Entertainment Technology News

(Park City, UT) -- Today, Richard Stout and Diamond Donna Root, officially announce the launch of their new company, Black Box Cinematography and its new Virtual Cinematography technology, recently unveiled to film makers at a Sundance Film Festival celebration event.

Black Box Cinematography�s new Virtual Cinematography technology is a low-cost, fast, high-quality alternative technology for compositing live-action actors and props into virtual backgrounds for movie makers.

�Black Box Cinematography plays in a unique space: enabling the shooting of scenes that need to be done quickly, inexpensively, and with cinematic quality,� said co-founder Richard Stout. �It is an addition to the latest virtual movie making toolkit. Digital effects technologies are often used to increase spectacle, Black Box uniquely leverages them to lower production costs.�

Typical applications include these: filmmakers behind budget, or shooting within a low budget. It allows small crews of independent filmmakers to produce period films in exotic locations, at a fraction of the cost. Or, for all filmmakers, to eliminate the costs of sets that are either too expensive to build, or locations that are too expensive.

�Black Box Cinematography is not a replacement for all traditional green-screen shots, but it does extend the cinematography toolbox into areas where green screen technologies cannot go,� said Diamond Donna Root producer. �We were honored to launch first among revered filmmakers at the Sundance Film Festival and are now pleased to share this great technology news with the world.� Black Box Cinematography is a new form of Virtual Cinematography, but it is not a replacement for Virtual Movie Making where virtual characters are composited into a virtual set. It is a low-cost, fast, high-quality alternative technology for com-positing live-action actors and props into virtual backgrounds, while uniquely maintaining real-time rendering of photo-realistic scenes that honor 3D perspective with a moving camera!

How is this all done? With a new patent-pending process, and proprietary software that together leverage industry-leading technologies from Red Cinematography, Autodesk, Pixar, and others.

Black Box Cinematography lowers the cost of virtual film making with the following:

Set construction is largely replaced by low-cost, photo-realistic models that derive from a filmmaker�s own scouting/still photography;
Creative freedom is increased by a merging of pre-visualization and production shots using actual virtual sets rendered in real-time;
Ability to quickly set up the shooting environment, without concerns and delays of green screen lighting requirements;
In-camera rendering of live action and virtual sets;
Ability to walk off the set with final shots in the camera--no post-production processing necessary;
Normal ability to do coloring in post-production;
Making pre-visualization
Ability to use cameras that shoot in compressed file formats;
Ability to shoot in low light situations where green screen technologies fall short;
Ability to shoot with shallow depth of field, and to rack focus between actors, in situations where green screen technologies have difficulty preserving all out-of-focus effects;
No rotoscoping costs or delays;
Ability to compose/visualize all shots as they are being com-posited on set;
Flexibility to visualize/frame and record in camera photo-realistic models in real-time as a camera is recording a shot and moving freely in 3D space.

To keep production costs down the Black Box Cinematography system is nearly plug and play;

We have created simplified interfaces for sophisticated underlying software and hardware systems;
Each take can be recorded, saved, and played back on set--showing you final renders/dailies for immediate review;
If you are using the Red camera system, �best takes� will be automatically associated with the appropriate animatic shot where it can be previewed with other shots--thus transforming the animatic into a rough cut of the film itself, on set;
At any time, animatic scenes can be converted to XML files to direct importing into leading non-linear editing programs such as Avid, Final Cut Pro, and PremierPro;
Motion-capture sensor device integration;
GS integration module;
Pre-animated segment integrations;
Blocked out green sections for post manipulations--virtual camera coordinates are always known, so it is easy to match-move new asset overlays in post;
A B52 camera and screen cage that swivels around the stage;
Theaters using Red Projectors, that have 50 foot extensions behind the screen, fit with sound-stage cages, for rental use during down times, or in in early morning hours 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m., or later hours for a higher rates.
Green screen not only limits your wardrobe choices,
But also your face shape,
And your haircut, in low light situations;
It can render dark images, people in a background, invisible;
Situations that require back lighting to pull a good matte or key will no longer.





Resources:

www.blackboxcinematography.com