First Live 3D Transmission Hits Russia

A Russian research/production company, and a 3D film and TV production specialist, recently delivered the first live 3D multi-camera transmission in Russia.
General Satellite Corporation, and Can Communicate (CAN), worked together on the production featuring three major cultural events shot at the world-famous Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg.
The content was commissioned by General Satellite Corp as a prelude to the launch of its European 3D TV channel, 3DV, which is scheduled to go live in 2011.
The production, which is thought to be the first live 3D ballet transmission in the world, featured some of Russia's most prominent ballet dancers performing scenes from five different ballets, including Swan Lake and Carmen, a performance of the ballet Giselle, and a premiere of a clown show by world renown clown Leonid Leykin, produced by Licedei.
The new 3D channel, will be mainly dedicated to cultural and travel programming, with key Mariinsky theatre performances forming an important part of production plans. 3DV will be available to the audience of certain packages on Eurobird 9A.
Denis Romanov, Technical Director of the 3D broadcast project from the Mariinsky Theatre commented: "General Satellite Corporation is one of the leaders of digital broadcasting in Russia and we were insistent on working with one of the global leaders of 3D content production. We were very pleased with CAN Communicate's significant contribution to the project. General Satellite were satisfied both with the high quality of the live broadcast and with the quality of the final product."
CAN Communicate coordinated and produced each of the shoots using a zooming, multicamera live 3D solution. CAN provided 3D producers, stereographers, convergence pullers and 3D supervisors to ensure the quality of the 3D productions. The company also oversaw integration with French OB facility supplier AMP and the local Mariinsky OB truck to deliver the live 3D images.
The ballet gala was shot using four active 3D rigs, supplemented with a fifth rig, CAN’s own Bolt rig. Feeds from these five stereo pairs were then fed back into OB trucks where the convergence was remotely controlled via 3D boxes. CAN worked with AMP to vision-mix the images in the OB trucks, and the resultant programme was transmitted via satellite. The signal was received via General Satellite's set top boxes and shown on 3D screens in a viewing room to VIPs within the venue itself; it was also beamed to the Russian Embassy in Paris to delegates, VIPs and ambassadors. The performances of Giselle and the clown show, which involved similar set ups (minus the live transmission), have been post-produced by CAN as ten minute executions as well as full versions, and will be broadcast by General Satellite Corporation when its 3D channel, 3DV, goes live.
(BMcN)