Founded in 2001, Legend 3D has made a name for itself as an innovator in converting flat,
two dimensional images to 3D.
The company has worked on more than a dozen major Hollywood productions including "Alice
in Wonderland," "The Smurfs," all three "Shreks," and most recently "Hugo."
For the crucial climax of "Hugo," the Legend team tapped into both its 2D and 3D toolbox
to work on George Melies footage from more than a century ago.
BARRY SANDREW: George Melies was pretty much one of the first visual effects pioneers and
what he did was absolutely magical.
And here we were able to take that and turn it into 3D in a way that he might have done
it.
MATTHEW AKEY: It was beautiful footage as originally shot because it's so fantastical
and it had such a sense of a theatrical sense about it with these in camera special effects
where they would use a very basic compositing of film over film, optical techniques.
MATTHEW AKEY: When we get footage like this that's vintage you are maintaining the integrity
of the technology at the time by helping match and preserve that feel.
The result is a charming mix of vintage images rendered with state of the art 3D conversion
technology.
Legend 3D Visual Effects Producer Matthew Akey explains the geometry of stereoscopic
3D conversion.
MATTHEW AKEY: Z axis basically refers to space on an infinite line that comes negative space
which is outside the screen of your TV or theater and then positive space is coming
this direction on that line.
So you got your east-west x, north south y, and then your z space which is how far away
your distance is to the screen or away from the screen.
Using silent footage of Harold Lloyd, Akey explains how 3D can be used for impact.
MATTHEW AKEY: We really wanted to exaggerate the nature of how high in the air he was so
then the z axis there's a lot of space, positive space away from the screen plane where you
see all the way down the block and it feels very, very deep and far away from you.
There's a certain level of creativity and understanding of what that will do psychologically
to a viewer's perception of an image or a longer sequence of images.
We're taking 2D content and ultimately turning it into what your eyes truly see in real life
which is two lenses that connect at a certain point of focus and actually have a lot of
depth perception.
Legend 3D founder Barry Sandrew says live action films have been easier than animated
ones like "The Smurfs" and the "Shrek" films.
BARRY SANDREW: In all of those situations we have characters with pristine lines and
pristine everything so you have to be even more meticulous in terms of making sure everything
is clean, and everything is in 3D looks natural.
MATTHEW AKEY: Then with the Smurfs and Gargamel, the cool effects moments of their battles
we bring them out we shoot lightening bolts out at the audience and give the kids a little
bit of that tickle that's kind of fun.
And then a movie like "Transformers" it's all about scope, it's about an entire city,
giant warring robots blowing up skyscrapers.
Which brings us to the film Sandrew is most proud of.
BARRY SANDREW: That's easy, "Transformers."
BARRY SANDREW: One robot had 78,000 pieces, and we had to figure out how to bring it into
our process and make every aspect of that robot accurate in terms of volume and 3D.
And also take all of the practical effects like real fire and cars flipping and everything
he does and make it all look seamless.
MATTHEW AKEY: There's shots that can last anywhere from 10 seconds to a minute in duration
and they are tracking with helicopters and flying all over the place with all sorts of
background so you can imagine the work it takes not just to do a single frame and establish
depth but to follow that when explosions happen and there's a zillion dust particles that
you literally have to place into different levels of depth.
I mean there's a lot of work throughout the shot.
MATTHEW AKEY: You can have 10 or 15 layers up to something like "Transformers" where
we had 100 to 150 layers.
So every layer has to be treated as element that has some level of depth and creative
design to it.
"Transformers 3" is one of 10 films on the short list in the running for a visual effects
Oscar.
Half of the films this year were released in 3D, and Legend worked on 3 of those.
So Sandrew is not worried about 3D being a passing fad.
BARRY SANDREW: There's too much momentum in the consumer electronics industry, the exhibitors,
and the studios there's just too much going in that direction for it to stop.
Next up for Legend 3D is something that also has a San Diego tie: "Top Gun."
The company will be converting the 1986 film for an upcoming 3D theatrical release.