942, Hurter worked on many of the Silly Symphonies as well as the feature-length Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo, and The Reluctant Dragon. Some of his sketches would be used many years later in Peter Pan and Lady and the Tramp. To learn more about Hurter, there is an excellent post here. The book mentioned above is also a great source (linked below).

Sketch by Hurter

Mary Blair joined Disney in 1940, along with her husband, Lee Blair. Born Mary Browne Robinson in Oklahoma on the twenty-first of October, 1911, Mary and her family moved to San Jose. As they were poor, Mary had to work very hard to realize her dream as an artist. She earned a scholarship to the Chouinard School of Art (later the California School of Watercolor). It was there she met and married Lee Blair.

 

After graduation in 1933, the Depression was in full swing, meaning that a job as a fine art watercolorist was out of the question. She worked for a time as a barmaid and later got a job at Ub Iwerks Studio as a cell painter.

1940 found her working as a concept artist at the famous Walt Disney Studios, working on such films as Saludos Amigos (1942) and The Three Caballeros (1944), both part of the U.S. "Good Neighbor" policy with South America (click here to see tons of photos from Disney's trip to South America with his artists, including Blair). It was on this trip that Blair's art took on it's distinctive look that had previously been lacking and launched her as an artist worth having at Walt Disney Studios. Before she went, Blair’s style had been "sturdy, fluid, and earthy"—lots of browns and blues and grays, but...

...the artwork that she produced on the trip–stunning, colorful, occasionally geometric, graphic, and modern–speaks for itself. She observed everyday South American life (a woman with a baby on her back, carrying a small basket of chickens; the way huts and homes made fascinating jagged patterns when aligned next to each other) and turned it into something dynamic and evocative. She didn’t emphasize the culture’s otherness or try to glamorize its exoticism. Instead, she found the inner beauty present in each passing moment. “She went inside herself to find how it felt, more than how it looked, and brilliantly communicated her emotions through imagery,” Canemaker notes. Even if you’ve never been to South America, you can look at Blair’s illustrations from the period and get a real sense of what it is like (source).

 

   

 

World War II was raging at the time and like all of the movie studios in Hollywood, Disney too did it's part, releasing an extremely diverse range of films that otherwise might never have been made. It was during this time that Blair was able to experiment and hone in on her unique style and flair for colors.

She was the first artist I knew to have different shades of red next to each other.

~ Frank Thomas

In 1950, Cinderella was released. Blair's concept drawings for the film are  "jaw-dropping without being showy" and had a "delicate, almost greeting card fashion." And while the angular characters that appeared in her sketches didn't make it into the final film, the overall feel and colors remain.

Blair's style is definitely apparent in Alice in Wonderland (1951), Lewis Carroll's whimsical tale of a little girl that dreams up a "world of her own."

Blair’s brand of colorful whimsy, upside-down conceptualizations, and angular sense of geography was not only essential to the film’s lengthy pre-production phase but much of it (in a modified sense) actually wound up in the finished movie. In a way, it was a movie made up entirely of the abandoned dream sequences she had devised for Cinderella (source).

Peter Pan (1953), Blair's last feature-length film at Disney, also ended up looking different than the artists original sketches. However, her mark can still be seen:

... her style took on an almost collage-like aesthetic; bold, chunky, with deep shadows and high contrast. While less of her work made it into the finished film, it certainly informed the way the movie looked, particularly in its color schemes and use of lighting. Mermaid Lagoon, Skull Rock, the mischievous pixie that is Tinker Bell, these are all 100% Mary Blair (source).

 

In 1953, Blair left Disney Studios to pursue her own career. In the following years, she illustrated Golden Books as well as "scarves and dresses for Lord & Taylor, designs for Radio City Music Hall holiday spectaculars, paper sculptures for the Bonwit Teller strorefront windows on New York's 5th Avenue, television commercials for toothpaste and ice cream, illustrations for greeting cards, and advertisements for Nabisco, Johnson & Johnson and Maxwell House Coffee" (source).

 

     

Mary Blair Golden Books

 

Walt greatly missed Blair and made a promise to himself when it came to his next concept artist:

“For years I have been hiring artists like Mary Blair to design the styling of a feature, and by the time the picture is finished, there is hardly a trace of the original styling left,” Walt said. So he made a steadfast commitment: Sleeping Beauty, the studio’s first attempt at an animated fairy tale since Cinderella (this time utilizing 70mm film projection and an exaggerated widescreen frame), would really stick to Earle’s style. And it did.

 

Blair wasn't through at Disney though. In 1963, Walt called her back to have her design the famous It's a Small World display for the United Nations Children’s Fund pavilion, part of the 1964 World's Fair.

 

 

Sadly, after Walt's death in 1966, art opportunities for Blair also ended. She was told that her art, once cutting edge, was no longer modern enough. She died of a cerebral hemorrhage on July 26, 1978, at the age of 66.

My favorite Blair sketches: Cinderella & Peter Pan

 

Mary Blair may be gone, but her artwork lives on, in the films she helped design, in her books, and in her artistic contributions to Disneyland. I could spend hours looking at her sketches which, thanks to the internet, are available by just typing her name. There are also books celebrating her contribution to the animation world.

The Art and Flair of Mary Blair

(Magic Color Flair insides video - slightly different from above book)

Cinderella

 

Alice in Wonderland

 

Peter Pan

South of the Border with Disney

              

              

Sources (click on the underlined words in the post for bonus material):

     They Drew as They Pleased: The Hidden Art of Disney's Golden Age - The 1930s. Didier Ghez. 2015. Disney Enterprises.

     Animation Resources - Design: Two Disney Concept Artists

     Filmic Light - Albert Hurter - Walt Disney's First Inspirational Sketch Artist

     Animation Resources - Biography: Mary Blair

     Huffington Post - One of Disney's Most Influential Female Artists Finally Gets Her Due. 2014.

