Wednesday, April 4, 2012

DAYS OF OUR LIVES Recorded in 3D; But Why?

During the "Focus on 3D TV" conference earlier today at MIPTV in Cannes, France we learned that DAYS OF OUR LIVES has already been experimenting with 3D production and has, in fact, already shot an episode in 3D.

According to their press kit, MIPTV "isn’t just a market to buy and sell. MIPTV is also a great opportunity to get your message across to media and clients. It is a unique opportunity to reach out to the 300 or so journalists who attend the show. MIPTV is the international platform where the international television and digital media gather at one time in one place."

The audience at the conference watched clips of DAYS OF OUR LIVES in 3D. The primary point of the demonstration, according to Spencer Stephens, Chief Technology Officer of Sony Pictures USA, was that 3D for TV can be achieved working to a 2D schedule and for little extra cost. In fact, the examples were produced with a traditional crew and a 3D crew recording t the same time, in a process termed, believe it or not, "5D."

Sony Pictures has been working on trimming the time it takes to record in 3D. They claim the hour-long DAYS episode was shot in 3D and 2D in one day.

It seems the point of the experiment was to demonstrate that 3D is now a viable option for scripted TV dramas, because 3D no longer drags down the shoot schedule. The fact that the process is still significantly more expensive was brushed aside--which seems a bit ridiculous in this age of cancellations.

Nevertheless, We Love Soaps is impressed that NBC was interested in experimenting with the technology. Does this indicate an eye on the long-term future of DAYS? Also, the fact that high-quality 3D is now possible with a one-day turnaround on a one-hour episode is also impressive--although it's also, most likely, irrelevant.

Still, it seems clear there are plenty of ways to spend money on the four remaining daytime soaps without shelling out for a technology no one (that we ever heard of) is clamoring for. Stephens argues that soaps may want to go 5D for posterity, asking, “You have to think about what you put in the vault. I mean, what do we do with SD shows now?”

Again, a weak argument after years of budget cut after budget cut. If anything, the path chosen by UK soaps CORONATION STREET and EMMERDALE might be realistic. Both shot their title sequence in 3D in 2010. More than that seems like too much, too soon.

Read more about the "Focus on 3D TV" conference at MIPTV here. What do you think about 3D soaps? Tell us in the Comments section, below.

3 comments:

  1. What's next? Soap Hunk Holograms in my living room!

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  2. Imagine what 3D could bring to the fantastic world of product placement. ;-)

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  3. I didn't get the idea that NBC had much to do with this. Days of Our Lives is produced by Sony Pictures (not NBC) and simply licensed to NBC.

    To me, it sounded more like Sony just chose three of its very own properties - each with diverse production requirements - to show that the technology they're touting can work in a variety of situations. So to that end, they selected one of their soap operas (Days), one of their sit-coms (Happy Endings), and an upcoming motion picture that they're producing (Battle of the Year) to demonstrate how adaptive their technology is. - jmho

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