Research Strand: Connecting with Audiences

Research Strand:
Connecting with Audiences
Presenters’ Abstracts
& Bio-bibliographies
BFI
The Blue Room
Wednesday 12th of March 2014
Morning Session: 09:30-13:00
Afternoon Session: 14:00-17:00
Hosted & Organised by:
Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication
Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication
Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication has been developing the field of
3D stereoscopic media since 2011. Ravensbourne provides technical expertise,
research, and training opportunities at postgraduate level in 3D stereoscopic media;
and was the first institution to develop a Masters in this subject. Ravensbourne also
develops and organises research skills programmes and events:
3D Storytelling 2011 (Ravensbourne)
3D MOTs 2011 (Ravensbourne)
3D Storytelling 2012 (Ravensbourne)
3D MOTs (Ravensbourne)
The first MA in 3D Stereoscopic Media (Ravensbourne)
3D Creative Summit 2013 (at BFI)
3D Bootcamp 2013 (Ravensbourne)
3D Training Oct 2013 (Ravensbourne)
3D Creative Summit 2014 (at BFI)
3D Training March 2014 (Ravensbourne)
Ravensbourne continues to progress in practice based research projects of this kind.
Ravensbourne has brought together the Research Strand: Connecting with Audiences
at the 3D Creative Summit to promote international researchers’, and industry
innovators’ in 3D stereoscopic media. This pamphlet details the presenters’ abstracts
and bio-bibliographies.
For further information on Ravensbourne’s key participation in 3D Stereoscopic
Media studies, and other courses please refer to the back pages of this pamphlet, and
visit the website:
rave.ac.uk
3D Creative Summit 2014
Research Strand:
Connecting with Audiences
RUNNING ORDER OF PRESENTATIONS
BFI
The Blue Room
Wednesday 12th of March 2014
Morning Session: 09:30-13:00
Afternoon Session: 14:00-17:00
Name
Organisation
Topic Title
Introduction to
Keynote
Professor
Ravensbourne
Lizzie Jackson College of Design
and
Communication
Opening
Keynote
Dr Keith
Johnson
University of East
Anglia
Morning Session
A:
Martin Uren
and Caroline
Orme
Ravensbourne
College of Design
& Communication
Diekus Gonzalez
The Autonomous
Time
Notes
09:30-09:35
Selling the 3-D
Screen: Audiences,
3-D, and the Film
Trailer
Production
Aesthetics
Improving
production and
post-production
aesthetics
3-D Stereoscopic
09:35-10:00
10:00-10:45
Including
Q and A
10:45-11:15
Including
University of
Barcelona and
Ravensbourne
Coffee Break
Morning Session
B:
Media: Articulating
the third dimension
online
Q and A
11:15-11:30
Chair:
Kathleen
Schroeter
Fraunhofer HHI
Ralf Tanger,
Fraunhofer HHI
Sönke Kirchhof
reallifefilm
international
GmbH
Jean-Claude
Rosenthal
Fraunhofer HHI
Lunch
Afternoon –
Panel Session A:
Advanced
Production
Technologies
Fraunhofer HHI &
the 3D Innovation
Center and it's
work on tomorrows
3D
Trifocal Capture: A
new way towards
S3D content
production
Research,
Development and
Use Case: The
Trifocal System
from a Producers’
and ASP from a
Stereographers'
Point of view
ASP camera
system: Automated
Stereo Production
Including
Q and A
11:30-11:45
Including
Q and A
11.45 - 12.15
Including
Q and A
12:15-12:30
Including
Q and A
12:30-13:00
Including
Q and A
13:00-14:00
Dr Nick Jones
Queen Mary,
University of
London
Professor
Ludger Pfanz
Karlsruhe
University of Art
Dr Lisa Purse
University of
Reading
Panel Discussion
Chaired by
Dr Keith
Johnson
Coffee Break
University of East
Anglia
Emerging
Storytelling
Techniques:
Audience
Immersion and
3-D Stereoscopy
Paradoxical Media:
Defining 3-D
Aesthetics
3-D Story
Architecture:
Structure and style
of Space-Time
Narratives.
Sensing Space,
Sensing Movement
in Gravity
14:00-14:15
14:15-14:30
14:30-14:45
14:45-15:00
15:00-15:15
Afternoon –
Panel Session B:
Dr Bernard
Harper
Liverpool
University
Phillip Connolly
University of
Brighton
Dr Robert Black
Liverpool
University
Dr Lorna Moore
Video Artist
Panel Discussion
Chaired by
Dr Catherine
Maffioletti
Closing Keynote
Dr Denise
Quesnel
Ravensbourne
College of Design
and
Communication
Emily Carr
University, Canada
Redesigning Spaces:
Audience
Experience of the
Stereoscopic Mise
en Scene.