     A True Contemporary: The Life and Work of Mary Blair

     Magic of Mary Blair - Official Website

     The Walt Disney Family Museum: The Latin America Tour

     Modernist Cute: Mary Blair’s Art For ‘Dumbo,’ Golden Books, ‘It’s A Small World’

Additional Sources:

     Filmic Light - Albert Hurter "He Drew As He Pleased"

     Animation Resources - Mary Blair (links to scans of books)

     Sullivan Goss: Mary Blair

     The Woman Behind the Curtain: Mary Blair at the Walt Disney Family Museum

     California Watercolor: Mary Blair Biography

     Los Colores de Mary Blair video

     Disney Artist's Tryout Book - fascinating!

     Deja View: Dalmatian Art

     How Walt Disney Brought The Jungle Book to the Big Screen

This post is part of the Classic Movie History Project Blogathon focusing on the System (How movies are made) hosted by Movies Silently, the Films (the movies themselves) hosted by Silver Screenings, and the People (the folks who made the movies) hosted by Once Upon a Screen.

Day 1: The Studios & the Publicity Dept.

Day 2: The Production Code & the Magic of Animation

Day 3: The Groundbreakers & Before They Were Stars

Day 4: The Technical Dept. & the Wardrobe Dept.

Day 5: Movie Disasters & the Wonderful World of Color

Day 6: The Family Business & a Foreign Affair

ALICE IN WONDERLAND Joining Top Movies Of All Time: Passing $1B This Week!!

ALICE IN WONDERLAND is poised to enter the realm of $1 billion blockbusters! Disney has hit the jackpot with Tim Burton's 2D to 3D conversion and will have raked in 10 figures as of this week (most likely Thursday).

As of today, AIW has gathered $332m domestically and $665m overseas to bring about a near tidy sum of $997m! Its widest release was 3739 theaters and it still remains in 411.

Only AVATAR ($2.73b), TITANIC ($1.8b), THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING ($1.1b), PIRATES OF THE CARRIBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST ($1.1b) and THE DARK KNIGHT ($1b) have hit the $1b plateau - so it is indeed quite a feat.

Of course, 3D played another huge role in this success story and ALICE is the second highest grossing 3D movie of all time (Fox's ICE AGE: DAWN OF THE DINOSAURS is third with $887m and Pixar's UP is in fourth with $731m).

This one tiptoed up on me! I knew it was doing very well, but what a pleasant surprise to see it top $1 billion. When 3D conversion is done right, it can be very appealing. It may be some time before we see near native 3D quality, but ALICE IN WONDERLAND was done right given today's abilities. Congratulations Disney!

Rundown of All the S3D Stuff Happening at NAB 2010!

Michael here with a rundown of the S3D stuff happening at NAB in April. The show will be filled with S3D educational sessions and high profile speakers such as Vince Pace, Steve Schklair, Barry Sandrew, Chuck Comisky, Buzz Hays and many more luminaries from all corners of the S3D world.

The Digital Cinema Summit on Saturday and Sunday is entirely dedicated to all aspects of S3D, and on Monday and Tuesday there will be even more sessions, including ones on the makings of Alice in Wonderland, How to Train Your Dragon, and Hubble 3D:

Check out the schedule below:

Digital Cinema Summit - Saturday & Sunday:

Saturday, April 10

Understanding Stereopsis and 3D Image Capture
Saturday, 04/10/2010 8:45am - 9:45am
Room S222

This session will provide a review of how the human visual system perceives depth, and the fundamentals of stereoscopic imaging. In addition, common techniques for live 3D image capture using stereoscopic camera rigs will be explained, including benefits and pitfalls, and a variety of 3D capture tools will be demonstrated. Other topics will include imaging parameters such as the setting of interaxial distance (baseline) and convergence, plus causes of eyestrain in improperly crafted 3D images. Finally, factors such as hyperstereo, divergence and accommodation will be explained and demonstrated.

Speaker(s):

Peter Lude, Senior Technology Executive, Sony Electronics
Steve Schklair, CEO, 3ality Digital Systems LLC.

3D Programming: Lessons Learned
Saturday, 04/10/2010 10:00am - 11:00am
Room S222

Stereoscopic motion imaging is fundamentally different than 2D. To be most effective, the 3D production crew will take a different approach to depth of field, camera positions, zoom moves, intercutting and graphic compositing. In this session, we'll hear from pioneering 3D content producers to learn what factors must be considered in planning high-quality 3D coverage of different program genres.

Moderator(s):

Al Barton, Consultant, Freelance Digital

Panelist(s):

Pierre de Lespinois, Co-Founder, Evergreen Films
Thomas Edwards, VP, Digital Television Testing & Evaluation, FOX

3D Conversion
Saturday, 04/10/2010 11:00am - 12:00pm
Room S222

With the recent announcements of multiple 3DTV channels in U.S., Asia and Europe, will there be enough natively-captured 3D content? Many content producers are investigating if it is feasible to convert existing 2D material to stereoscopic 3D. Others are considering shooting new programs in 2D and then converting to 3D, versus natively-capturing in 3D. Is real-time 3D conversion a viable option or are humans needed to make the creative adjustments to create acceptable 3D images? This panel will discuss various issues related to 3D conversion from the point of view of content producers, distributors and 3D conversion experts.

Moderator(s):

Brad Collar, Vice President, Technology, Warner Bros.

Speaker(s):

Barry Sandrew, Ph.D, Founder and President/COO, Legend3-D, A Legend Films Company
Chris Alexander, Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications & Publicity, Twentieth Century Fox Television
Chris Yewdall, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, DDD USA, Inc.
Warren Littlefield, President, The Littlefield Company

A Case for Quality in Production and Post-Production
Saturday, 04/10/2010 2:30pm - 3:15pm
Room S222

This panel focuses on the creation of high-quality 3D in broadcast, feature film and other production types. Discussion will cover all aspects of production and post-production that relate to the creation of a comfortable stereoscopic viewing experience. It will also include specific areas of the creative side that contribute to the highest quality 3D possible, while minimizing discomfort and eye strain. Demonstrations provided.

