Archive notice: This article was originally published on February 19, 2008. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
With box-office takings of 29 million US dollars on Super Bowl weekend, when everything revolves around the football final, she even relegated James Cameron’s film ‘Titanic’ to the lower places; more than ten years earlier, it had held the previous record with takings of 25 million dollars on Super Bowl weekend. Disney’s first 3D concert film, ‘Hannah Montana’, was processed at the FotoKem post-production studios in Burbank using Quantel’s innovative Stereoscopic 3D system on Pablo.
In the USA, the concert film was initially supposed to run for only one week, but Disney is planning an extension. The rush for cinema tickets can also be explained by the many fans who were no longer able to obtain tickets for this sold-out concert tour. During the 3D film’s opening weekend, Miley Cyrus made a guest appearance in Miami; she achieved her breakthrough as a singer and actress with the TV series ‘Hannah Montana’ on the Disney Channel. ‘Never before has it been possible to realise such a concert film with live recordings and current backstage information in 3D technology so promptly, while a tour is still under way,’ says Executive Producer Vincent Pace with delight; his company Pace in Burbank produced ‘Hannah Montana’ for Disney. Pace is one of the pioneers in the 3D field. Together with James Cameron, he has spent the past seven years developing stereoscopic camera systems for 3D recordings.
The concert film ‘Hannah Montana’ was recorded in Salt Lake City in mid-November and post-produced within eleven weeks. Eight Pace 3D camera systems were used, recording in HDCAM SR as converted digital Sony cameras.
‘The short production and post-production time for this 3D production was possible only because of our experienced team and the technology now available to us,’ explains director Bruce Hendricks. The 3D director was particularly impressed by Quantel’s Stereoscopic 3D post-production software, which was used for colour correction and the entire DI process. ‘I edited the film in 2D in the evening and was able to look at the 3D results the very next morning,’ Hendricks reports enthusiastically. ‘Current live productions in 3D for cinema exploitation can now be produced without difficulty,’ emphasises the director, who now also believes the threshold has been reached for broadcasting concerts and sporting events live in 3D.
