There are many factors to take into consideration when shooting in 3D. Lens changes and shot setups take a great deal more time with 3D, so it was decided early on that there would be two camera rigs, each with different focal lengths to cover the same action simultaneously from two different angles.  Occasionally, there would be a lens change.  While one camera would change lenses, the other would continue shooting additional coverage or B-roll.

The production made use of the SI-2K Mini by Silicon Imaging – the camera that grew greatly in popularity after it was used in the production of Slumdog Millionaire. The camera is a bayer-pattern CMOS camera, recording Cineform RAW at 2K DCI compliant resolution (2048×1152).  The lenses were matched pairs of Zeiss DigiPrimes. The P+S Technik universal lens mount system for the SI-2K allows for the use of C, F, B4, and PL mounts without re-collimation.
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The SI-2K Mini is just the sensor module detached from the SI-2K camera body and is about the size of two decks of cards stacked together. This provides a great advantage over other 3D camera systems that have full body construction and integrated signal processing (RED ONE, F23, etc).  By using smaller cameras, it is much easier to create a lightweight 3D rig that can be handheld and quickly modified for a variety of applications.

Each rig uses two SI-2K Minis. Both cameras derive power from a junction box that provides synchronization between the cameras. This ensures that the camera’s electronic shutters are synced. Non-synced shutters will generate horizontal tearing and disparity between the two eyes that, when viewed in 3D, will ruin the 3D experience.

Both cameras are connected to a single Cinedeck recorder over two GigE connections via Lemo adapters.  The Cinedeck is a 7”, handheld 8-core Intel computer running Microsoft Windows XP and the Silicon DVR application.  The SI-2K Mini is a completely flexible system.  By using a Windows-based computer as the digital processor, the end-user is able to dictate the way they want to run the show. You can record to the full size SI-2K camera, which itself is a Windows-based computer, a Windows workstation, laptop, or Cinedeck recorder.  This is a huge advantage with 3D because every situation is going to be different and mobility is extremely important.

Silicon DVR is a software interface that serves as the brain of the SI-2K Mini, which is simply a camera sensor with a GigE output of RAW data, and no signal processing capability of its own.  Silicon DVR is capable of recording both left and right eyes simultaneously to the same Quicktime (*.mov) file.  This may be a little confusing at first.

It’s actually recording a Cineform RAW file, wrapped as a Quicktime file.  This allows the footage to be compatible with a wide variety of post-production applications such as Avid, Final Cut Pro, etc.  Once you install the Cineform codec, any application with Quicktime architecture can support the footage.  So, both eyes are contained within one file, meaning that the editor doesn’t have to sync up footage from two camera sources or media manage multiple eyes.  Just one file video file, per take, period.

The Cinedeck records to a removable 2.5” Laptop sized SATA SSD drive.  We used ones that were around 100GB each so that there was plenty of room for long takes and spontaneous shooting.  Solid state means greater performance and reliability, especially when shooting handheld, compared to spinning disk drives.  Silicon DVR also displays a real-time indicator of system performance and RAM buffer, so that in the event of drive failure, an operator can cut before the data becomes irrecoverable.  If power is lost to the device during a take, there are utilities to repair files that would otherwise be rendered unusable because of the power interruption.

Silicon DVR is a touch-screen (or mouse-based) interface, which makes specialized tasks very easy to do.  From project management to color correction, it can be done very quickly without holding up the rest of the production.  Media swapping and configuration would take me a matter of seconds and could easily be done between takes or setups without requiring a pause in production.

Silicon DVR has a variety of tools geared towards Stereo 3D production. You can view left and right eyes individually, or simultaneously using split-view, side-by-side, anaglyph, and wiggle modes.  There is also a camera alignment grid that can be displayed so that disparity can be measured in percentage of screen width.  This allows a stereographer to perform analysis and adjustment of convergence and interocular (IO) settings in the field without heavy playback equipment.  For our shoot, one of the camera assistants handled focus and iris while the other, holding the Cinedeck, would pull convergence and IO.

Silicon DVR also can display dual histograms so differences in exposure between cameras can be corrected and accounted for.

In Part 2, Tashi will discuss the use of the camera rigs.         Stay Tuned.

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