Movies and Vision:
Why 3-D is better
than 2-D.
From Peppers
Ghost to the
iPhone: 3D and
music videos
Ask the audience:
live study of a 3D
viewing experience
Be(ing) a part of
you:
In(bodi)mental: a
real-time video
performance
15:15-15:30
15:30-15:45
15:45-16:00
16:00-16:15
16:15-16:30
Creating engaging
content for
immersive
storytelling, and
evaluating
individual
experiences. (Skype
from Canada)
16:30-17:00
Research Strand:
Connecting with Audiences
BFI
The Blue Room
Wednesday 12th of March 2014
Morning Session: 09:30-13:00
Afternoon Session: 14:00-17:00
Hosted & Organised by:
Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication
Presenters’ Abstracts & Bio-bibliographies
Morning Session (09:30am – 13:00pm)
Keynote: Dr Keith Johnson
University of East Anglia
Presentation Title: Selling the 3-D Screen: Audiences, 3-D, and the Film Trailer: Do
audiences look for 3D content when making the decision to view a film?
(09:35 -10:00am)
Abstract
Although “the audience” is often cited in industry and academic debates around 3D film (the
conference CFP cites Eisenstein’s claim that 3D was a chance to connect with the audience, while
critics regularly claim audiences dislike ‘bad’ 3D), there is little empirical research on audience interest
in, and desire for, a 3D cinema experience. While box office statistics show 3D blockbusters among the
most profitable films of the year, this tells us little about the actual popularity or preference for wider
3D adoption. As this paper will demonstrate, one way to explore whether 3D has become an expected
part of cinema going is to explore the role that the technology plays in audience decision-making
around film selection and viewing, particularly the place of 3D within audience response to film
promotion.
Previous studies of film marketing have shown that the trailer can be the most effective driver for
decision making and film consumption. This paper will detail how a current research survey of trailer
audience viewing habits and consumption patterns reveals the highest rated trailer elements that
influence decision-making, promotional recall and the main sites of trailer viewing.
Offering the first analysis of this unique data set, the paper will demonstrate the absence of 3D from
key debates within audience decision-making, trailer content, and claims of trailer-film fidelity.
Exploring these absences, the paper will show that even high-profile 3D films such as Gravity (2013)
and The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug (2013) are not highly rated by audiences in terms of awareness of
3D or desire for 3D product, and suggest why this should be of concern for the continued expansion of
3D cinema.
Bio-bibliography
Keith M. Johnston is Senior Lecturer in Film & Television at the University of East
Anglia. He is an expert in 3D media history, 3D trailers, and film marketing, with
publications on aspects of 3D in Film History, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and
Television, Journal of Popular Film & Television and Convergence: The International
Journal for Research into Media Technologies. He has spoken on 3D and film
marketing at conferences in London, Edinburgh, Stockholm, Portland and Boston,
and is heading a bid to create an international network of 3D scholars.
Session A: Production Aesthetics
(10:00-11:15am)
Martin Uren and Caroline Orme
Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication
Presentation Title: Improving production and post-production aesthetics
(10:00-10:45am)
Abstract
Sergei Eisenstein believed that connecting with audiences was at the heart of filmmaking or, as he put
it, understanding how to “throw a bridge across the gulf separating the spectator and the actor”
(Mendiburu et al, 2012). How to construct this bridge is central to the accumulated film work
presented here as extracts and accompanying analysis from both production and reception
perspectives. The body of experimental work firstly asks questions on the nature of the passive/active
viewer and how audiences can be transported through an immersive mise-en-scene. Secondly
investigations were made on the use of volume as a new creative tool; how to ‘sculpt in space’. Thirdly,
Uren and Orme explore the production aesthetic of stereoscopic production and storytelling.
The researchers will present and discuss ‘Back 2 The Wild’ (a pop promo teaser for Basement Jaxx) and
‘The Silver Ghosts’, a multi-camera as-live film-noire musical.
‘Back 2 The Wild’ uses a combination of metric montage and analytical editing with the added
grammar of depth to enhance tension. During the sequence the depth arcs, taking the characters from
screen space out to the viewer in audience space and finally back into screen space. Singers and
dancers are camouflaged within nature enticing the viewer to go ‘Back 2 The Wild’. The background
day for night grade combined with the surreal foreground shots creates a magical quality giving the
viewer a hyper-real sensation.
‘The Silver Ghosts’ involved a crew and cast of forty people with three mirror rigs and a unibody
camera. The film explores how 3D stereoscopic can be used as an integral part of the storytelling. One
of the most significant camera set-ups is from the spectator’s perspective; the viewer therefore
becomes essential to the narrative, ergo, one of the main central characters.