Speaker(s):

Buzz Hays, Executive Stereoscopic 3D Producer, 3D Technology Center, Sony Corporation of America

After the Capture: What Other Tools Exist?
Saturday, 04/10/2010 3:30pm - 4:30pm
Room S222

The post-production workflow has to be modified to handle 3-D. What tools exist for editorial, color correction, adjusting depth, placement of overlays/captions/menus? What quality assurance guidelines methods exist for assessing consumer comfort (including children)?

Moderator(s):

Jim Whittlesey, Sr. Vice President, Technology, Deluxe Digital Media

Speaker(s):

Howard Postley, COO/CTO, 3ality Digital Systems LLC
Matthew DeJohn, VP/VFX Producer, In-Three Inc.
Peter Postma, FilmLight
Steve Owen, Director of Worldwide Marketing, Quantel

Stereography and Storytelling
Saturday, 04/10/2010 4:30pm - 5:30pm
Room S222

For many producers, 3D imaging has become an exciting tool to enhance the creative process of story-telling. Given the projects that have been done to date in movies, TV, and games, what can we learn from cinematographers and directors on what really enhances the story-telling and what detracts from the story-telling?

Moderator(s):

Rob Engle, 3-D Visual Effects Supervisor, Sony Pictures Imageworks

Speaker(s):

Chuck Comisky
Eric Kurland, Independent filmmaker/3-D enthusiast, 3-DIY.com

Sunday, April 11

Digital Cinema (including 3D) Roll-out: A Status Report
Sunday, 04/11/2010 8:45am - 9:45am
Room S222

Penetration flattened in 2008/2009 for a variety of reasons. 3D emerged as one of the strongest influencers in continued purchase of digital projectors. This session will assess the expectations and reationale for digital cinema deployment for 2010 and beyond.

(This session recorded for inclusion in the Online Learning Center)

Moderator(s):

Michael Karagosian, Founder, MKPE Consulting LLC

Speaker(s):

Oleg Berezin, Managing Director, Nevafilm JSC
Peter Wilson, Technology Chairman, EDCF, European Digital Cinema Forum

Technical Issues for 3D Digital Cinema
Sunday, 04/11/2010 10:00am - 10:30am
Room S222

While the distribution of the 3-D feature images are standardized, research and experiments continue in the realms of subtitling, windowing, depth ratios, etc. This session will identify what items are suitable for standardized metadata and what their time frames may be for documented standards versus practical field implementations.

(This session recorded for inclusion in the Online Learning Center)

Speaker(s):

Richard Welsh, Director, Digital Cinema Services, Dolby Laboratories, Inc.

Production and Projection Techniques for Immersive Media
Sunday, 04/11/2010 10:30am - 11:00am
Room S222

This talk focuses on new technologies in the areas of multi-view displays and 3-D panorama and explores the possibilities of gaming and cinema growing together in the future. This presentation will provide an overview of research in mini-HD cameras that provide for more complex panoramic 3-D rigs, field recorders able to store more 3-D images, and on-set calibration tools for stereoscopic camera rigs.

Speaker(s):

Siegfried Foessel, Dr. Ing, Frauhofer IIS

3D TV Distribution: Which Platform(s) Will Succeed?
Sunday, 04/11/2010 1:15pm - 2:30pm
Room S222

This is the first of three mini-panels about 3D TV broadcasting and the specific challenges it brings

This first panel will address the options, plans, and strengths for delivery of 3D to the home by terrestrial broadcast, cable, satellite, broadband, and optical media.

Moderator(s):

Patrick Griffis, Senior Director, Technology Strategy, Dolby Laboratories

Speaker(s):

Chris Johns, Chief Engineer, B Sky B
David Broberg, Vice President, Consumer Video Technology, Cable Television Laboratories, Inc.
Jim Taylor, Senior VP and Chief Technologist, Sonic Solutions
Mark Richer, President, ATSC, Winner: NAB Engineering Achievement Award - TV
Tony Jasionowski, Senior Group Manager Accessibility, Panasonic Corporation of North America

Can There (Ever) be a Common Worldwide 3D TV Broadcast Standard?
Sunday, 04/11/2010 2:30pm - 3:00pm
Room S222

While cinema delivery is closing in on one standard delivery package this year, challenges abound for other methods of delivery. There are many more challenges in the world of television, where distribution methods and device types are numerous and widely varied.

Moderator(s):

David Wood, Deputy Director, EBU Technical, European Broadcasting Union

Speaker(s):

Ajay Luthra, Vice Chair JVT, Motorola, Inc.
Rick Dean, President, 3-D@Home Consortium
Ted Szypulski, Chair - SMPTE Working Group on 3D Home Master, ESPN, Inc.

Consumer 3D TV Displays: What are the Technical Differences?
Sunday, 04/11/2010 3:15pm - 3:45pm
Room S222

This session will describe the technologies of displays in the market (including legacy CRT), their ability to handle 3D, the various encoding technologies and their applicability to each of the display technologies. This will cover large displays to hand-held.

(This session recorded for inclusion in the Online Learning Center)

Speaker(s):

Peter Putman, Contributing Editor, Pro AV

3D Consumer Experience in the Home: The Interoperability Challenges
Sunday, 04/11/2010 3:45pm - 4:45pm
Room S222

Many "3D-ready" displays were on the floor at CES, and are on their way to stores. What does "3D-ready" mean for the consumer? What efforts are occurring in the Consumer Electronics industry to assure 3D content will play in some 3D form on all 3D-ready displays? What technical or standards barriers need to be overcome to ensure consumer acceptance and the start of significant sales? How will consumers match content, video sources, displays and glasses to get a compelling 3D experience?

This session will answer these questions and more.

(This session recorded for inclusion in the Online Learning Center)

Moderator(s):

Brian Markwalter, VP, Technology and Standards, Consumer Electronics Association

Speaker(s):

Ami Dror, Chief Strategy Officer, XpanD Cinema
Brad Hunt, President, Digital Media Directions, LLC.
Mark Stockfisch, Vice President and CTO, Quantum Data
Steve Venuti, President, HDMI Licensing, LLC

3D 10 Years Hence: 20/20 in 2020?
Sunday, 04/11/2010 4:45pm - 5:30pm
Room S222

What does the time-line look like for the migraion from special purpose glasses to inexpensive (almost disposable) glasses to glassless technologies? What technical or standards barriers need to be overcome to ensure consumer acceptance and the start of significant sales?

