Two of the most talked about Super Bowl ads this year are back-to-back 3D spots by
PepsiCo and Paramount DreamWorks promoting the new film “Monsters vs
Aliens” and PepsiCo's SoBe soft drink. In the SoBe ad, SoBe lizards dance alongside NFL stars Ray Lewis, Justin Tuck and Matt Light.
More than 125 million pairs of 3D glasses are being distributed for free at stores nationwide at SoBe displays, and many are now also being offered on eBay … for a price (the new specs are more refined than the iconic red and blue ones from the 1950s).
A Burbank-based technology company called 3ality Digital shot all the live footage for the SoBe and DreamWorks ads which was then integrated with CG imagery.
3ality was behind a number of other recent innovative productions including the film "U2 3D;" the first live 3D broadcast of an NFL game
(Raiders vs. Chargers, which was shown to audiences in cinemas in three cities on Dec. 4th, 2008); the first live 3D broadcast of a football game available to the general public – the BCS Championship Game, which was broadcast to 82 theaters on Jan. 8th, 2009; and the first full episode of a television show shot in digital 3D – "Chuck," which will air the day after the Super Bowl on Feb. 2nd, 2009.
Both the Super Bowl ads and upcoming episode of “Chuck” will be broadcast in anaglyph, where images are separated using color rather than what you see in theaters. The recent horror film “My Bloody
Valentine 3D” was broadcast using RealD 3D technology where the images are circularly polarized for the left and right eye.
"As you can imagine, integrating live and CG is already a rather difficult process in order to make it look good, and then when you have to add 3D on top of that, it becomes something fairly complicated to do," said Angela Gyetvan, VP of sales and marketing for 3ality.
The SoBe Super Bowl commercial is already available on YouTube in 2D as of the 27th as is a 3D clip from the episode of “Chuck.”
Photo: Courtesy 3ality Digital
