3D Projection in India

I'm working on a digital 3D "Bollywood" Picture but I have little or no information about the Indian market.

What I do know is India is mostly 2.35:1 film projection system.

Could anyone shed some light on any 3D productions done in the recent past for the Indian Market specifically? I have been told there has been only a few.

What I have found is a few articles about Scrabble Entertainment which partnered with Christie about 6 months back to bring the Indian Market more D-Projection for 2D and 3D. I have yet to find anything about what their currently using for film based 3D projection.

Thanks for your time,

Dane Brehm
DIT
San Francisco

I'm not looking for a sales pitch. We have all the necessary tools for 3DProduction. My interests are about 3D Projection in India. Not China, Asia' or Siberia. If the 3D-Stereoscopic projection systems are made in those place's then please inform.

Thanks in advance,

Dane Brehm
DIT
San Francisco, CA

Dane Brehm writes:

>> If the 3D-Stereoscopic projection systems are made in those place's then please inform

According to their respective corporate websites, there are 93 RealD theatres in all of Asia (no India breakout). One XPand theatre in Mumbai. Zero Dolby.

The best solution in a predominantly film exhibition environment may be Technicolor's recently announced digitally-mastered over-under 35mm film system. It would require rental lens availability and silver screens. I bet a lot of booths still have two 35mm projectors as well. Not at all ideal, and there's still the silver screen requirement, but it could work reasonably well.

Other than that, venues could rent a digital system on a short term basis if they're available. Smaller venues can be set up with stereo projection quite economically.

Tim Sassoon
SFD
Santa Monica, CA

Dane Brehm wrote:

>>I have yet to find anything about what their currently using for film based 3D projection.

Two words to think about: quality anaglyph. No hardware changes needed, and they can even project on walls or sheets allowing ANY theatre the option to project 3-D. Do the math$!.....(or you can target the ONE XPand theatre in Mumbai...)

Jim Carbonetti
Stereoscopic AND anaglyph encoding consultant to the stars
3DBlast!
Hollywood USA

>> Two words to think about: quality anaglyph.

I think Carbo is right. The difference between 1950's quality and now is digital mastering. Much better alignment and rectification, makes a huge difference. If there's a lot of foliage, probably traditional red/cyan.

Tim Sassoon
SFD
Santa Monica, CA

India currently has only about 120 D-Cinema Screens equipped mostly by Scrabble apart from some equipped directly by Exhibitors such as Big Cinemas and Sathyam Cinemas. There would be little over 20 3D equipped screens today though it is expected that his number will triple for Avatar's release.

There are no 3D film projection systems in operation today as you might well expect.

The last 3D production was the hugely successful "Chota Chetan" (Naughty Little Devil) originally released in the 80's and then re-released in the mid 90's with some additional scenes. This
used under-over 35 mm with linear polarizers. No other Indian 3D production has been noteworthy (nor successful).

Senthil Kumar
Qube Cinema

Senthil,

Thank you so much for this valuable information. It is much appreciated in my research of the Indian 3D market.

I'm sure by Fall 2010 there will be 5X more D-Cinema Exhibitors in place.

Many thanks,

Dane Brehm
DIT San Francisco

I agree with Tim's direction of renting the Technicolor system, as many projection booths are still 35mm. But of course you would need a silver screen.

If you have no choice and need to go the anaglyph way, I still maintain that a properly optimized red-cyan method on a scene-by-scene basis would far outperform any "patented" stuff like blue-amber or mag-green.

If you like, read a recent article I had written on this debate, and why I feel that anaglyph is more an art-science than anything else :

http://realvision.ae/blog/2009/09/red-cyan-color-code-trioscopics-angalyph-is-anaglyph/

Regards,
Clyde DeSouza
Real Vision Consultancy
Dubai, UAE
Tel: +971 50 3435340
www.realvision.ae