In-home 3D Entertainment Is Coming: Quality And Affordability Top Of Mind For 3D@Home Consortium

We have some significant movement now in the 3D home entertainment field. Backed by huge industry players like Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Philips, Samsung, IMAX, TDVision, Sensio, Corning, 3ality and In-Three - a total of 22 companies are currently participating to ensure quality and affordability in future home focused 3D entertainment.

Of special note here is that both of the major codec developers (TDVision and Sensio) are involved which lends me to believe that PERHAPS there is a chance here of not having a format war similar to what happened with Blu-ray and HDDVD. If they can pull this off I will be very happy indeed.

For more info, check out the organization's site: http://www.3dathome.org

Hint: Don't Go Toe To Toe With James Cameron's "Avatar"

Just ask Jeffrey Katzenberg: He had to move "Monsters vs. Aliens" to avoid a 3D screening conflict on Memorial Day 2009 with James Cameron's "Avatar". Simple lesson - this is James Cameron and his long awaited comeback to feature movies; accept it and you will be ok. If not, well...

Now we have M. Night Shyamalamadingdong losing the word "Avatar" from his previous title: "Avatar: The Last Airbender" to cancel the confusion that has existed for over a year between the two movies. "The Last Airbender"'s storyline revolves around a young hero who has the ability to manipulate the elements and stop a ruthless nation from destroying the three other nations. But it ain't 3D so I am done with it... :-) I really haven't liked anything from him since "Unbreakable" anyway.

Source: Variety

REVIEW: Prom Night (2008)

Nobody gives a damn about the original "Prom Night," other than it being one of the two non-"Halloween" slasher flicks Jamie Lee Curtis was in, cementing her status as "The Scream Queen." It was a formula "Friday the 13th" riff, nothing special about it. The new film (it shares NOTHING but the title, so it's not really a "remake") is more of the same, save that the style-set being lifted is from the Argento playbook (pretty victims, opulent location, no-nonsense knife-wielding stalker) this time around.


Depressingly, the setup - when regarded in the form of a plot-outline, at least - has the makings of a totally workable thriller: Three years ago, a High School teacher developed a psychotic crush on a young female student and wound up murdering her family - while she was hiding, paralyzed with fear. Cut to present, she's about to graduate and on her way to Prom, and he's broken out of jail and hunting her down. At the hotel where the bash is going down, he steals into the room rented by her and her companions and hunkers down to wait for them.

That's it. There's your setup for the movie: Bad man with a knife waiting somewhere the good guys are innevitably heading toward. Five-word plot synopsis: "Don't Go Into The Room!" What's more, it serves as a blunt but functional bit of teen-slasher symbolism: The Hotel Room exists for the purposes of sex, drugs and/or drinking - aka DEATH in slasher-movie lingo - and, naturally, thats exactly where death is LITERALLY waiting. The "good kids" just want to stay down at the dance (read: the innocence of youth) while the "bad kids" are eagerly anticipating heading up to The Room.

So... solid setup, working premise, tidy symbolism. Most horror films would be emboldened by having that much to work from... but "Prom Night" is content to stay on autopilot and deliver the most forgettable, uninteresting product possible. It's not scary, the acting is completely dull, and the PG-13 rating negates the only real purpose for such a time-waster to exist.

There is no reason to see this movie, period.

FINAL RATING: 3/10

James Cameron's "Avatar": Wardrobe And Motion Capture Suits - Captured In Photos !

EXCLUSIVE!

First of all - a huge thank you to my source for the ongoing work that you are doing for MarketSaw and all my sources for that matter! You make this site all the more exciting to read and I appreciate all your efforts. All of you.

There are not too many spoilers so don't be too worried about losing something from the movie - although there are photos of wardrobe. Keep that in mind if you decide to read on! That's the beauty of motion capture - the characters can be wearing ANYTHING the director wants...

This first photo is of what seems to me to be a military uniform or similar. Click on the image to blow it up to a larger size. I actually stopped placing the super high res pics on here as they take awhile to load. Make note of the boots in the lower right corner - they actually glow in the dark by way of all those shiny spots. I can't make out what is in the plastic bag immediately over the boots. The suit itself reminds me of the slaughtering get ups used in Hostel 2. This could be a crude military outfit, but I am thinking it is more utilitarian - looks like keys hanging off of his belt. It certainly looks like a protective piece of clothing - I'm stopping short of saying it is armor vs. weapons; more like protection from acid or something. The other wardrobe pieces look like they are made of heavy cotton and the white tops look remarkably like what someone involved in martial arts would wear. Most of the wardrobe seems to be colored in earth tones - browns, greys, greens.

