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It Came from the Third Dimension

Apr 9, 2009 12:00 PM, By Michael Goldman

DreamWorks rethinks 3D production with Monsters vs. Aliens.

Katzenberg's 3D Dream

As Monsters vs. Aliens got ready to debut, DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg took time to chat with millimeter about the movie's significance as the launching point of DreamWorks' agenda to convert the animated film industry to the gospel of stereo. Katzenberg has been promoting this agenda for years and has been aggressively pushing the exhibition industry to accelerate its conversion to digital cinema generally and to stereoscopic-capable systems specifically. He discussed the state of that transition, why it's important, and his passion for this unique format.

millimeter: How are you feeling about the debut of Monsters vs. Aliens in terms of how it will impact DreamWorks' agenda with stereoscopic filmmaking moving forward?

Katzenberg: For DreamWorks Animation, it's our first opportunity to actually author a movie using these new digital tools and show the world what we can do with them. I'm feeling pretty confident about it. As you know, we committed all our productions from here on to being authored in 3D, so in that sense, I think it's a beginning of a new era in movie-making. Of course, everything we do in 3D won't matter if we don't tell a great story—that remains at the root of it all. I think we achieved that here, and now we have another opportunity, another device, for telling that story in a particularly exciting way. I think our audience will find [the stereoscopic presentation] an exceptional and unique way to see a movie.

What is the state of the conversion of cinemas so that they can present this movie and others like it in all their stereo glory? The cinema owners group (DCIP Consortium) only agreed late last year to a framework for wiring cinemas for stereo, and since then we've had a severe economic downturn. What's your view on where that transition stands?

The economic crisis has had a dramatic impact on the rollout. Right now, we are anticipating there will be approximately 2,000 screens in North America that can show this movie in 3D, and that includes about 150 IMAX [large-format film] screens. That's about half of what I originally anticipated this time last year, before the financial markets collapsed. So for sure, there has been a meaningful delay in getting this as widely deployed as I hoped and wanted. But, having said that, to be on 2,000 screens is more than enough for there to be a real proof of concept for this new movie platform. I would say that I anticipate that by the time Shrek 4 comes out next May, we hope to have around 7,000-plus theaters able to play it [in 3D].

For you personally, why have you been so passionate on the topic of the cinematic 3D-viewing experience, and what have you learned trying to sell it to the industry and to consumers? The Monsters vs. Aliens Super Bowl promotion, for instance, was criticized by some media pundits for not living up to the hype.

We did a stereo test with a sequence of Kung Fu Panda as a proof of concept for our artists and to help us develop the tools we needed to make a whole film this way. But that test sequence in 3D was also valuable and instructive for convincing exhibitors and various partners around the world so they could see what we were going for with Monsters vs. Aliens. I think they saw this isn't their father's 3D.

There is so much going on with [home-viewing technology], but I still feel that what a movie theater can do on a very big screen, which impacts peripheral vision and is important for that sense of immersion, in a completely black environment, allows us to deliver a super-high level of 3D resolution. So, I believe in this because it is truly a movie-theater experience that is special and unique and beyond what you can find somewhere else.

Do I think we've done everything perfectly along the way [developing and promoting the concept]? No, I don't. Do I have any regrets? No, I don't. Do I think this is something that everyone will embrace as the second coming? Obviously not. But I am extremely excited about the quality of the experience we are making available to movie-goers.

What about the role of the technology companies in making all this happen—helping DreamWorks build a real and permanent stereo pipeline?

Without HP and Intel, we could not have been able to get to where we are today. We don't have the resources and an R&D staff big enough to conquer the many unknowns we've encountered on the way to making this movie. Without those companies, we simply could not be making these movies. And that goes above and beyond the traditional vendor-customer relationship. They extended themselves so much in so many ways. In some ways, I feel both of those companies are the godparents of DreamWorks Animation and the work that we do.
—M.G.

Continue the discussion on “Crosstalk” the Millimeter Forum.
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