Reference
Mendiburu, B., Pupulin, Y. and Schklair, S. (2012), 3DTV and 3D Cinema: Tools and Processes for
Creative Stereoscopy. Oxford: Elsevier.
Bio-bibliography
Caroline Orme and Martin Uren are both members of staff at Ravensbourne
(Caroline is a Senior Lecturer on the Post Production BA programme while Martin is
the Subject Leader for Broadcast Technology and runs the four Broadcast
Technology pathway BSc courses.) Both have completed the MSc 3D Stereoscopic
Media programme at Ravensbourne. They have collaborated on four 3D short films,
which cover different genres, each increasingly ambitious in scope and content, and
have extended their practice base as well as informing their research. Their work has
featured in:

3DFF (3D Film Festival ), Los Angeles,

3D KIFF (Korean International Film Festival),

Seoul3DFilmusic,

3D Film and Music Festival, Barcelona (Won Special Mention Award),
 Parallax Stereoscopic Video Art Festival, Prague.
Diekus Gonzalez
The Autonomous University of Barcelona and Ravensbourne College of Design and
Communication
Presentation Title: 3-D Stereoscopic Media: Articulating the third dimension online.
(10:45-11:15am)
Abstract
The 3D capability of the World Wide Web is growing at an interesting pace with the introduction of
technologies such as WebGL and frameworks like ThreeJS. These enable 3D model usage and native
animation running in a browser without the need for plugins and with a good performance.
Nonetheless, there is yet a gap in the study, experimentation and tool availability for the application of
stereoscopic depth within user interface (UI) development in a web environment. Nowadays, a web
page UI is built with HTML - an open UI development standard. However HTML tools for proper
stereoscopic depth management are not available yet, but hopefully soon to come.
In order to find a proper application, we played with HTML5 and HTML5 Canvas. We have managed to
create the stereoscopic depth illusion using only the tools provided by the current web standards.
Above all, we tried to tame this effect and use it as a tool for the development of better UIs.
However, how do you articulate this? There are usability and design issues that need to be tackled. Can
it be stated that the same patterns repeat over the 2D version of a web application and its 3D
counterpart? Can we use depth as a semantic highlighter or hierarchical aggregator? In this space we
expose our most recent findings, which include the built tools (both HTML5 and canvas based) and the
results of an eye tracking experiment in which a search engine result page was used to examine the
viewing pattern of the users. We will also open a debate on what defines our line of research regarding
interaction and interface design in this stereoscopic area.
Bio-bibliography
Diego González Zúñiga (Diekus) is a computer engineer from Costa Rica. He holds a
master degree in Information Systems from the Costa Rican Institute of Technology
and a master degree in Multimedia Technologies from the Autonomous University of
Barcelona. He is currently undergoing his PhD studies focused on Stereoscopic User
Interfaces, and collaborates with Ravensbourne as a Research Associate. He will focus
his talk on the work being done in this research group on stereoscopic 3D on the web.
Coffee Break 11:15 - 11:30 am
Session B: Advance Production Technologies
(11:30am-13:00pm)
Panel Session Chair: Kathleen Schroeter
Fraunhofer HHI
Presentation Title: Fraunhofer HHI & the 3D Innovation Center and it's work on tomorrows
3D.
(11:30-11:45am)
Bio-bibliography
Kathleen Schroeter is working since 2007 for the 'Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft'. Starting
with organisation of international fairs for Fraunhofer HHI's Image Processing
Department, she changed in 2009 to the inhouse consulting area of Fraunhofer and
helped the 'Fraunhofer-Marketing-Netzwerk' to build new structures under a new
project management in Berlin. Finishing as the Project Co-ordinator she moved on to
Fraunhofer's newly formed '3D Innovation Center' as its Executive Manager in early
2011.
Earlier she worked in the field of Regional Broadcasting in Berlin, Germany, and
Event Management in Sydney, Australia.
Ralf Tanger,
Fraunhofer HHI
Presentation Title: Trifocal Capture: A new way towards S3D content production.
(11:45am-12:15pm)
Bio-bibliography
Ralf Tanger graduated in Electrical Engineering at the Technical University of Berlin in
1996. In 1997 he joined the Image Processing Department of the Fraunhofer
Institute for Telecommunications HHI as researcher. Since 2002 he is scientific
project manager. He was and is engaged in several European and German research
projects in the fields of segmentation, video conferencing and 3D video. Currently he
is mainly interested in 3D video analysis, alternative production technologies for S3D
and content creation for AS3D. Ralf is a member of IEEE, SMPTE and VDI.
