The Marx Brothers Council Podcast discuss Animal Crackers in 3D
- Andrew Murchie
- 1 hour ago
- 3 min read
I was recently invited to chat with Noah, Matthew & Bob, hosts of the Marx Brothers Council Podcast, on the latest episode of the show to discuss all things Marx Bros including the brand new EYEPOP-3D conversion of Animal Crackers, their tremendous support in recording a fabulous commentary track for the disc as well as an awful lot of chat about the ins and outs of stereoscopic 3D.
I thought this blog post could share a few extra visual bits and pieces in support of our wide ranging chat and could maybe visually present some of the details discussed.
DEPTH ANALYSIS & CONVERSION PROCESS
Software is used to analyse every frame of a film to estimate the relative distance of objects within the scene. By recognising features such as edges, lighting, perspective, texture and motion between frames, it predicts which areas are closer to the viewer and which are farther away.
This information is used to generate a grayscale depth map, where brighter areas represent objects that are nearer and darker areas represent objects that are farther away. These depth maps form the foundation of the 2D to 3D conversion process before they are refined by artists to improve accuracy and visual quality.
If you'd like to see in-depth how a conversion is created we have a video that goes into a fair bit of detail on our YouTube Channel.
MARX BROTHERS MOVIES: DEPTH ANALYSIS CHALLENGE
Okay now you've got the gist of depth maps here's a little game based on some some Marx Brothers images. Are you a SERIOUS Marx Brothers enthusiast? Can you spot the movie? Answers at the foot of the post.
THE COCOANUTS RESTORATION in 2D
In our discussion we spoke a little about basic restoration work which was undertaken on The Cocoanuts prior to it's 3D conversion - this included a subtle degrain pass plus work to improve sharpness and detail. This 2D processing helps to deliver greater visual detail in the 3D conversion.
You can read a little more about it here.
And if you'd like to see the fully restored 2D version it is available completely free on our YouTube Channel.
MONKEY BUSINESS
We did loosely mention Monkey Business and as a little tease I'd recently included a 3d converted still from Monkey Business in a recent blog post. I completely forgot to mention it on the show... and of course as it was a tease I'm not simply sharing it here again. But if you want to locate it... you'll have to look back to the 1950's....
3D GLASSES
You can pick up suitable red blue anaglyph glasses inexpensively from various online retailers.
Here's some example links to try:
Just for clarity we are not affiliated with, nor specifically endorse any of these marketplaces or sellers. Links are provided to help you locate suitable red blue anaglyph glasses for viewing our anaglyph 3D products.
FREE PRIZE DRAW
As part of the The Marx Brother's Council Podcast they also have a fabulous free prize draw for one of 12 copies of the new Animal Crackers conversion on 3D Blu-ray or 3D DVD (their choice) - details of how to enter and deadline etc. is in the episode.
So do head over to their site, give the latest episode a listen and maybe you'll be lucky enough to win a free copy?
Thank you for reading and don't forget if you're interested in seeing classic films in 3D our Plan-D webstore has nearly 50 titles available.
DEPTH MAP QUIZ ANSWERS
A Night at The Opera
Room Service
Duck Soup
At The Circus
Animal Crackers
A Night in Casablanca