Check out the motion capture suits! For those just catching up to what Motion Capture is - it is simply a way for a director to 'capture' the movements (and performances as Cameron likes to say) of an actor by using tiny dots on apparel that actors wear - the computers track these dots as they actor moves. Here is a great video clip of how Zemeckis did this for the 3D movie "Beowulf" last fall. There are a ton of them and everyone of the cast gets one it seems! Looks like they are color coded too so the mocap system can keep track of who is who when the characters interact. You can clearly see tags for Peter, Laz, Wes, CCH, Brady, Cullen, Rueben, and Sigourney. Could someone please tell me who the heck Mark and Sara are? I have the other nametags figured out! Mark's is first in this shot and Sara's is down by Sigourney's.

If anyone would like the super high res images of these let me know and I will send them to you!

I am assuming that the actors wear the mo-cap suits most of the time, but also have the alternative wardrobe available for intimate scenes. And that footwear - what are those designed for?

As always, I will post more pics when I get them and believe me, my source is back at it again - can't wait to see what he can come up with next time!!

DISCUSSION: What do you make of these photos?! That uniform on the end looks quite sinister to me - what do you think the owner needs with that thing?

James Cameron's "Avatar": Set Signs and Movie Poster Font

EXCLUSIVE!

Now we are really getting somewhere! My source has managed to get some pretty damn cool "Avatar" photos smuggled out of their motion capture studios. This post is relatively harmless but you do get a sense for what Avatar's movie font will be for the posters, which by the way will be in 3D too.

Just about everything that my source photographed (more to come - very interesting things btw!) was very much in the open and accessable.

So just how serious is James Cameron and the gang at keeping all of this stuff hush-hush and completely enshrouded in secrecy? Well... read the warning sign in the second photo! Oops... did we use a flash for that? Anyone see that? :-)

Click on the image in order to read the message from Jon Landau. It essentially says that we are doing something very special here and that there are rules that go along with that. No cameras for example. :-)

So are you psyched up enough for my next post brimming with photos??

Coming up next!!

Dreamworks "Crood Awakening" Delayed Until 2011?

I have the inside scoop from a source of mine embedded within Dreamworks Animation: "Crood Awakening" won't be ready for a 2009 release, but more likely 2011 as DWA also has "How To Train Your Dragon", "Shrek 4" and "Master Mind" in 2010.

The reason for the delay is that the CG production has yet to be commenced on the project and there is no way to get "Crood Awakening" done when you stack on all the other projects for 2009 and 2010.

The animation is set in prehistoric times where a leader of a tribe is threatened by a newcomer genius with inventions such as fire. "Crood Awakening" is written by none other than John Cleese!

I will keep you updated on this and other DWA projects as I get the info!

3ality Digital Performs Live 3D Broadcast With Howie Mandel at the NAB Show

Continuing MarketSaw's NAB 2008 coverage, 3ality hosted a live 3D stream of the hit game show "Deal Or No Deal" today:

From PRNewswire:

"The event was a live 3D feed, sent in a single stream via an existing broadcast infrastructure through a satellite transmission, to the NAB "Content Theater," a state-of-the-art digital screening room featuring RealD 3D's technology where top Hollywood filmmakers and executives reveal how they used new technologies to produce their latest content."

"We are thrilled to have partnered with 3ality Digital and to share their excitement and enthusiasm for the 3D format that will change how home entertainment is experienced," said Mandel and St. John in a joint statement. "3ality Digital is taking 3D to another dimension and it's changed all the things I used to believe about 3D," continued Mandel. St. John added: "As a producer I'm completely blown away by the cameras' ability to change depth while shooting. Today's event totally broke through a wall and now allows viewers to be in the game, not just watching it."

"The debut of our groundbreaking technology today displayed the rapid development of 3ality's advanced image capture and transmission capabilities for live 3D entertainment and sports," stated 3ality Digital CEO Sandy Climan. "This takes fans into a zone where they get to feel what the contestants are feeling. Whether it's game shows, reality television, or sports, this is the technology of the future, and it's available today. We look forward to continuing to deliver this kind of quality 3D content to the public."

Its great to see the application of 3D to everyday television shows. It brings the concept much closer to home for a lot of people. Good job guys!