Sönke Kirchhof,
reallifefilm international GmbH
Presentation Title: Research, Development and Use Case: The Trifocal System from a
Producers’ and ASP from a Stereographers' Point of view
(12:15-12:30pm)
Bio-bibliography
Sönke works as producer, stereographer and consultant. He is also a sought-after
instructor for workshops and lectures at universities and private academies. In 2006
he founded reallifefilm international GmbH (rlf int), a Company highly specialized in
research and development as well as stereoscopic 3D filmmaking from development
to postproduction. With his expertise, he is involved in all kinds of Projects, from Live
Broadcast to Feature Film Projects. Partners and Clients of reallifefilm international
belong to research and development institutions (e.g. Fraunhofer / Heinrich Hertz
Institute, 3D Innovation Center) and Industry-Leading Companies (e.g. Walt Disney
Studios, ARRI).
Jean-Claude Rosenthal
Fraunhofer HHI
Presentation Title: ASP camera system: Automated Stereo Production
(12:30-13:00pm)
Bio-bibliography
Jean-Claude Rosenthal graduated in Computer Science at the University of
Koblenz-Landau in 2006.
He wrote his diploma thesis about feature matching at the DLR/German
Aerospace Centre in Berlin.
Since 2007 he was working for three years in the field of industrial
photogrammetry. In 2010 he joined the Image Processing Department of the
Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications HHI as a research associate.
Since late 2012 he is a scientific project manager for the German research
project automated stereo production (ASP). He was and is engaged in
research projects in the fields of feature extraction and matching, 3D
panoramic imaging and 3D video. Currently he is mainly interested in mobile
3D video analysis and 3D video streaming applications.
Lunch Break 13:00-14:00pm
Afternoon Session (14:00 -17:00pm)
Session A: Emerging Storytelling Techniques: Audience Immersion and 3-D Stereoscopy
(14:00 – 15:00pm)
Dr Nick Jones
Queen Mary, University of London
Presentation Title: Paradoxical Media: Defining 3-D Aesthetics
(14:00-14:15pm)
Abstract
Is 3-D a stylistic add-on, a technological addition that only slightly modifies its planar source material of
complementary overlapping images? Or does it completely diverge from 2-D, the 3-D apparatus
transforming its twinned planar inputs into a fundamentally different kind of media presentation,
offering as a result a unique spectator experience? While theoretical explorations of 3-D by Miriam
Ross and Thomas Elsaesser (not to mention comments by many industry luminaries) stress the latter,
the prevailing manner in which 3-D films are released – in which they exist in the marketplace
alongside a 2-D version – emphasises the former. This paper will explore how filmmakers seek to
reconcile these disparate understandings of 3-D, as they create and market films that both feature 3-D
as a supplementary thrill, yet also assert the primacy and uniqueness of the 3-D ‘experience’.
Arguing that stereoscopic exhibition is – due to its intensely embodied qualities – wholly different to 2D exhibition, this paper will proceed to examine the methods by which filmmakers nonetheless put
stereoscopy to work in the service of media forms (such as narrative feature films) whose bases of
reference are overwhelmingly planar. At issue is how these texts negotiate the potentially competing
demands of stereoscopic appeal and planar legibility. This is revealed to be a paradox: 3-D films must
provide enough stereoscopic spectacle (including but far from limited to emergence effects) to justify
their use of the format, yet they must also successfully function as non-stereoscopic entertainment in
both cinematic and domestic contexts.
As will be shown, it is through the rigorous application of continuity filmmaking systems and the
infrequent foregrounding of parallax effects that this paradox is stylistically, if not resolved, then at
least worked around. Such an approach allows these films to operate as trans-media artefacts, being
both planar and stereoscopic (a status reflected in their promotion within the cinematic marketplace).
A 3-D aesthetic has thus developed which is simultaneously highly particular and deeply indebted to
planar methods of cinematic representation.
Bio-bibliography
Nick recently completed his PhD on contemporary Hollywood and spatial theory at
Queen Mary, University of London. He has recently published an article on digital special
effects in Animation: An Interdisciplinary Journal (November 2013), and has an article
exploring the intersection of continuity editing systems and 3D aesthetics forthcoming in
Cinema Journal. He is also managing editor of the website Mapping Contemporary
Cinema
(mcc.sllf.qmul.ac.uk)
and
a
co-founder
of
Look/Think
Films
(cargocollective.com/lookthinkfilms), whose first feature, Benny Loves Killing, won Best
Horror at the Oregon Independent Film Festival in 2013.
Prof. Ludger Pfanz
Karlsruhe University of Art
Presentation Title: 3D Story Architecture – Structure and Style of Space-Time Narratives.
(14:15-14:30pm)
Abstract
To create specific and original 3D content will be the crucial threshold in the future of 3D Cinema and
when it comes to 3D-TV and the use of 3D on mobile devices.
So far we have with a few mentioned exceptions mainly 2D films with an attached “Third Dimension”,
that is because producers want to have 3D films but also want to milk the 2D markets and because the
Art of 3D Story-telling is not developed yet.
