| Contact
O'Dwyer's: 271 Madison Ave.,
#600, New York, NY 10016; Tel: 212/679-2471; Fax: 212/683-2750 |  |
| |
| |
|
Ron
Levy is a veteran New York communications pro.
|
Oct. 5, 2012 |
| 3D PR OPPORTUNITIES |
 |
By Ronald N. Levy
|
|
|
Your knowledge of 3D technology basics, including important questions and answers below, can help you to do three things:
1. INCREASE YOUR COMMUNICATIONS EFFECTIVENESS because 3D can often make a point with more clarity and impact than 2D or words alone.
2. HELP YOUR COMPANY'S DEPARTMENTAL MANAGERS because 3D can help
make their communications more successful in sales presentations to important buyers ... human resources presentations to recruit top students, engineers and executives ... trial lawyers in presentations to juries ... lobbyists eager to make their case to legislators and others in government ... finance executives in quarterly presentations and roadshows ... and managers who want to persuade key company executives and their families to accept out-of-town jobs.
3. DEMONSTRATE YOUR TECHNOLOGY AWARENESS TOP TOP MANAGEMENT, which may love your communicating management's favorite messages to more audiences and with more impact.
For the following Q&A information about 3D, O'Dwyer's consulted a top expert, professor Tim Portlock ([email protected]) who has taught 3D opportunities and techniques in the famed Film and Media Studies Department at Hunter College.
Q. Can 3D be sent on the Internet and made available on a website, and viewable with the glasses given out free at movie theaters?
PORTLOCK: Yes, definitely. This is already happening.
Q. Can you send customers, editors or others a 3D tape or DVD with inexpensive glasses that can be used on most computers or on most TV sets that are built to run 3D?
PORTLOCK: It depends on what version of 3D you are using. Traditional red/green can work on any setup. Polarized stereo requires two projectors or a special screen.
Q. Can 3D be stored and shipped on VHS tapes like 2D and for the same cost or is a different kind of tape required?
PORTLOCK: You would store a 3D video as a digital file on DVD or on a hard drive. These files might tend to be larger or look better as high definition which would benefit from Blueray discs.
Q. If you shoot a 3D job can you also use what you shoot for 2D?
PORTLOCK: Yes. Stereo cameras have two lenses separated by the average distance between human eyes. Essentially this setup records video from two slightly different perspectives which is what enables the 3D effect. If you want to get 2D from this type of setup, you would simply use the video from one of the cameras.
Q. From a 3D tape can you lift quality 3D stills similar to what you'd get if you shot them with a 3D still camera? How about 2D stills from a 3D
tape?
PORTLOCK: Yes and yes.
Q. Does whole-wall display require special equipment or does regular equipment suffice if the projector is far enough away from the wall?
PORTLOCK: There are several different types of whole-wall displays.
One setup has been made from several plasma screens that were all synched together. An easier and less costly approach that can give you excellent results is to just use a video projector.
Q. Can you inexpensively, like for under $5,000, equip salesmen, lobbyists or engineers with a computer or small projector-and-screen that will show 3D tapes or DVDs?
PORTLOCK: Yes and you don't have to spend $5,000.
Q. Can quality 3D be shot with 3D equipment by videographers experienced in 2D or is a different set of skills required?
PORTLOCK: What's crucial to your quality is not just the shooting, which is easier, but directing. There are definitely certain ways of composing a shot so as to take greater advantage of 3D technology. Just as the great directors in PR often have PR experience, not just knowledge of how to operate a camera, directors who have 3D experience have an advantage over directors who don't.
Q. For movie theaters showing 3D, roughly how expensive would it be to give each theater a 3D segment of five to 15 minutes?
PORTLOCK: No more than the cost of 2D. A beauty of 3D for PR executives is that once you have a quality segment, you can use the same segment for TV, theaters, business shows and all kinds of other uses. Your creativity is reflected not just by the quality of your segment which many experienced VNR producers can give you, but by the quality of your thinking about how many different ways there are in which your segment can be used.
|
|
 return to main page
of odwyerpr.com >> |
|
|
|
| Responses: |
| |
Realist (10/05):
Honestly, is this not a gimmick of the month that will be largely forgotten when the next big gimmick comes along?
Ron Levy (10/10):
Realist, 3D isn't an ephemeral gimmick because (a) as you can see from Veep's comment, new technology in communications can excite important people, (b) you can see from savvy Wes Pedersen's comment ("seems like the future is here") 3D is exciting new technology, and (c) a fourth "D" regarding 3D is Distinguishing.
The PR firm pitching new business and showing 3D capability is Distinguished from PR firms that pitch without showing 3D. The job candidate whose resume shows 3D success is Distinguished from the many job candidates who haven't worked with 3D.
Hunter is a college of the gifted--exceptionally hard for students to get into. But even at Hunter, Professor Portlock's students who have learned something about 3D may have a better shot than other Hunter students at getting hired by a recruiter after graduation.
By far the most important distinguishing thing about using 3D communications is that you can help make more EFFECTIVE--and grateful to you-- your Sales Director, Human Resources Director, lobbyist and other heavy hitters mentioned by Portlock as managers who can use 3D to increase their success.
When an important project is on the mind of a top executive when he or she wakes up, showers and eats breakfast--and if you can use 3D to help that exec to be more successful with that project--you can do well for your organization and yourself.
A passing gimmick can get attention for PR. But an important inovation that helps top executives to be more successful, that innovation can get PR not only attention but money.
Wes, I don't know how far along 3D is and I've never met Professor Portlock face to face. I got after him for information by e-mail because he may be America's top expert on 3D communications, and because Hunter is one of America's great schools of communications and media studies.
Veep (10/05):
A Japanese ad agency we work with wowed our Chicago clients earlier this year by projecting a short video presentation from a smart phone onto the bare wall of a conference room. 3D can't be too far behind.
Ron Levy (10/10):
Veep, notice from the sixth answer above that one can now easily do a whole wall display in 3D. Reading about 3D (which O'Dwyer's has covered in the past) or taking a Hunter course part time can teach about helpful 3D possibilities. Even if 3D lessons are an add-on to another course, that "Portlock patch" can teach lingo helpful in planning a shoot, landing new business or being a successful job candidate.
Wes Pedersen (10/05):
Ron, how many schools teaching PR are on to this? How many major corporations and PR shops are on to it? Seems like the future is here. I haven't heard much buzz about it.
Struggling futurist (10/10):
Wait until the politicians learn that this can be done. Campaign ads in 3D! The mind boggles.
Ron Levy (10/24):
You're right and politicians are learning fast about 3D's persuasive power because (as can be seen from Portlock'sanswers 1, 2 and 7) lobbyists can already make their cases to politicians in fascinating 3D and are doing so. Professor Portlock wrote me that "the novelty of 3D" gets attention, hence legislative aides and doctors who are swamped with pitches pay more attention to novel communications from PR firms and departments with 3D know-how.
|
| |
