Jim Chabin believes 2012 will be a good year for 3D

Apr 05, 2012 2 Comments by admin

Jim Chabin, President of the International 3D Society, talks about a bright future for 3D films and 3D television during the MIPTV ‘Focus on 3D TV’ conference.

MIPTV 3D news bought to you in association with 3D specialists Presteigne Charter.

Chabin used the conference, which attracted producers, platform operators and distributors, to reassure the audience that 3D entertainment was not set to fail as many are saying is already happening.

Chabin acknowledged the downturn in 3D film box office sales in 2011 but pointed out that a lot of the films were simply bad movies “The quality is getting better all the time. There are some major tent-pole movies coming in 2012. We’re very excited to see how they are” he said with 'The Amazing Spider-Man', 'The Great Gatsby', 'Premetheus' and 'The Hobbit' all expected to draw in audiences with high quality 3D production.

Perhaps most interesting was Chabin’s news that China will be splitting its 10 upcoming 3D channels into themes such as arts, entertainment and drama, but the surprise announcement was that a 3D news channel will be part of the line-up. The Chinese government has committed to launching the ten 3D channels over the next 5 years under the CCTV brand who launched their first 3D channel in January.

Chamblin said that 3D was still very popular amongst the public with the term “3D" being searched on Google 88 million times a month.

The Intenational 3D Society is keen to encourage independent budget 3D productions, having launched competitions to inspire creativity on a shoestring. He presented a couple of examples. “The Light of Shanghai Expo” produced by the Beijing Film Academy won a I3DS Jury Prize and was a stunning sequence of music and time manipulated 3D visuals capturing the excitement and energy of the Shanghai Expo in 2010.

The audience were also shown a clip from 'Portrait of the Storm' – a 3D close up look at the devastation left behind after a tornado swept through Tuscaloosa on April 27th. The filmmaker, Xavier Burgin, a Univeristy of Alabama senior, was offered the use of a Panasonic 3D camera to produce his short film which won the inaugural 3D Movie Award at the Campus MovieFest International Grand Finale along with a $5000 scholarship in June 23rd 2011.

As you would expect, Chabin was very optimistic about the future, with the American Optometric Association confirming 3D does not damage people’s eyes and an expected 148 million portable 3D devices to hit the market by 2015. However, Chabin did say there remains a ‘knowledge gap’ between what people hope and fear for 3D TV.

The International 3D Society is a non profit organisation founded to advance the art and technologies of stereoscopic 3D content and its professional innovators. More information can be found here.