In the lecture I want to develop one of the possible models of a 3D dramaturgy based on the following
thesis:
 3D starts with the script.
 Each picture “frame” in 3D is a “stage”.
 The space “topos” and its coordinates have (need) “meaning”.
 3D movies need depth dramaturgy.
There are new possibilities not only to create tension und suspense in time but also to create vertical,
horizontal and z-Axis dramaturgy.
Bio-bibliography
Prof. Ludger Pfanz is Head of BEYOND FESTIVAL. Ludger Pfanz is a director
and
producer,
known
for Greenpeace
gegen
Shell (2005), Der
Schwarzarbeiter (2002) and Las Américas (1996).
Ludger Pfanz was born in Schopfloch, Germany, in 1958. After studying
theatre and literary theory at the Free University of Berlin, he completed the
degree course in filmmaking at the Academy of Fine Arts in Hamburg with
honours. He has been an instructor and head of the studios at the University
of Arts and Design at the ZKM Karlsruhe since 1997, as well as the
spokesman of the Media Arts faculty since 2002.
http://www.hfg-karlsruhe.de/lehrende/akad-mitarbeiter/ludger-pfanz.html
He graduated from the EAVE continuing education program for European
producers in 2002.
He is director and founder of "Expanded Cinema 3Digital Laboratory", the
"3D Alliance Karlsruhe", the international festival " BEYOND ", the
international academic "3D Consortium" and the international symposium
"Future Cinema-Future TV: 3D and BEYOND". http://www.beyondfestival.com Since 2010 he is also an honorary professor of the KarlsUniversity for "Cultural Management" and "Media Management".
http://karlshochschule.de/de/hochschule/menschen/lehrbeauftragte/profludger-pfanz/
He is coordinator of the EU training project "Parallax". One qualification
campaign with the Czech Republic and France. http://www.parallaxproject.eu
Ludger Pfanz teaches worldwide in German, English and Spanish, among
others, at the NFTS in London England, at CIANT Prague Czech Republic, HFF
Potsdam, HFF Munich, ifs Cologne, Liège Belgium, "Universidad de Bellas
Arges" Santa Cruz and “University of Barcelona” Spain, University of
Aberdeen, University of Helsinki, at the University of California, USA, KEYO
University in Tokyo Japan, Nanyang University in Singapore, Campo Grande
in Brazil and Disney research in Zurich.
Ludger Pfanz was elected by the German government as cultural and creative
pilot Germany 2012 and in the same year his symposium "BEYOND" received
the award "Germany Land of Ideas".
2014 he founded the European Program “Future Design: Artictic visions for
Europe and BEYOND” and “The European Film-Winter-School” on the Canary
Islands. Ludger Pfanz works as a producer, director and author.
Dr Lisa Purse
University of Reading
Presentation Title: “I’m off structure and I’m drifting”: sensing space, sensing movement in
Gravity
(14:30-14:45pm)
Abstract
In this paper I want to challenge a trend, evident in many of the critical responses to Gravity, towards
undervaluing the contribution 3D makes to the film as a narrative experience. Certainly,
Gravity has been lauded as a ‘game-changer’ in terms of its ground breaking technological
advancements and in its long take practice, which is characterized by an unmooring of the frame from
traditional figure/ground relations, a highly mobile camera, and what cinematographer Lubezki has
called ‘elastic shots’ (Chang 2013) which shift between camera distances and between subjective and
objective views without cutting. And yet the critical discussion of the film’s 3D is usually curtailed,
rolled into a general statement about the film’s immersive aspects, or about the film as spectacle.
Once again, 3D is associated with thrill rides and spectacular attractions, rather than with the
sophisticated production of meaning. What of the narrative potential of 3D?
This paper seeks to correct this persisting critical association of 3D only with spectacle, and to fully
recognise the potential of 3D to be narratively communicative, and in doing so seeks to reverse one of
the emerging myths about Gravity – that it has minimal narrative dimensions. Through an analysis of
the interaction of stereoscopic design and long take practice in the film, I will argue that the narrative
aspects of Gravity extend beyond its allegedly stripped down narrative set-up. Stereoscopic design is
key to the film’s elucidation of its main character’s experience of moorings, trajectories and agency lost
and found, and key, too, to our embodied identification with that experience. Showing how long take
duration, mobile framing, diegetic depth and diegetic movement are dramatised in creative, narratively
communicative ways across the 3D depth budget, this paper demonstrates the affective power and
artistic potential of digital 3D and complicates our ideas of what it means to say a film is ‘immersive’.
