My first 3D film, shot and completed in spring 2009, was my first experimentation into dramatic storytelling in 3D. The film was released domestically in Canada on April 6th and was selected for early Pre-3D available films world-wide. It played at the 3D Film Festival alongside Sundance and a few other festivals.

Here is a more detailed look at what this film came about:

During my junior year at film school, I had access to two small HDV cameras and built a small rig that allowed one camera to flip upside down next to the other to utilize a slightly closer interaxial distance. It was still around 3 inches at best, but it was a slight step up from my last rig. Reentry was in addition to my main thesis project that year, and we shot it over the course of a weekend with a super small crew. I wanted to see if I could technically make a 3D film with no prior 3D shoot experience and successfully tell a story with this medium. The film paints a simple vignette with a little girl’s balloon and a girl trying to sort of sell ice businesses that from a particular view, unrelated events can appear to have greater meaning. It takes place in the confines of a city downtown area with large buildings all around. Told from the viewer and a child’s perspective, we follow the journey of the balloon as it travels through this concrete jungle, completing a 3D film was to make the city a more real place that filled the screen and came around the viewer to include them as a part of the story and world of the film. I wanted to let one you could feel the characters as well and I think 3D gets you closer to them by bridging that physiological gap. The film was shot using two Canon HV20s on a small rig that allowed one to be upside down to decrease native interaxial. This setup limited us slightly as we could only shoot in full auto mode and the focus and zoom controls shouldn’t get closer than about 5 feet, so I knew the focus (on all shots) of 2 feet camera distance per inch of IA. I broke this rule a few times, but just couldn’t quite get the closer shots that I wanted. The result is that some of the shots in the film are perhaps a bit too conservative and not perfectly comfortable for viewing, but this film started me on a journey in 3D that has continued to evolve with each production. Many people said that they did have a great 3D feel and the 3D was pretty effective. It also made it into 3D and Television Festival and screened alongside Sundance on smaller screens. I think I got away with less than perfect stereo largely because it is a very short film of just under 5 minutes.

You can view the film in anaglyph here: