XPAND-ING HORIZONS - Digital 3D Enters New Dimensions

http://www.filmjournal.com/filmjournal/search/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003850698

 

Sep. 17, 2008

 

-By Andreas Fuchs

 

You’ve all seen our August 2008 cover presenting “The New Generation of Active Glasses” coming this winter to a digital 3D theatre near you, if not to your own. Two editions later, Film Journal International asked Laura Peralta-Jones, XPAND’s VP of sales and marketing, to please put them on and tell our readers all about the view.

 

“It’s a sleeker, contemporary and sexier look, obviously, than our engineering goggles, as we call them—no more of the date breakers,” she begins with a fashion statement. But quality, efficiencies and economics are clearly at the forefront throughout our conversation. “Our system is the most flexible, easily adaptive 3D technology available, while being the most cost-effective compared to the competitors’,” she declares. Peralta-Jones speaks from experience, after working for Iwerks Entertainment from 1990, the beginning of “what I call the specialty film formats era,” and subsequently consulting with IMAX until joining XPAND nearly three years ago.

 

Technically, while maintaining a lightweight yet robust design and scratch-resistant wide-viewing lenses, “the new features include a replaceable battery and RFID security chip,” extending overall lifespan and hopefully deterring theft as well. Unlike prior models, these active shutter glasses will no longer need to be turned on by the moviegoer, “but activate automatically,” she adds. “With an adjustable rubber section at the back of the frame, which can be tugged to fit around a child’s head, the usage will be much more accommodating for both adult and young patrons. One of the complaints,” Peralta-Jones has heard, “is that the glasses are great, except for very small children, who also like to play with them excessively.”

 

As for U.S. exhibitors’ ongoing hesitations to give up on those disposable glasses offered by the studios and Real D, she says further improvements are in the works as those made in Europe are coming over soon. After all, that’s where XPAND started in 2006. “I liked the passion and the motivation behind this company wanting to try and find something special for the exhibitor world,” she recalls. “It’s not a panacea, of course, but it was really the passion behind our CEO and co-founder Maria Costeira that got me jumping on the bandwagon. Even though she comes from a provider’s stance, Maria understands the theatre business because she stands on the side of the exhibitor through her association with Kolosej in Ljubljana, Slovenia. She envisioned 3D coming back long before anybody else did.” The European holding company X6D Limited is still headquartered there and markets a broad range of location-based entertainment products under the XPAND brand name. The latter will also be used throughout this article as synonymous with the company.

 

During the last quarter of 2007, XPAND took a decisive step ahead by forsaking its original passive, two-projector set-up in favor of a DCI-compliant and digital 3D system with active polarization as developed by NuVision Technologies LLC. Through the acquisition of that company’s 3D cinema assets—NuVision founder Boyd McNaughton still serves as XPAND’s chief of production/research and development while continuing his work on a wide range of applications for the military and medical fields—XPAND has not only secured production capabilities of active shutter glasses and related hardware, but has also effectively taken over servicing all former NuVision installations worldwide.

 

With 250 commercial theatres and another “two dozen studio and production screening rooms, we are the second-largest global provider,” after Real D but ahead of Dolby Digital 3D and MasterImage, Peralta-Jones confirms. In terms of XPAND’s geographic penetration, so far “it’s a close tie between Germanic and Spanish territories, France and Russia,” she goes on. “And we just signed a five-year exclusive deal with Eurasia Cinemas B.V. for Turkey and beyond.”

 

On August 19, the transcontinental circuit, which was profiled in our July edition and also operates as AFM and Kronverk cinemas, ordered equipment for 15 screens initially. Chief operating officer Fatos Kiziltas called this “the correct approach in providing high-quality solutions… Eurasia Cinemas will continue its cutting-edge presence with exclusive partners like IMAX and THX to deliver only the best to our audiences. So we are honored to be associated with XPAND to develop our screens in digital 3D.”

 

Peralta-Jones further confirms recent signings with RAIN in Brazil, DOR Internaçional in Mexico and “will soon be announcing more agreements in several regions throughout Asia.”

 

Earlier U.S. adopter credit, however, goes to O’Neil Theatres of New England. For the release of Beowulf last fall, this enterprising independent installed two XPAND systems at each of their Londonderry, New Hampshire, and Lisbon, Connecticut, locations. Since then, Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based Marcus Theatres has also installed 12 XPAND systems into their 3D network across the Midwest. Said Maria Costeira as chief executive officer of XPAND, “This partnership confirms the position of Marcus Theatres as a cutting-edge and visionary group committed to the emergent 3D digital technologies market… XPAND is extremely privileged and honored.”

 

Peralta-Jones talks up the advantages of the XPAND set-up. “Our hardware runs off a long-range infrared emitter system placed anywhere in the booth or at the rear of the auditorium. The synchronization module runs externally to the projector and easily connects with any DCI-compliant server and digital projector package through a series of GPIO [General Purpose Input/Output] connector cables. The active glasses do all the work.”

 

There are no licensing fees “nor presently any marketing contributions” with XPAND, Peralta-Jones continues, and the studios’ digital copies are mastered and distributed in the non-ghostbusted version like Dolby, and unlike Real D’s requirements, she says. “Exhibitors buy our systems outright and our pricing is much more competitive due to all the system’s unique capabilities. First of all, the system is extremely compact and mobile and can be used in a variety of 3D presentations beyond commercial theatres—to live media, specialty attractions and beyond. By outfitting more than one auditorium in a complex, you’re merely moving the active glasses without requiring extensive hardware, which ultimately means more costs.” It can also be switched from one screen to the next very easily. “You adjust your macros and, voila, you’re there in less than 30 minutes,” she assures. With no silver screen required, costs are further cut without any resulting loss of light and acuity. At approximately 16% to 17% light efficiency, Peralta-Jones draws the comparison to Real D’s 14% “with the aid of a silver screen” and Dolby’s 9% on an equally matte surface. With that brightness, XPAND “can accommodate large screen formats of up to 20 meters [65 feet],” she adds. “The transition from 2D to 3D format happens automatically, and in a matter of split seconds too.”

 

Peralta-Jones knows reusable glasses currently “require more exhibitor handling, since they’re owned by the operators and they have to get them returned,” but the European model has already well advanced. Given anecdotal evidence of some seven tons of recyclable waste from Chicken Little glasses in one country alone, not to mention that “you cannot get silver screens certified in many EU regions,” Peralta-Jones calls certain exhibitors in France “clever,” as they have come up with Velcro holding pouches that temporarily attach to the back of the seat. Along with their tickets, patrons are given a sanitary wipe for electronics to wash the glasses down themselves. In addition to an environmentally friendlier approach, “this provides a safeguard to the moviegoer while giving them the perception to take care of the glasses,” she opines.

 

XPAND-ing the exhibitor horizon may also include motion-producing seats and sprays of water, a whiff of cold air, heat and smell as well. Although its emphasis has rightfully shifted to the emerging if not soon exploding 3D cinema market, XPAND still develops its line of products comprising three different systems. Numerically they start with X3D for what Peralta-Jones calls “the basic digital 3D film presentation, which pretty much meets the market where the exhibitors want to be today.” Moving up, X4D incorporates all the additional sensory applications “for most of the institutional market like science centers, museums, zoos and aquariums.” Finally, X6D adds a moving seat. Though not to be confused with a simulator ride at a theme park (“Who wants to be moved around for two hours during the entire movie?” Peralta-Jones rightfully asks), this feature “is more of a passive sensation merely intended to heighten a fully immersive film experience and not continuous motion.”

 

Clearly, there are many more options to explore with XPAND beyond the third dimension. Imagine the possibilities: Heat. Singin’ in the Rain. The Sweet Smell of Success. Moving Violations. “Fasten your seatbelts…it’s going to be a bumpy night!”