Bio-bibliography
Dr Lisa Purse is Associate Professor of Film in the Department of Film, Theatre & Television at the University of
Reading. Her research focuses on digital aesthetics, genres, and the relationship between film style and the politics
of representation in contemporary cinema. She is the author of Digital Imaging in Popular Cinema (EUP, 2013) and
Contemporary Action Cinema (2011), and her work has been published in, among others, Screening Women
(2011), American Hollywood: Directory of World Cinema (2011), Film Moments: Critical Methods and Approaches
(2010), Cinephilia in the Age of Digital Reproduction: Film, Pleasure and Digital Culture vol. 1 (2009) and the journal
Film Criticism. She is currently working on a project on the aesthetics of Digital 3-D.
Session B: Redesigning Spaces: Audience Experience of the Stereoscopic Mise en Scene.
(15:15 – 16:15pm)
Dr Bernard Harper
Liverpool University
Presentation Title: Movies and Vision: Why 3-D is better than 2-D.
(15:15-15:30pm)
Bio-bibliography
Dr Bernard Harper is qualified professional photographer who completed his PhD in Visual Perception at the
School of Psychology in University of Liverpool in 2007. His thesis explained for the first time how technically
correct 2D photography can be both fattening and convey distorted perception of true shape and size. The
experiments were funded by the UK government’s Independent Television Commission. They were designed to
explore the advantages and disadvantages of 3DTV and investigate claims by TV performers and presenters that
TV cameras "add 10 lbs" (4.5 Kg) to on-screen body-weight. This claim was strongly supported by the research. The
main findings were that 2D photography is an innately fattening medium that produces consistently overweight
images of people over a wide range of photographic conditions. A counter-intuitive finding was the fattening effect
is sexually dimorphic, and made women appear much fatter than men under the same photographic conditions.
This explains why actresses and models are often so slim, as only the slimmest women can counteract the innate
fattening effects of photography.
Philip Connolly
University of Brighton
Presentation Title: From Peppers Ghost to the iPhone; using 3D to help music videos reach
new audiences in a post digital world.
(15:30-15:45pm)
Abstract
Independent Music Videos: The barriers to low cost production and worldwide distribution have been
broken down by the digital revolution. It’s never been so easy to get your work out there. Conversely
it’s never been so difficult to get noticed. In the online battleground can the use of different viewing
experiences such as 3D, help get your work noticed?
3D has always been a way of making, your work stand out from the crowd (pun intended). It’s still
been underutilized in music video production. Generally budgets and limited places to screen the work
have prevented widespread usage of 3D.
The use of apps and new 3D viewing technique’s hasn’t been fully investigated. This presentation will
look at a practice based research project that investigates the opportunities offered by the Palmtop
theatre (www.palmtoptheater.com) and the iPhone gyroscope method for simulating depth by moving
the device. The palmtop theatre applies the principle of Peppers Ghost to the iPhone, 3 half mirrors
spaced at different depths from the viewer reflect video content from the iPhone screen. It’s not
stereoscopy but due to parallax you get an impressive 3 dimensional effect. It doesn’t require glasses
and image accommodates head movements. The gyro process, recreates the parallax layers of the
palmtop theatre and uses the phone’s gyroscope to adjust the virtual depth of the layers in 3D space.
This conference presentation will look at these new personal ways of viewing 3D. Provide a case study
production for this process with a music video that I directed, “Beatie Wolfe: Lied”. Then discuss the
marketing strategy for the release and how 3D technology supported this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icqD0W38xco
The presentation will discuss the challenges and practicalities of producing content in the palmtop
theatre and gyro format. Consider if it’s a format that’s particularly suited to music videos and how it
impacts production budgets. Having produced a video in this format I will analyze the impact and
successes of the project. Did it get noticed? Did the technology improve the viewing experience
beyond a traditional flat music video? How is the experience different from conventional stereoscopy?
How does the interactive element increase audience engagement?
The production process opened the doors to many creative possibilities. It can be argued that
technology is also a new and exciting art form in its own right. Even if the palmtop theatre may never
become a mainstream device, it lays the groundwork for other exciting uses of the technology –
Peppers Ghost may be back to haunt us again. Press for the App:
http://www.wired.co.uk/wired-insider/2014/meet-beatie-wolfe-and-her-3d-interactive-album
http://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/entertainment/articles/2013-09/25/beatie-wolfe-album-8ight-preview
Bio-bibliography
Phillip Connolly is a senior lecturer in Film and Television production at Brighton University and filmmaker.
Previously, Philip worked as a transmission engineer for Channel 4 and Ascent Media, and then moved to post
production working at Evolutions. He completed an MA in Television Directing at the National Film and Television
school and has since divided his time between academia and production. As a director Philip has made short
narrative films, music videos, interactive 3D music videos and documentaries. Including an award winning viral
promo for Toshiba.
Philip has research interests in media technology, transmedia storytelling, 3D and interactive production
techniques.
Dr Robert Black
Liverpool University
Presentation Title: Ask the audience: live study of a 3D viewing experience.
(15:45-16:00pm)
Abstract
What acquisition factors affect the experience of stereoscopic 3D? Plenty of studies use 3D video
content, but while the display parameters are known (how much parallax and where it is distributed),
the acquisition parameters of interaxial (IA), Horizontal Image Translation (HIT) and Field of view (FOV)
are often lost in preparation. Other studies use simplified 3D objects, but at the expense of ecological
validity (confidence in finding the same result outside of the lab). Can the experience of 3D be
predicted by the amount of parallax alone?
My research to date (Black, Wueger & Meyer, 2013; op. cit. 2014) suggests that when viewing simple
hinge objects, the amount of distortion perceived approximately matches what can be predicted
through ray-tracing. Also, the amount of parallax does not reliably predict comfort. The only time
parallax is measurably related to comfort is when the HIT approximately matches Inter-Pupillary
Distance (IPD). When viewing simple hinge objects with HIT set to approximately IPD, people rate 3D
as (slightly) more comfortable. But this may be due to the choice of stimulus, and is not definitive
advice for content production.
The above experiments fixed viewing position centrally with a chinrest, with the display field of view
matched to that of the camera. So how important is seating position? How does the use of wide angle
or telephoto lenses affect the 3D viewing experience? And is there any interaction between the above
factors?
Recent research has shown that off-axis viewing of 3D content on a 3DTV is fairly insensitive to viewing
angle, in line with the distortions experienced when 2D at all but the most extreme viewing angles
(Bank, Held & Girshick, 2009; Hands & Read, 2013). Is there any difference when this experiment is
repeated in a cinematic environment? And does changing the acquisition factors exacerbate perceived
distortion?
The audience will be shown a range of simple 3D objects, generated from a selection of 3D acquisition
parameters including IA, HIT and FOV. The presented stimulus will still be a simple object, not a movie
scene. The order of presentation will be randomly interleaved to reduce second-guessing the outcome.
Audience members will respond using a web app on their smartphones (with paper backup). They will
input their seating co-ordinates which will be factored to the dimensions of the cinema, so each
audience member’s distance and inclination from the screen will be known. Audience members will
then rate a selection of 3D scenes for distortion and comfort using sliders. The results will be processed
in real time and displayed live for the audience.
Does a creative choice of HIT cause unnatural looking 3D or do audiences not care? Is a matched
seating position to focal length important for comfort? And is the amount of off-axis 3D distortion
experienced affected by the amount of parallax presented?
By engaging the audience to take part and experience an experiment using controlled 3D stimuli, this
simple, quick form of data collection can be a useful tool for 3D content makers to give confidence that
their audience is sitting comfortably.
Acknowledgements: EPSRC Grant No. 113300095 ‘Human factors in the design of stereoscopic 3D’
Creative Industries KTN & Sony Computer Entertainment Europe.
Bio-bibliography
Based at the University of Liverpool, Rob is an academic turned
stereographer turned industry-facing academic sponsored by Sony
Computer Entertainment and the EPSRC. He enjoys the practical application
of vision science to on-set scenarios. And looks forward to succeeding at that
task some day! He holds a patent for a synopter optical device which made
claims to increase depth and detail in 2D images; and hopes he can
contribute this knowledge in particular to have a small role in further
advancing the development of immersive displays.
Dr Lorna Moore
Video Artist
Presentation Title: Be[ing] a part of You: In[bodi]mental a Real-time video performance
(16:00-16:15pm)
Abstract
This paper will present a discourse on the live video performance In[bodi]mental performed at The
Public in West Bromwich 2011. It will discuss what happens to our perception of self when we move
across the boundary between the corporeal self and the live digital image as other. It argues that
In[bodi]mental draws the performer/participant through the video frame were both participants are
immersed in each other. Both performers are suspended in the belief that the live digital image of the
other performer is a part of their own corporeality. The work involves two participants wearing a Head
Mounted Display System linked to a live video feed. Each performers live video feed is swapped over
via a real-time video programme so each participant sees through the eyes of the other performer.
The aim of the work was to perceptually swap the bodies of two performers using real-time video
technology and HMDs to bridge the gap between the performer and the performed, subject and
object. The findings from this work has seen the emergence of an augmented self which
phenomenologically stretches the materiality of the lived body beyond the parameters of a single self
where we share an inter-corporeal experience.
My work focuses on be[ing] rather than becoming and looks to find new ways to immerse the
viewer/participant within the artwork. An exploration into real-time video technology is demonstrating
that we can experience an overlap between subjects were the binary oppositions between self and
other are no longer clear cut divisions but are now emerging as blurred modalities of be[ing] in the
world.
