Three days later, Shao Shuaijun returned to the crew from USC with a confused face, and he went to the Digital Art Center of the USC School of Film and Television to find the director Robert . Zemeckis is a research institute dedicated to new technologies in cinema. He was also received by Robert, but unfortunately, the most popular result was that the current 3D technology was not up to standard and could not be integrated with IMAX.

If you use 3D to complete a movie, you can indeed record on 35mm film, but once you set it to 65mm high-definition film, many disadvantages of 3D will be exposed one by one, forming a disaster.

At that time, for Shao Shuaijun, who came to inquire, Robert showed the enthusiasm of a world-class director, and patiently explained the current film technology to Shao Shuaijun.

"Young people, combining IMAX and 3D has always been my pursuit, and we are like-minded." In his office, Robert turned on a computer for teaching, connected to a projector, and called up a piece of information, "I think you, as a director, know all kinds of films. Let me give you a detailed explanation of the prospects and difficulties of IMAX-3D. ”

Comparing the information on the projector, Robert patiently explained.

Nowadays, there are four ways to show movies, in terms of the type of screening. The first is the traditional film projection, which generally refers to the exposure of the picture with 35mm film, because of film and photography, its resolution is between 1K-2K, of which the master tape of the film can reach the resolution of 3K and 4K with high quality, and has been copied many times. appears in movie theaters, which is generally 2K, that is, 2048×1556 resolution.

The second is the emerging digital projection, which is shot with a digital camera, using a digital signal instead of traditional film exposure, and its resolution is relatively stable, about 2K. Its code name on TV is HD, which is high definition. The resolution is almost several times that of the DVD format, and slightly higher than the Blu-ray Disc BD. However, digital cinema is just emerging. There are also not many digital cinemas.

It is worth mentioning. Sony is developing a digital version of 4K in an attempt to capture the high-end digital market. This 4K resolution is converted from high-quality 4K film mastering and cannot be shot with a digital camera. Only film cameras can be used.

The third is an IMAX screening. This is a film projection system capable of projecting larger and higher resolution than traditional negatives. The standard IMAX screen is 22 meters wide and 16 meters high. But it can be played on a larger screen. In order to greatly increase the resolution of the image, IMAX uses a special 70mm negative, so the real IMAX film should be shot with a 70mm (65mm horizontal film is also included) film camera.

This kind of camera. That's the only seven IMAX cameras in the world.

IMAX cameras were theoretically 18K (18,000 x 13,433 pixels per frame), but studios were unable to handle footage of this size, so they reduced the resolution to less than half of the original resolution to the maximum resolution of 8K for film scanning. Therefore, the current limit of mastering in the film industry is 8K, and the resolution of IMAX theaters can reach 6K when projecting 70mm film, which is the limit of commercial projection.

Whether it's making an IMAX movie or projecting an IMAX film version, it costs a lot of money, and the projection equipment alone requires hundreds of thousands of dollars to purchase and maintain. This is the reason why IMAX companies have been plagued for decades, but only less than 300 IMAX theaters have been built, and everyone is neither willing to make this kind of movie, nor willing to build a special movie theater, it is too expensive!

In recent years, with the rise of digital cinema, IMAX could no longer hold on to their 70mm film photography, and as a result, a different kind of cinema emerged. This is the IMAX-DMR format that Painted Skin was looking for.

Here's how a DMR movie is processed. First, the production company handed over a copy of the film's 35mm film to IMAX, which used DMR technology to scan each frame of the 35mm film at the highest resolution and convert it into a digital image. Each frame is then optimized using proprietary image enhancement technology and printed on 70mm film.

The IMAX movies developed in this way have a theoretical resolution of 4K-6K, and it is also the most mainstream practice of pursuing commercial blockbusters.

"It is said that IMAX has begun to work on the IMAX digital version of the movie, which is an IMAX version of a traditional film copy through the 'digital cinema packaging' conversion format, which is said to be effective in reducing the projection standard, but the resolution is only between 2K-4K."

Robert shook his head: "I don't know whether to say that IMAX is self-cherished, or whether to blame us filmmakers for not knowing progress." After more than 40 years of development, we have not yet found a suitable film technology to pair with IMAX, so we have to lower the standard to cater to the current photographic conditions...... Alas, perhaps IMAX appeared too soon. ”

"So, there's another type of projection that's 3D, right?"

"Yes, it's a 3D projection. At present, there are five main types of 3D projection systems in the world, XPAND system, Dolby system, RealD system, dual-camera 3D or single-camera dual-lens 3D, and IMAX-3D. XPAND, Dolby, and RealD systems are the mainstream on the market, but there is a big disadvantage, that is, the brightness is too low. ”

Robb introduced in detail: "Dual-machine 3D or single-machine dual-lens 3D, also developed by sony, using 4K ultra-high-definition chips can easily accommodate 2 2K pictures, single machine output two 2K pictures at the same time, 3D projection is smooth and smooth, no high-frequency flicker and picture blur, eliminating the visual fatigue and dizziness of 3-octave time difference stand-alone 3D system projection, is currently the best image quality stand-alone 3D projection system." However, it is a pity that it needs to be screened with the help of the sony-4K digital version just mentioned, which is not popular. ”

After turning off the projection, Robert said regretfully: "I'm also thinking about whether IMAX-3D is the most suitable limit for future films." You know, the brightness of 3D is a big issue, and the clarity is even more of a big issue, and on the average screen, they are easy to ignore. But when it comes to IMAX theaters, I have to say, it's a disaster, IMAX is known for its brightness and clarity, and adding 3D will ruin it. So as you can see, I'm working on the animated version of the IMAX-3D movie, and I can't do anything about the live-action version. ”

Hearing Robert's words with his own ears shattered Shao Shuaijun's last illusion.

After returning to the crew, Shao Shuaijun was annoyed for a whole day before announcing to the reporters who visited the class that he had given up 3D shooting.

"I have to regret to say that Night Watch is going to give up the idea of 3D shooting, and with the current technology, it is difficult for us to integrate 3D into IMAX. I don't think the 3D version will be possible, we will consider increasing the length of the IMAX shots, and in short, "Night Watchman" will not disappoint you! ”

Although the 3D idea could not be realized, Shao Shuaijun's tone was still full of confidence, and he firmly believed that "Night Watchman" would be successful. (To be continued......)