World's First 4D Film Festival Kicks Off This Weekend

3D FILM FESTIVAL AND LEADING TECHNOLOGY PURVEYORS TO DEBUT TWO NEW GROUNDBREAKING EVENTS AT 7th ANNUAL PROGRAM INCLUDING WORLD’S FIRST 4D FILM FESTIVAL AND NEW VR FEST LINEUP

HOSTED BY:
Regal Cinemas L.A. LIVE and The Hotel Figueroa
DECEMBER 6TH, 2014

3DFF, the worlds first and largest all digital 3D Film Festival presented by 3opolis and RealD will hold its 7th annual event on Saturday, December 6th, 2014 at Regal Cinemas L.A LIVE and The Hotel Figueroa in Downtown Los Angeles between the hours of 10am to 2am. The newly revamped and more immersive festival will feature the advent of two new cutting edge technology programs including a first-of-its-kind 4D Film Festival line up including Dreamworks Animation S.K.G’s 20th Century Fox release of “Penguins of Madagascar in 4D” and Lionsgate’s “The Hunger Games Mockingjay Part 1 in 4D”. Both films will be screened in Regal Cinemas new 4DX enabled movie theater, the first in the United States to feature 4D technology pioneered by CJ 4D Plex.

In addition to its 3D and 4D screenings, parties and panels, 3DFF will also launch a new Virtual Reality Festival initiative that will feature a variety of VR technology displays and content demonstrations provided by leading purveyors. 3DFF Pioneer Award winners Havas Worldwide and Dos Equis will showcase their award winning “Dos Equis Masquerade”, a revolutionary new VR Ad campaign for the Oculus Rift featuring The Most Interesting Man in the World, who stars in this first-ever live action 3D cinematic virtual reality film directed by Jordan Fish and Patrick Sherman in partnership with Montreal based filmmakers Felix & Paul. Note: This exhibit will also be shown at the official 3DFF Costume Masquerade Ball and After Party.

Additional award winning VR displays will be provided including: “11:57” (the first interactive short horror film for VR) presented by Sid Lee with VR technology by Wemersive. This groundbreaking short film will be presented in 3DFF’s very first VR Fright Room, which will demonstrate a fully immersive VR experience for a limited amount of attendees presented by ImmersiON-VRelia on their smartphone powered VR HMD “the GO”. Also, “Collider” presented by Edward Lee (an interactive audiovisual VR experience with motion controls), WemoLab (VR content and software creators); Otherworld Interactive (A VR Content Studio that will be showing off their Mobile and Oculus Experiences); “Freevi” featuring the Flight Deck 3D Android Tablet; Specular Theory (VR content creators) plus other great exhibits.

This special edition one-day 3D Film Festival will open on Saturday December 6th at 10:00am with three back-to-back 4D feature film screenings presented in 4DX followed by a panel discussion entitled “The Evolution of Cinema Panel featuring 3D, 4D and Virtual Reality”, which will take place from 5:00pm to 6:30pm featuring top speakers from the 3D, 4D and Virtual Reality Industries. Moderated by 3DFF Founder Christopher Crescitelli and Head of Post Production Jonathan Shaw this expansive panel will include 3DFF Pioneer Award Winners: Jim Hord (Executive Creative Director for Havas Worldwide/Dos Equis Masquerade); Blair Erickson (Jamwix Founder/ Director of Banshee Chapter 1st VR Feature Film); Theodore Kim (CJ 4D Plex/4DX); Catherine Yi (CJ 4D Plex/4DX ); (Aaron Latham-James (Tech Producer, Stereographer/Guns and Roses Appetite for Democracy 3D); Eric Deren (Creative Director/3DM Music Festival); Ethan Schur (ImmersiON-VRelia) and Stuart Warren Hill (3D Content Creator/Inventor of Holo-gauze).

Also at 5:00pm in theater number five the 3ology Shorts program will be serving up a selection of the best 3D short films, music videos, and experimental content from around the world all presented in RealD 3D. 3DFF is proud to host the big screen debut of NASA’s two amazing 3D short films entitled “International Space Station Tour” and “Astronauts Grow a Water Bubble in Space”. Other world premieres include: from Italy, “Vice Versa 3D”, a 3D short documentary presented by 3DFF alumni Francesco Rotunno and Alessandra Vinotto also “The Whitewashing of 5 Points” directed by Ben Schwartz of Queens, NY; “Carta de la Muerte a Frida” directed by Ana Leticia Reyes & Diego Sandoval of Mexico; “Situation Vacant” directed by Andrew Murchie from the U.K.; “Holotronica” directed by Stuart Warren Hill from the U.K.; “Sunday Morning Drive” directed by Ole Schell of USA; “The Silver Ghosts” directed by 3DFF alumni Caroline Orme from the U.K.; “Airground” directed by Sylvia Nicolaides from Cyprus); “Lost in Reverei” directed by Tom Gifford from USA; “Love Lift Me” directed by Hanspeter Aliesh of Switzerland. “The Art of Diving” directed by Helmut GoerZitz of Germany; among other amazing short films.

Later in the evening at 8:00pm, the festival will world premiere its official Best 3D Documentary Award Winner entitled “Cosplay Dreams 3D” directed by Gulliver Parascandolo. The highly anticipated part live action/part CGI film is the first to tell the story behind the magical world of Cosplay. "As filmmakers, we were immediately captivated by the idea of Cosplay even through we had no idea how popular it was when we started", commented the film's Director Gulliver Parascandolo, "We decided to shoot this film in 3D from the project's inception because the colors, craftsmanship, and art form really immerses you into the fun of Cosplay. Each Cosplayer featured in the film is like a living walking sculpture. Many people are empowered to be, finally, who they WANT to be...though this hobby. That's a very powerful and positive thing. There was no better medium than 3D to bring this world-wide phenomenon to life.”

At 10:00pm 3DFF After Dark will world premiere “Hackin’ Jack vs. The Chainsaw Chick”. This comedic horror film by veteran horror film director Norm de Plume is sure to entertain in Splatter Rama 3D and Thunder Rama Sound. Must be 18 years old to enter.

Directly following a full day of screenings, panels and technology displays, the festival will debut its first all-ages “Cosplay Dreams 3D Costume Masquerade Ball and After Party” which will take place from 9:30pm to 2:00am inside the Hotel Figueroa located across the street from Regal Cinemas. The premiere screening and after party for Cosplay Dreams 3D will be attended by cosplay superstars including YouTube sensation Traci Hines who will appear along with veteran actress Tracy Reiner (League of Their Own/ Apollo 13) who will open the show as Celebrity Host for the evening. Additionally, hundreds of Cosplayers from the Southern California Comic Con Community will be on display at the event in full costume regalia.

Event Information:
The 7th Annual 3D Film Festival will take place on Saturday, December 6th, 2014 at Regal Cinemas L.A. Live and the Hotel Figueroa from 10am to 2am. Please note that all 4D screenings will take place in theater number 6. All 3D screenings will take place in theater 5. All Virtual Reality Lounge demos will be on display in Gala A and B Event Rooms just down the hall from theater 5, with additional activations located on the Mezzanine Level of the theater. The Costume Masquerade Ball and After Party will be located at the Hotel Fig located a short walk down Olympic at the corner of Figueroa.

Tickets and Information:
For tickets please visit http://www.partyearth.com/3dff and for a complete program of events please visit http://www.3DFF.org

Seating:
All seats are filled by 3DFF Badge Holders on a first come first serve basis. If you are a badge holder and wish to RSVP in advance for a particular movie on the day of the event, you can do so by visiting the check in table located in the main lobby of the theater.

Event Location #1:
Regal Cinemas L.A. Live: 1000 W Olympic Blvd, Los Angeles CA 90015. Festival Hours of Operation are from 10:00am to 12:00am at this location.


Event Location #2:
The Hotel Figueroa: 939 S. Figueroa Street #930, Los Angeles CA 90015. Festival After Party Hours of Operation are from 9:30pm to 2:00am at this location.

Parking:
Regal Cinemas will validate 4 hours for $6.00 in any L.A. LIVE Parking Structure. Please bring your parking ticket with you to the theater for validation stamp. Additional parking located just outside L.A. LIVE. Save time and money by taking the Metro and only walk a few short blocks to L.A. LIVE.

Congratulations Chris on the continued success of the festivals! Hope you all can make it.

Dolphin Tale Review

Tim here from the 3D Film Festival (9/22-9/25) where the Opening Night started with a screening of Dolphin Tale.What a touching and heartfelt movie. I have to recommend that you go to see this movie this weekend because it’s a great family film for everyone. The 3Dwas very well done and was a perfect compliment to the drama.

First let me cover the story, which was a solid and strong one. Inspired by true events the screenwriters took some liberties in order to make the film more open to the audience. They were successful by making Sawyer (Nathan Gamble) the entry point and perspective from which the story is told. He had fantastic character development and Nathan performed in the role very well for a kid of his age. In order to raise the stakes the screenwriters added certain elements, and as well comical relief in the form of a pelican named Rufus. All these were hugely successful.