Moderator(s):

Hans Hoffmann, Programme Manager EBU Technical, EBU

Speaker(s):

Aljoscha Smolic, Disney Research, Zurich
Dr. Takayuki Ito, Deputy Director-General, NHK Science and Tech Research Lab
Tibor Balogh, CEO/Founder, Holografika Kft

Content Theater - Monday & Tuesday

Monday, April 12

ESPN: Scoring a Field Goal in S3-D Sports
Monday, 04/12/2010 3:00pm - 3:50pm
Room N109

With the wildly successful stereoscopic 3-D telecast of the Ohio State-USC football game, ESPN established itself as the leader in S3D sports production and exhibition. What are the creative and technical lessons that ESPN has learned capturing and distributing sports in S3D? How does S3D impact camera placement, workflows, graphics and the broadcast director and camera operator's job description? Industry pioneer Vince Pace joins ESPN technology and production executives to shine a light on ESPN's latest S3D projects and upcoming initiatives, including the new dedicated network to be launched June 2010.

Speaker(s):
Moderator(s):

Glen Dickson, Senior Editor, Broadcasting & Cable Magazine

Panelist(s):

Anthony Bailey, Vice President, Emerging Technology, ESPN
Vince Pace, CEO, PACE

Speaker(s):

Bob Toms, Vice President, Production Enhancements & Interactive TV, ESPN
Phil Orlins, Coordinating Producer, ESPN 3D & X Games

"Alice in Wonderland": Turning Fantasy into Motion Picture Reality
Monday, 04/12/2010 4:00pm - 4:50pm
Room N109

Journey behind the scenes of the stereoscopic 3D fantasy adventure "Alice in Wonderland," Tim Burton's wildly imaginative twist on Lewis Carroll's classic writings. Get an in-depth picture of the creative, production and postproduction processes, including the design of the film's poetic, hyper-real look and its use of S3D to accentuate the story. Understand the challenges of shooting for synthetic environments and realizing hybrid live action/CG characters of wildly varying heights and proportions. A rare glimpse into the making of one of today's most complex and visually arresting films.
Speaker(s):
Moderator(s):

Carolyn Giardina, Entertainment Industry Journalist, "The Hollywood Reporter," "ICG Magazine"

Panelist(s):

Art Repola, Executive Vice President, Visual Effects and Production, The Walt Disney Company
Corey Turner, Stereographer, Sony Pictures Imageworks
Ken Ralston, Senior Visual Effects Supervisor, Sony Pictures Imageworks
Tom Peitzman, Co-Producer/Visual Effects Producer, Walt Disney Pictures

"How to Train Your Dragon" - A Case Study
Monday, 04/12/2010 5:00pm - 6:00pm
Room N109

A comprehensive and revealing look at how the filmmakers created DreamWorks Animation's beautiful and heartwarming CG animated motion picture.

Speaker(s):
Panelist(s):

Bill Damaschke, Co-President of Production for Feature Animation & President of LiveTheatrical, DreamWorks Animation
Dean DeBlois, Director, “How to Train Your Dragon”, DreamWorks Animation
Gil Zimmerman, Head of Layout, “How to Train Your Dragon”, DreamWorks Animation
Kathy Altieri, Production Designer, “How to Train Your Dragon”, DreamWorks Animation
Robert Holtzman, Nexon America

Tuesday, April 13

"Hubble 3-D": Filmmaking in Outer Space with IMAX Technology Tuesday, 04/13/2010 3:00pm - 3:50pm
Room N109

How did IMAX collaborate with NASA to capture the intergalactic imagery for "Hubble 3-D," the new motion picture about the final mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope? How did director/producer Toni Myers and her crew train the space shuttle Atlantis astronauts to be filmmakers and realize the movie's vision? What was the stereographic 3D capture process and how was the equipment challenged by zero gravity and "daytimes" that lasted only 45 minutes? The "Hubble 3-D" and IMAX teams look at filmmaking in outer space and at the innovations that will power IMAX into the future.

Speaker(s):
Moderator(s):

Perry Hoberman, Research Associate Professor, University of Southern California

Panelist(s):

Brian Bonnick, Executive Vice President of Technology, IMAX Coporation
David Keighley, Executive Vice President, IMAX Corporation
Larry O’Reilly, Executive Vice President of Theater Development, IMAX Corporation
Toni Myers, Director, IMAX Corporation/ “Hubble 3D”

The Twenty-First Century Camera Crew and How it Works
Tuesday, 4/13/2010 02:30 PM - 03:30 PM
Room N234
Produced in Association with the International Cinematographer's Guild

How do you design a digital camera crew to meet the director's and cinematographer's working style, as well as the production's pipeline needs? How does this lineup vary for a high-end motion picture versus a project destined for HDTV? Why is there a digital imaging technician if the first assistant cameraman/woman knows HD? What are the workflow options for a WYSIWYG production, where what you see is what you get, and how is it different for a project slated for significant digital intermediate color correction? Leading digital filmmakers and crew explain how to configure a twenty-first century camera team and explore the challenges they face capturing, storing and moving digital assets on set.

Andy Romanoff
David Geffner
Jason Clark
Lewis Rothenberg
Steven Poster

Wednesday, April 14

The Business and Technology of Sports Broadcasting: From Mobile Devices to 3-D
Wednesday, 04/14/2010 11:30am - 12:30pm
Room Content Theater

Produced in association with Sports Video Group

Sports broadcasters and leagues played a key part in driving HD adoption. Will the same be true for 3D and mobile video devices? Top executives from networks and leagues discuss how they are gearing up for 3D at home, the business opportunities related to reaching mobile devices like the Apple iPad and phones. What are the challenges both technically and financially? And what do their efforts mean to local stations, cable operators, and digital cinema?