This paper will draw on the work of Roy Ascott a pioneer in consciousness studies and his work on
syncretic reality, phenomenology, psychoanalysis and neuroscience. Locating my work within these
fields articulates the impact In[bodi]mental has had on a participants perception of self. The
reversibility of being able to see through the eyes of the other has created an overlap between the
corporeal body and the real-time digital image which has been the focus of my practice-led doctoral
research.
My findings have concluded that when we interact with our real-time video image we do experience a
merger between the body and the real-time video image. This is most powerful when there is a
disruption in the proprioception of the body through the immersive experience. What seems to
accompany this is a feeling of the uncanny. I argue that when we experience the uncanny we are
somewhat closer to an unfamiliar part of self we have rekindled during the experience – a hyperreal
experience of self. Though I am looking to develop these ideas through 3 Dimensional stereoscopic
Head Mounted Display Systems to immerse the participant further into the frame I would like to
present these ideas and the direction my work is going in.
In[bodi]mental
Bio-bibliography
Doctor Lorna Moore has just completed her practice-led PhD at the University of Wolverhampton. She is an
interactive video artist and has had her work exhibited internationally. Lorna has curated a number of art
exhibitions, collaborated with a number of artists and been an educationalist for twenty years. Originally from
Liverpool Lorna is now living in Bedfordshire were she continues to develop her practice-led research. Lorna is
interested in bridging the boundaries between the participant of the artwork and the artwork. Currently she has
been developing real-time video performances to In[body] participants within the work.
Closing Keynote: Dr Denise Quesnel
Emily Carr University, Canada
Presentation Title: "Creating engaging content for immersive storytelling, and evaluating
individual experiences".
(16:30 – 17:00pm)
Abstract
From pre-production through to delivery, what are the strengths of VFR (variable frame rates), HFR,
(high frame rates), HDR (high dynamic range), and Stereoscopic 3D tools together in combination or
individually apart for immersive storytelling purposes? How does a viewer respond to these new
techniques, and how does it impact their ability to connect with what they are seeing? What
considerations should be made in using these techniques with current production and post-production
infrastructure?
Bio-bibliography
Denise Quesnel, Research associate and post production specialist at the S3D Centre, Emily Carr University of Art +
Design.
Notes:
Postgraduate research in 3D Stereoscopic Media at Ravensbourne College of Design
and Communication.
3D Stereoscopic Media MA/MSc
This pathway takes advantage of Ravensbourne’s advanced technical resources and
strong industry connections to enable you to work collaboratively across disciplines in
3D stereoscopic applied research and work with cutting-edge media technologies to
develop and deliver immersive 3D media to new platforms and provide you with a
grounded and deep exploration of the area.
Working with industry professionals and specialist S3D technology and platform
providers, you will examine all sides of the Stereoscopic 3D story. This includes an
examination of the perceptual science and human vision theory as well capture and
display technologies looking at the biology, psychology and the technologies behind
the current wave of innovation.
You will develop your creative and technical skills through a series of collaborative
projects to design and build rich 3D content, applying a core understanding of the
nature of stereo perception in 3D output. Content will be repurposed for multiple
platforms, from point-of-sale lenticular screens, 3D mobile devices, to 3D cinema,
exploring how narrative and storytelling can be enhanced through stereoscopic
production and delivery.
The digital production and post-production tools will enable you to deliver
3D projects through a full professional stereo pipeline, from capture to delivery. This
course will share some technical delivery with the MA/MSc Broadcast Futures
pathway, encouraging a collaboration of ideas to exploit these exciting new
technologies. The pathway covers the history of Stereoscopic 3D through to the roles
played by modern content and technology companies. You will engage with
production processes and workflows for multiple platforms including specialist
content management, production and post-production techniques.
Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication provides many different
undergraduate and postgraduate courses, for further information on these please see
the website:
rave.ac.uk
Ravensbourne’s Undergraduate Courses:
Film, TV, Broadcasting
Architecture and Interior Design
Product and Interaction Design
Fashion
Graphic and Motion Graphic Design
Animation
Music and Sound
Web Media
Photography and Film
Ravensbourne’s Postgraduate Courses:
MA/MSc 3D Stereoscopic Media
MA Animation Futures
MSc Applied Technologies: Rapid Prototyping & Digital Technologies
MA/MSc Broadcast Futures
Build your own MA
MA Communication Design
MDes Design Management Communication
MA Environment Design
MA Fashion
MA Games Design
MA/MSc Interactive Digital Media
MA/MSc Interactive Product Futures
MDes Luxury Brand Management Innovation
MA Moving Image
MA/MSc Professional Media Practice
MDes Service Design Innovation
MA Visual Effects
MFA/Master of Innovation
Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication
6 Penrose Way
Greenwich Peninsula
London SE10 0EW
rave.ac.uk

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