It’s a Nice Day for a 3D Wedding

ORLANDO, FLA. and PHILADELPHIA: Panasonic took 3D production to the people, so to speak, by supplying pre-production models of its new 3D camcorder to wedding videographers. Panasonic said this week that two production companies shot weddings in 3D with the AG-3DA1. The HD-3D camcorder was introduced in April at the NAB show in Las Vegas, where Panasonic accepted $1,000 deposits on it. The dual-lens camcorder becomes available Aug. 27.

Bruno White Entertainment in Orlando shot two weddings in 3D at Disney World. BWE’s Kyle Frazer handled the AG-3DA1. He said the “learning curve on the camcorder wasn’t intimidating... The 3DA1’s mix function made it easy to handle convergence and avoid frame violations.”

Bernie Mitchell, president of Silver Platter Productions in Knoxville, Tenn., was involved in the shoots: “It’s a very flexible camcorder: we extended it up on a monopod to get some really nice high angle shots, and in one sequence, we actually lay on the ground and shot a nice, low-angle shot framing the bride and groom in a doorway.”

Michael Brand, (pictured) principal of Pennsylvania-based Lafayette Hill Studios, also shot two summer weddings with the 3DA1. “I was taking 3D still photos 25 years ago, but until now I couldn’t envision 3D video for weddings,” he said. “You’re not going to take a beam splitter to a church!... The camcorder handles details and blacks beautiful. Because you can adjust convergence so easily, you can produce gorgeous 3D video that is immersive, not gimmicky. It didn’t take me long working with the camcorder to learn where I had to stand for the best shots.”

Both Brand and Frazer are editing the 3D footage on Final Cut Pro with the Dashwood 3D Plugin.

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