Moderator(s):

Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director, Sports Video Group

Presenter(s):

PETER ANGELL, Director Production, Host Broadcast Services

Panelist(s):

George Hoover, CTO, NEP
Jerry Steinberg, SVP Field Operations, Fox Sports
KEN AAGAARD, EVP of Operations and Production, CBS Sports
Steve Hellmuth, EVP Operations and Technology, NBA Entertainment

I'll hopefully be making it to NAB this year to cover some of this stuff. Everything looks fascinating!

Quick Post: ALICE IN BOX OFFICE WONDERLAND

Jim here. A quick tally of Tim Burton's ALICE IN WONDERLAND has Disney raking in $41m on Friday alone and potentially $110m for the opening weekend! This means that it will set a record for the largest first quarter opening ever. THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST previously held the mark at $84m.

AGAIN - S3D reigns king. I am taking it in tonight in IMAX - I don't want to be late! :-)

Legend 3D Founder Barry Sandrew, Ph.D Talks 2D to 3D Conversion!

Michael here. I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Legend 3D Founder and President Barry B. Sandrew, Ph.D, regarding his company's work on 2D to 3D conversion. Before the interview I viewed a reel of 3D footage that Legend had done, and I must say that it blew me away.

The reel consisted of converted 3D footage from many of the blockbuster feature films from the past 10 years as well as commercials for Fanta, HP, and New Balance. In all cases the quality of the stereo was indistinguishable from the very best native 3D footage I have seen, Avatar included. The 3D was immersive, detailed, and continuous: completely gone were the flatness and "planes of depth" from G-Force, which In-Three and Imageworks converted. Instead, the 3D made me feel like I was part of the action.

Particularly impressive was a scene from Iron Man where he is being suited up: all of the intricate mechanical devices and metal facets, all in complex motion and in stereo, were a beautiful sight to behold. Also amazing were the scenes from "Alice In Wonderland", which Legend 3D recently wrapped. The practical scenes from other movies were just as artfully done. I could tell a great deal of thought was put into the stereospace of every shot. According to Sandrew, it is Legend 3D's methodology that makes it possible to deliver such complicated scenes in the highest quality 3D.

Read below for more on Legend 3D and the 2D to 3D conversion industry:

Michael: How did Legend 3D get started?

Barry Sandrew: I invented digital colorization back in 1986 and in the following seven years I produced just about all of Ted Turner's colorization work as well as titles from all the major studios. We built a huge studio to get the feature films converted from black and white to color. Believe it or not, at our peak we were up to seven movies a month for Turner. I left that company (American Film Technologies) in 1993, and founded several other startup companies. Then in the year 2000 I reinvented colorization, because advances in storage, computer power and networking just made everything possible that I had always imagined for colorization. So I developed a software process and pipeline that would semi-automate everything. We had a maquiladora down in Mexico back in the early '90s, but this time I went to India. I opened up a studio about ten years ago. It was one of the first visual effects studios in India. In fact, I opened our Patna, India studio before Imageworks and everybody else discovered India and we've had that studio operating continuously for a decade now. It’s a great studio. We started with about 250 people—but we're currently ramping up to become the largest visual effects studios in all of India. San Diego is where the bulk of the creative work happens. Let me go back to colorization for a second. Around 2005 - maybe a little bit earlier - my good friend Greg Passmore and I were talking about 3D, and we both immediately recognized that the Legend Films colorization software is perfectly suited for a 3D conversion process, because one of the basic aspects of all stereo conversion is the segmentation of everything in every frame into metadata. In my career I’ve produced close to 400 feature films on time and on budget… every one. That comes second nature to me and my team. We’ve come so far in our process that there aren’t any surprises for any feature film that hits our pipeline. We can colorize any movie so we felt that we could adapt the colorization process, pipeline and technology to stereo very easily. It wasn't quite as *easy* as we had hoped, but we did it. We also created a stereo process application that is very intuitive, and that we feel is the most advanced in the industry.

Michael: How does the 2D to 3D conversion process work? How is the other-eye view created?

Barry Sandrew: Most people just create a single new eye, one eye. We create two completely unique eyes from each 2D frame. This is a more natural way of creating 3D. There's various ways to convert a movie. One way, like the way IMAX does it, is to project rotoscoped objects onto volumetric CG primitives that have been created for most things in a scene. That's the way most of [the companies] are doing it. We do it quite differently. We use depth masks as well as several other sophisticated volumetric processes to mold a shot into dimension. We're actually molding in "z" -- depth masks -- and this helps to animate things more accurately and more efficiently than using CG elements, because in our process there is no tracking that takes a great deal of time and skill. We also have very little paint and compositing with our process. Normally, if I am moving something away from a background in stereo I'm exposing parts of the background that don't exist in the image. So what do you do with that? You have to either paint it or you have to somehow fill that in so that everything looks natural. One way of course is to use clean plates. But in a catalogue feature film like Harry Potter you may not have the clean plates available. So you have to resort to skilled painters, compositors to fill in data gaps in the images. Most of our gap filling is not done the traditional way. We actually do most of it algorithmically or automatically on render.

Michael: Based on the prior frame and the following frame?

Barry Sandrew: That's only one way of filling data and a very labor intensive way. We’ve developed incredible software tools for colorization that can automatically recognize objects based on pattern, luminance and chrominance. That software has been adapted to 3D conversion and is the basis for a multitude of different routines and tools that can fill in missing data automatically.

Michael: How is the team divided between San Diego and India?

Barry Sandrew: We have a very large team in San Diego. That's where all of the client interaction happens and where most of the creative is done; particularly movie breakdown, depth script, depth score, keyframing and stereo. In India they do the masking from frame to frame.

Michael: Could you explain what masking is?

Barry Sandrew: [Masking is] when you identify objects within a scene. You identify objects digitally as metadata, and those objects then can be manipulated in stereospace.

Michael: You told me you don't use rotoscoping?