When it comes to the performances throughout the movie they were all solid, with Harry Connick Jr., Ashley Judd, Morgan Freeman, and Kris Kristofferson rounding out the veteran adult cast members. The two kids, Gamble and Cozi Zuehisdorff (Hazel), were matched perfectly against each other and managed to carry the movie well. And then there’s Winter the dolphin, who played herself in the movie. There’s an old saying in Hollywood that working with children and animals make for difficult filming environments, and this movie had both to great effect. As I stated above I think each character was given ample amount of character development, including Winter, and made it so that the audience grows with the characters.

The suspension of disbelief wasn’t really a problem considering the fact that it was based on a true story, but I did have trouble with a few things done by the children. I think that one character says it best when they state, “Just don’t let anyone know that this was all put together by a bunch of 11 year olds.” I couldn’t agree more with that level of disbelief because it is a complete fabrication by the screenwriters, however it serves the greater story and draws the child audience members towards activity. That’s a very positive message that I’m glad that the movie portrays.

Charles Martin Smith (AirBud) is a great director, and because he’s an actor’s director he worked fantastically with the kids. He knew all the right places to evoke emotion from his audience and I think that with this film he reminded everyone that he makes great family movies. He employed great use of the stereoscopic technology,which brings me to…

The 3D in the film was on the safe side in the right way. I felt that the depth grew as each character’s life was impacted by their meeting with Winter, and that was a great use of the technology. Also all the underwater shots were fantastic in stereo, as has been proved by Cameron previously with his documentaries. And as I said at the start of the review I believe that it was the close intimate shots that were greatly enhanced by 3D. This is one of the movies that we have been looking for to prove just how effective 3D works in those dramatic scenes. There were issues however because of the reflections off water and at times the white levels being so high that it caused a few peaking problems. (Editor's note: newer productions will likely leave reflections of light to a post 3D conversion process rather than use native 3D cameras). Other than those few issues, which will be solved as the technology continues to evolve, the 3D was a great addition to this movie.

I have to suggest that you go out and see this movie. Either with your family or friends, this is a feel good movie that works as a wonderful emotional ride. I would definitely see this movie again in theaters and in 3D.

Now there’s more that you can do beyond seeing this movie. The Clearwater Marine Aquarium that the movie is based on is looking to expand their facilities and need money in order to do so. As well they need to give care to countless animals that have been injured and need recuperation. So please visit seewinter.com to learn more about the amazing dolphin that this movie is about and donate to their cause.

To learn more about the movie visit dolphintalemovie.warnerbros.com.

Topanga Film Festival 3D Day

Hi everyone, Tim Buttner here. I've decided that my first post will be about my recent visit to the Topanga Film Festival that ran July 28-31. Saturday July 30 marked the Festival’s “3D Day” where they screened several 3D short films, some trailers from upcoming 3D films, and had a panel discussion from industry professionals.

It was a beautiful sunny day deep in the Topanga Canyon hills, held in the main auditorium near the Topanga Elementary School, where RealD had provided a screen for the day’s event while Christie provided the projector that had the RealD polarizing lens in front of it. Max Penner of Paradise FX was on hand to set up the projector along with Eric Kurland, President of the LA 3D Club. Max also took part in the panel later in the day. Ray “3D” Zone was also in attendance. Mr. Kurland provided a number of 3D shorts from the LA 3D Club’s Movie Fest, including the winners from previous years. Mr. Penner showed trailers from Dolphin Tale and Fright Night, and as well a 6-minute single take of a turtle 50 feet below the surface in the coral reef of the Cayman Islands. Everyone really enjoyed the cool underwater 3D footage.

The icing on the day though was a panel discussion consisting of Mr. Penner, Wayan Palmieri (Digital Revolution Studios), Ted Kenny (3ality Digital Systems), Michael Page (3D StereoLab), Erik Spicard (3D Filmmaker), and neuroscientist Dr. Alan Horsager, Ph.D. Dr. Horsager started it off with a brief overview of how we perceive 3D in real life and his thoughts on why we gravitate towards 3D films. Each panelist introduced themselves and explained how they got into 3D filmmaking, and as well what projects they have worked on. They voiced their thoughts on where the technology is going and how its becoming more accessible to the public. They commented that the format has yet to have its Michelangelo’s or Da Vinci’s and that we’ve yet to see what some people can do with it.

