It seems as if every movie that’s hitting theatres these days has a 3D version playing somewhere, but what does this mean to the editor?  The majority of experienced editor’s have worked in most formats and genre’s by now and most have even decided to learn at least the basics of effects and motion graphics to keep up with the growing expectations of post houses.  Now, along comes 3D, and the trend in Hollywood seems to be releasing films in both 3D and 2D versions to please the masses who have latched on to this one time gimmick…but, will it last?  Back in the eighties 3D was a quick fad, showing up in selected films and then was gone quicker than Corey Haim’s career.  Now it’s back, and with significant improvements to the theatrical viewing experience, the question is growing, will this become the new standard of film and even broadcast?  Yes, that’s right, broadcast.  If you don’t know already, the NFL is already experimenting with 3D football games having filmed several in the new format last season.  Some television studios have already decided to broadcast the occasional show in 3D ( such as the show ‘Chuck’ from Virgin Media) and more and more companies are turning to 3D as a way of being able to provide more of a visual index to their clients.  

So back to the original question.  What does this mean for an editor?  Well, at the moment, very little.  There is a niche market of editor’s who are being privy to this type of format, and they say there’s definitely a learning curve.  When it comes into the edit room you do watch the footage with 3D glasses while your cutting, and you have to extrapolate from multiple screens to link together the final sequence.  Basically cutting the left eye footage, then the right eye footage via linked timecode of course. 

In terms of hardware and software, a lot of people who are working in 3D ( which is not many comparatively ) are using cheap workarounds such as Sony Vegas ( which is a nightmare ) and working with 3D animation in Adobe AE CS3 ( not recommended but gets the job done ).  While these may provide some flexibility to those not wishing to shell out more money, Avid was pleased to announce the industries first Stereoscopic 3D editing with Media Composer. 

“Delivering full support of stereoscopic workflows, which enables customers to acquire, edit and display stereoscopic (3D) material. Content can be displayed with stereo monitoring capabilities in both the composer window and full screen playback – eliminating the need for costly conforms previously required to screen 3D material.” – Avid

Along with Avid, Nvidia is starting to pump out high end graphics cards for workstations that can handle the heavy load required to edit in this format along with the ability to view it in full rez.  On a side note , Sony has also gone ahead with plans to produce a 3D Blu-ray player and is waiting for the movie studios who were close to reaching agreement on the final format, a decision that is predicted will be finalised by the end of 2009.  According to Sony, this would bring the format to consumer market in late 2010. 

When you take all this in, yes, it does seem like the the 3D craze is more than just a passing fad this second time around, and from an editor’s perspective all of us are in for a crash course at some point.  So consider this fair warning to the lot of us, companies are ramping up it’s use, Hollywood is not letting go, and the tech corporations are preparing for a mass consumer market.  So just when you thought you knew it all, along comes a new thing, and this one could shape the way we see the editing room for a while to come.