Barry Sandrew: Our process of masking is much more organic than rotoscoping. It's a very sophisticated paint program that is 23 years in the making that uses pattern recognition and several other proprietary detection routines to move masks from frame to frame semi-automatically. We have a team of people in India making certain that every frame is as perfect as possible because sometimes computers make mistakes. So to get the highest quality we have to have a person monitoring the segmentation of every single frame. For instance, if I'm in a frame of a movie, and all of a sudden my hand comes up from behind a chair, the computer doesn't immediately know that's my hand, so the operator has to define it for the computer. Once it’s defined then the computer understands where that hand is in each frame and it takes over. That's pretty much the way we do it. Everybody else uses rotoscope which is a highly skilled, very time consuming, and very expensive way to mask. Another huge advantage of our colorization masking technology is that it was designed to be used by unskilled labor. So we can train someone in India in half a day to segment scenes. It only takes about two weeks for that same person to become proficient in the process.

Michael: One thing I have always wondered is, if you are converged on something...for example, with my right eye I can see the right side of this pen, and with my left eye I can see the left side. So those companies that create the other-eye view must have to make up information that doesn't exist. Let's say the original image is the left side. So to make the 3D image--to create the right eye image--they have to say, "what's on the right side of the pen?"

Barry Sandrew: Only if it's exposed. If it's not exposed there is no right side of the pen. It’s not necessary to create the entire geometry of every object. In our stereo program, we actually rebuild an entire scene using depth masks and proprietary volumetric rendering processes. We can place objects anywhere in a scene that we want. Then on output rendering the stereo program separates the 2D image we start with into two unique images; one for the left eye and one for the right eye. The secret sauce is really in the manner in which segmented portions of a frame are positioned, the pixel blending in stereo and in gap filling.

Michael: Could you go into how the stereo is rendered?

Barry Sandrew: There’s a great deal of proprietary information I can’t share on this but basically there is a difference in whether you are converting by making one new right eye from a 2D image or making an entire new left and right eye from the 2D image. Also, whether you're projecting rotoscoped objects onto CG elements or you're using depth masks, that's a big element. Those factors really differentiate the various companies and also dictate efficiency, speed and of course most important, quality.

Michael: What is your relationship to PassmoreLab? Are you part of PassmoreLab?

Barry Sandrew: No. Greg is actually part of Legend 3D and a major shareholder. He and I have been working together for fifteen years, and PassmoreLab has always been my software engineering team. For colorization, for instance, I used a lot of Greg's software engineers--their knowledge is based in physics and they are exceptional programmers. So I basically brought them in and project managed the coding of my colorization patents under Greg. And when the 3D idea surfaced, it was a natural. Greg is extremely knowledgeable in 3D, and he regularly shoots natively in 3D. Much of this started when he wanted to find a way to do 2D to 3D conversion because he does a lot of documentaries that are uniquely difficult and often dangerous. One of his primary interests is spelunking or cave exploring, and when he goes down in caves the big stereo rigs can’t be used. Sometimes he has to scuba dive in caves with cameras. So the best solution is to shoot in 2D and then convert. So that's one of the reasons he was interested in the process. Today, his stereo work continues to be focused on very interesting documentaries. So together we collaborated to build this process that's able to convert feature films from 2D to 3D within an efficient and time tested production pipeline.

Michael: Where do you see the market for 2D to 3D conversion going over the next two to five years, in terms of the demand?

Barry Sandrew: Demand I believe is going to accelerate. It is going to get bigger as time goes on, provided quality 3D is the norm. There is some pretty bad stuff out there that hurts your eyes and makes people sick and that definitely hurts this fledgling industry. I think that with catalogue titles... the various conversion companies--the legitimate ones, the ones that aren't coming out of the woodwork are going to be busy for a long, long time. All of us. There's just so many catalogue titles that would be amazing in stereo.

Michael: What's your wish list?

Barry Sandrew: Oh, They come natural. In fact many of the prime candidates you just viewed as demos in our 3D theater. Just think about it. What's your favorite movie? They just roll of your tongue. Movies like Star Wars, LOTR, The Matrix, 300, Jurassic Park, Titanic are perfect for stereo conversion. And I guarantee it’s going to happen eventually. There are new feature films that are going to be converted, and catalogue titles that are going to be converted. The new feature films are going to be converted primarily because a lot of directors don't feel comfortable in 3D. Also, it's cheaper to convert 2D to 3D than shoot natively in 3D. What we offer directors is an opportunity to direct a film in the medium in which they feel most comfortable--2D typically. And then we work with the creative director and convert his/her footage from 2D to 3D.

Michael: What do you think are the pros and cons of shooting in native 3D verses converting, as the technology stands right now?

Barry Sandrew: Well, the rigs are imperfect, awkward and very tricky to use. Everything in the two cameras have to be perfectly aligned and identical in every aspect. The director then has to spend the extra time to block and frame a shot for stereo rather than 2D. With 2D to 3D conversion, nothing really changes from a traditional 2D shoot. A stereographer is typically on the set advising the director and cinematographer but for the most part, the director can comfortably shoot the way they always have.

Michael: You can't be misaligned by more than a micron...

Barry Sandrew: Yeah. And if misalignment happens in a native shoot you’ll sometimes see highlights that look a bit strange. That's because the left and right lenses are off a tiny bit. There's a lot of these kind of issues with shooting that you don't get in conversion. In fact, I contend that conversion can look better and even more natural than a native stereo shoot. Certainly in the demo material you just screened there is no way you can tell it wasn’t originally created in 3D with a traditional shoot. When you shoot natively everything has to be staged precisely for 3D. If the convergence is off, if the interocular distance is off, you're going to have issues with the image. You can fix it in post, but that's another expense. One thing people can do when they screw up a stereo shot, is they can always convert it afterwards using just one eye. With conversion, you have a lot more creative freedom. Without exception, the directors I’ve introduced to the conversion process very much appreciate the creative freedom to create stereo after their 2D shoot is completed.

Michael: Are there any disadvantages to conversion? Is there any quality or attribute to a 3D shot that you can get by shooting natively that you can't get with conversion?