Afterwards I caught Wayan Palmieri to inquire about what editing software DRS would be switching to after the disastrous release of Final Cut Pro X, and he told me that they were moving to Avid. It seems Apple has pushed a number of professionals back into Avid’s hands, but Mr. Palmieri informed me that he is on the BETA team for Avid to integrate 3D tools in Media Composer 6.

Topanga’s first inclusion of 3D in the festival went well and it should become a staple of the festival. Next year I’m sure they’ll have more projects to show and the attendance will be twice as large, possibly even larger.

For more info on the festival and to perhaps attend next year, check out www.topangafilmfestival.com.

IRON DOORS 3D Wins Best 3D Feature Award!

Nice job! We reported last month that IRON DOORS 3D was being presented at the 3DFF and they pulled it off and won first place at the festival in Los Angeles!

First photo has Axel Wedekind, Alexandre Aja and Stephen Manuel, left to right. The second shot has Manuel, Wedekind and Thomas Jane.

Here is the official press release (seen exclusively here first!):
San Diego-based 3D Production studio PassmoreLab and FullFeedback Productions of Germany took home first place at the 3D Film Festival in Hollywood last night for their new independent film “Iron Doors 3D”. The partners took home the top prize in the 3D Narrative Feature Film (Conversion) category.

The film world-premiered at the Los Angeles Film School during 3DFF in Hollywood, with a full red carpet press event and screening.

The feature was directed by Stephen Manuel and stars Axel Wedekind. PassmoreLab handled all aspects of 3D production out of San Diego.

“We are honored to accept this award from 3DFF, and we also want to thank Stephen for trusting and allowing us the creative freedom to use stereoscopy as a gentle storytelling tool. The best part is that this award confirms the validity of this approach to the film,” said Greg Passmore, president of PassmoreLab. “We chose to use depth as a tool and not a gimmick. Iron Doors is a film that uses 3D, rather than it being a ‘3D film’. In the early days of computer graphics, there were a whole slew of CGI films. Eventually, those using CGI stopped being referred to as "CGI films" -- for example, District 9 -- an effects film where the effects are not the point. That’s what we did with Iron Doors - not poke the viewer in the eye or throw things at the camera – but use 3D to help provide a sense of presence for the viewer.”

The film is a tale of one man’s intense struggle to free himself from inside a locked vault. He has no idea how he got in the vault – or how to get out – but he somehow must escape before he dies of dehydration.

“As a filmmaker, you always hope the audience can grasp the vision you have in your head,“ said Director Stephen Manuel. “The way we used 3D in this film really helped to draw the audience in on the intense claustrophobia of the story. You feel like you are actually inside the vault.”

“Iron Doors 3D” is the first collaboration between PassmoreLab and Fullfeedback Productions. The film’s European premiere takes place on October 7 at the Raindance Film Festival (http://www.raindance.co.uk) in London, England.

About PassmoreLab
Passmorelab, the San Diego-based multi-media 3D production studio, has the world’s largest library of 3D content available for licensing. The studio custom-designs and builds its own RED camera 3D rigs for both conventional and rugged film productions. Passmorelab’s proprietary technology for state-of-the-art 3D post production is known in the industry for quick turnaround times and competitive costs. Additional offices in Russia and the Philippines. www.passmorelab.com, or contact Steve Glum 858.200.5813.

About Fullfeedback Productions
Fullfeedback Productions is a new production company that was founded by Director Stephen Manuel and Producer Axel Wedekind in order to develop, finance and produce motion pictures for the international market. Iron Doors is their first production. www.irondoorsthemovie.com

3DX: 3D Film & Entertainment Technology Festival - Singapore, November 19-23

Hey now this looks very inviting! Think I may need to plan a trip to Asia soon...

The 3DX: 3D Film & Entertainment Technology Festival is billed as the world's FIRST FULLY 3D Film Festival! This is awesome. I am not going to lie - I had the same idea for a 3D only film festival; its an idea whose time has come especially in light of the growing 3D component of recent film festivals and industry shows. I am glad that this is finally underway.

There are two confirmed 3D movies to be screened at the show: "Fly Me To The Moon" (Tim Curry) and "Journey To The Center Of The Earth 3D" (Brendan Fraser) - I would definitely look for more announcements for this show as there are a slew of other 3D movies opening up in that timeframe (see the 3D movie list).

Attendees will also be treated to a red carpet reception and celebration, forums featuring guest speakers, directors, 3-D pioneers, visionaries and catalysts, and other special entertainment events for the public.

More when it comes available.