Barry Sandrew: I can't think of one, but I can think of a lot of advantages as I’ve already stated.

Michael: Where do you see other markets for 2D to 3D conversion going? We saw some very impressive ads on the Legend 3D reel. Have those played in front of 3D features yet?

Barry Sandrew: We produced the very first theatrical 3D ad. It was a Skittles commercial. The others have been contracted by ad agencies to be shown privately to new clients.

Michael: Currently the pre-theater advertising is done on a separate projector that is very low resolution.

Barry Sandrew: Yeah, but that's changing.

Michael: I wish it would change since you can see the pixels from the back row.

Barry Sandrew: It's terrible. There's no reason you can't get a DCP (Digital Cinema Package) of a commercial, just plug it in to the same server as the feature film and put it on the playlist to run prior to the main feature. Most of [the advertising agencies] are risk averse, and until Avatar came, they said, "We want to wait and see." As you might expect, after Avatar they are all clamoring to get their commercials on the screen at the same time.

Michael: Now the floodgates have opened.

Barry Sandrew: Exactly. Avatar was and is a game changer. And I think "Alice" is also going to be a game changer. Legend 3D did a substantial amount of the Alice conversion, and it's absolutely stunning. It really looks beautiful.

Michael: On "Alice", did Legend 3D share conversion duties pretty evenly with In-Three?

Barry Sandrew: No. In-Three did the bookends--before Alice falls in to the hole and when she comes out. Those were all practical shots. We did some of the most difficult effects shots in the film. When Alice falls into the round room. Most of it was practical and consequently we did not have clean plates to help out. On top of that, we came against brown/blonde walls, and Alice’s blonde hair that has almost the same texture, so we had to use our colorization masking technology to get her hair out of the wall so it could be converted seamlessly, looking perfectly natural in 3D. I think we did an incredible job. We also did much of the tea party, much of the castle with the queen of hearts, and much of the mushroom forest.

Michael: What types of shots are generally more difficult or time consuming to convert?

Barry Sandrew: That's kind of difficult to say. In Alice, the Mad Hatter walks on top of the tea party table which has a myriad of objects and utensils that get thrown about all over the place. That's a difficult thing for most conversion companies to do but it was second nature for us.

Michael: In terms of the cost of conversion, I don't know if you could tell me how your costs compare to those of your competitors, or whether you could tell me the cost per frame.

Barry Sandrew: We don't convert by frame or shot like a typical visual effects house. We typically quote a conversion based on the entire feature film. We don't consider ourselves a special effects house nor do we consider ourselves a post-production facility. We consider ourselves a creative studio. And as a creative studio we generally will not work on a feature film with another conversion company. Alice was an exception. We really want to have the director working directly with us to make their feature film a cohesive stereo experience.

Michael: Did you work intimately with Tim Burton on "Alice"'s stereo? Does Legend 3D have software similar to In-Three's that allows directors to place elements in various parts of the stereospace?

Barry Sandrew: As I mentioned earlier, our process places as much creative control on the film director as he/she wants. On Alice, we worked more closely with Imageworks, which was great. They're a good talented group, their quality is exceptional and they are very professional. Our separate processes complemented each other perfectly.

Michael: So in terms of the costs, you charge per movie?

Barry Sandrew: There are a multitude of factors that determine our costs, similar to putting together a movie budget. Our quotes are typically a fraction of all the other companies. Don’t get me wrong, you can get stereo done very cheaply, but you get what you pay for. Conversion is a very time consuming, labor intensive process no matter who does it. That's costly, especially when you've got highly skilled paint and compositing people that you have to bring in to do a major feature film. So if a conversion company low-balls a project, or tries to compete with a very low price, and a studio actually uses them, unfortunately they get what they pay for and they have no one to blame but themselves.

Michael: How do you see the field in terms of your competition? How many companies are at the upper echelon, and how many are springing out of the woodwork?

Barry Sandrew: There's just a few companies that I consider legitimate. What I mean by legitimate is that there's a handful of companies that can actually do an entire feature film. What it breaks down to is depth of experience. We’ve had artists in the company that have been working on evolving our patented process for a decade. Converting an entire feature film is a very complex and highly skilled task, you have to take it apart, break it down, dissect it into scenes, cuts, locations, characters, and then put a special effect on every single pixel in every frame of that feature film—approximately 180,000 frames--and then you're doubling it in the stereo process to 360,000 full resolution frames that encompass the separate left and right eyes. When you’re finished you have to put it all back together again and make it look better than the way you originally got it. That's a daunting task for most companies. Again, I've done close to 400 conversion from black and white to color that way. But getting back to your question, I think there are perhaps three or four of us who are legitimate. The nice thing is that we are all friendly competitors--it's not a cutthroat situation right now because we all see how much work there is out there, and we all know that none of us could tackle it all.

Michael: More 3D screens will be required to get all of that work out there. Do you think soon there will be enough screens to support to simultaneous 3D releases?

Barry Sandrew: Well, J.P Morgan, didn't they just arrange $700 million in financing [for 3D screens]? That's gonna do it. I think 3D screens are going to be ubiquitous internationally, and I think there's going to be more than enough screens to make this mainstream.

Michael: Back to your technical process--does creating two eye views require more work, and do you think it results in better 3D?

Barry Sandrew: It's not more work. It creates better 3D because, for one thing, the gap artifact in the background is spread across two images rather than one. It allows our gap fill algorithms to function more effectively.

Michael: What can you tell me about what Legend 3D is working on now?

Barry Sandrew: We are subject to a number of non-disclosure agreements which limit what I can say, but I can tell you that we've got multiple movies in progress from major studios and a number of other contracts about to be signed.

Michael: What do you think the timeline is for the arrival of in-theater stereo 3D advertising?

Barry Sandrew: It's starting to happen now. We've got commercials out there. We expect our Fanta commercial that we just completed will be shown in theaters.

Michael: Anything else you would like to say about Legend 3D or 2D to 3D conversion?

Barry Sandrew: I believe quality is definitely improving, and the reason it is going up is because the short list of companies that are involved in conversion is making certain the quality bar is high and stays that way. In fact, every day we’re getting better and our patented process is evolving. Our small group of competitors talk about it among ourselves. We all say, "the only thing that could hold back this industry is if cut-rate conversion companies screw up and produce subpar quality picture." [For the] companies that are legitimate and experienced in feature film production, the quality is high.

Michael: Thanks for taking the time to talk. It was great seeing the demo and learning about your process!

Visit Legend 3D's website at http://www.legend3d.com/

Alice in Wonderland Review

Michael here. If Avatar was the grand unveiling of stereoscopic 3D to the worldwide audience, then Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland is the afterparty. It is also a showcase for 2D to 3D conversion done right. Moreover, the story is well told, the characters memorable, and the themes poignant.

Burton's "Underland" is a vividly imagined place filled with fantastic creatures and characters. Actually, the creatures are the characters: from Stephen Fry's mischievous Cheshire Cat to Alan Rickman's Blue Caterpillar to the White Rabbit to the frumious Bandersnatch, they all get their moments in the spotlight. The prevalence of exotic flora and fauna isn't the only similarity "Alice" shares with Avatar. "Alice"'s "real world" bookend segments are a corollary to Avatar's "real world" opening. Like Jake Sully, Alice finds something wrong with her actual life, seeking escape from it by (re)entering a new world.

The movie is very briskly paced, which is both a positive and a negative. While we are quickly introduced to all of the inhabitants of Underland and to the main plot (which draws from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, with many elements from the Jabberwocky poem), we rarely get time to breathe and soak in a particular character or piece of scenery. The movie keeps the audience engaged in the story at all times, but I would have liked some more time one on one with some of the characters. I also wanted more weirdness. Given that this is Tim Burton making Alice in Wonderland, I expected to see some truly surreal and dark stuff. Strangely, Burton seems to be holding a lot back when it comes to the nonsensical.

"Alice" has plenty of clever humor, which is welcome given that the overall aesthetic of the film is dark and oppressed under the rule of the Red Queen. The audience (and I) laughed consistently throughout the film. Johhny Depp is great as the Mad Hatter (although it is strange to see him sword fighting), and Helena Bonham Carter's Red Queen and Fry's Cheshire Cat are other standouts. But it is Mia Wasikowska who carries the movie: her Alice combines the wonderment of her younger self with the poise of an adult--especially by the end of the film, where Alice comes back into the real world, carrying within her what she learned on her adventure.

The 3D is beautifully done. In-Three did the real world bookends, and Legend 3D worked on what takes place in between. There are plenty of complex shots that showcase some very immersive 3D that lacks the planes of depth found in some previous conversions. My only complaint regarding the 3D is that I wish Burton had cranked up the stereo even more throughout the movie. However, "Alice" proves that 2D to 3D conversion is a force to be reckoned with and a more than viable option for making a 3D movie. I still think that for those directors who take the time to learn to shoot in native 3D, native is the way to go. But conversion has arrived, is certainly the best option for some directors, and will only get better from here on out.

I will definitely be seeing "Alice" again. It has many great moments and adds up to something very touching by the time the credits roll. Well done Tim Burton and team!

Quick Post: New ALICE IN WONDERLAND Featurette!

Jim here. Take a look at a new Disney featurette for Tim Burton's ALICE IN WONDERLAND!

This clip talks about 3D a bit more with Mia mentioning it as well as Burton himself. I find it fascinating that Burton decided against a native 3D shoot in favor of a conversation - we'll see how it turns out March 5!

MUST SEE: New ALICE IN WONDERLAND Trailer!!

**SAME DAY UPDATE #2: Can be viewed here.

**SAME DAY UPDATE: Well that was fast! Disney has pulled the trailer. You might be able to find it on YouTube for awhile. I suspect this is something they wanted to release at Comic Con - so in other words, it should be back fairly quickly if you missed it.

Jim here. Got a must see for you - check out the new ALICE IN WONDERLAND trailer! The Tim Burton / Disney project is due to hit theaters March 5, 2010.

Whatdayathink? Not a bad trailer at all! I am impressed. It will be VERY interesting to see how well the conversion from 2D to 3D is done. I am sure it will be spectacular.

There is a lot riding on it :-) More coming up - stay tuned! Comic Con is upon us!!




Thanks for the headsup Buzzz!

Tons of Official "Alice in Wonderland" Images!

SAME DAY UPDATE: Michael here with two new pics from YAHOO! Movies, one of Mia Wasikowska as Alice, the other of the Tweedle bros.

Michael here. USA Today just posted a first look at Tim Burton's 3D CG/live action reimagining of Alice in Wonderland, and the article is chock-full of art and images from the film. I've seen some of this before at events such as ShoWest, but until now none of it has been made public.

An interesting piece of news from the article is that the movie is a sort of pseudo-sequel to the original Alice in Wonderland story: "Alice, 17, attends a party at a Victorian estate only to find she is about to be proposed to in front of hundreds of snooty society types. Off she runs, following a white rabbit into a hole and ending up in Wonderland, a place she visited 10 years before yet doesn't remember." This raises my interest in the film to even higher levels, as it allows Burton to approach the material from a fresh perspective. It will be fascinating to see how an older Alice reacts to Wonderland, and how the denizens of Wonderland react to an older Alice. What will be the same, and what will be different?

Also of note is that the film took 40 days to shoot: "We finished shooting in December after only 40 days," Zanuck says. Now the live action is being merged with CG animation and motion-capture creatures, and then transferred into 3-D." I am curious as to whether that 40 days encompassed both the live-action shoot and the mo-cap work for the CGI characters.

It will be very interesting to hear more about the production processes that Burton and his team employed in making this movie. "Alice" almost seems like Avatar's crazy twin sister - both are huge, fantasy-based 3D/CG projects from visionary directors, but they utilize wildly varying production pipelines and 3D methodologies. I can't wait to see how this one turns out.

Head over to the USA Today article for all the full-size pictures as well as comments on the film and its characters from producer Richard Zanuck.