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Legend3D Transforms One of the Most Famous Scenes in Film History

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Legend3D Transforms One of the Most Famous Scenes in Film History

Harold Lloyd’s Critically Hailed ‘Safety Last’ Clock Scene Comes to Life in Color and 3D

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Legend3D, the leading innovator in 2D-to-3D conversion technology and the inventor of digital colorization, today announced that it has colorized and converted to 3D a four-minute clip from Safety Last, one of the most famous silent film scenes in history, starring Harold Lloyd, in which Lloyd dangles several stories high from a giant clock.

“Bringing Harold Lloyd back to the screen after almost 100 years is a work of brilliance, precision and 3D magic. Everyone who has seen this piece has reacted with excitement and thrilling pleasure. It's a work of art and of great movie-making.”

A preview of the colorized 3D clip was originally shown at the International 3D Society’s 3D Technology Awards last October, with the final clip to be revealed at the 3D Society’s 2nd Annual Creative Arts Awards at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood on Feb. 9, 2011. As announced last week by the International 3D Society, the event will also honor James Cameron as the 2011 recipient of the Harold Lloyd Award, which recognizes an individual’s commitment to 3D storytelling and the embodiment of Lloyd's vision and passion for films. The award ceremony will be recorded and telecast in 3D, as part of a two-hour special on 3net™. 3net, the first 24/7, fully programmed 3D entertainment network, is a joint venture between Sony Corporation, Discovery Communications, and IMAX Corporation.

Regarding Legend3D’s work on modernizing her grandfather’s classic production, Suzanne Lloyd stated, “The tasteful colorization and 3D conversion that Legend3D has performed on my grandfather’s Safety Last clip has given it new life. Harold Lloyd’s film masterpiece from 1923 has been updated for audiences old and new, preserving the magic and dignity of the original film.”

“Watching vibrant, colorful images jump off the screen in 3D from a clip that was originally released as a silent black-and-white film shot in 2D, showcases how technology and high-quality conversion can heighten an audience’s experience,” said Dr. Barry Sandrew, founder, COO and CTO of Legend3D. “It really positions Legend3D as a leader in the conversion industry and is a personal achievement as Safety Last, among others in the entertainment world, has always been such an influential film to me.”

Dr. Sandrew invented the first all-digital process for colorization in 1986 and re-invented the process in 2001 at Legend3D. He has a career record of color converting more than 350 feature films, 70 classic cartoons and 207 television episodes. In 2005, Sandrew advanced this technology to develop an innovative approach, which adapted Legend3D’s colorization technology and time-tested production pipeline to convert film projects from 2D to 3D.

Harold Lloyd, one of Hollywood's greatest filmmakers and biggest silent film comedians, was an early and tireless advocate of using 3D technology in film in the 1920s. He formed Hollywood's first 3D association, the Hollywood Stereoscopic Society, and served as its first president in 1950. Lloyd said that he came upon the idea of the clock scene while he was watching Bill Strothers—an actor in numerous Lloyd films—and had to stop watching him out of fear when Strothers would scale high-rise buildings. Lloyd was quoted as saying, “If it makes me this jumpy, what would it do to a picture audience?”

President of the International 3D Society, Jim Chabin, observed this 3D film conversion as a stride in 3D technology, stating, "Bringing Harold Lloyd back to the screen after almost 100 years is a work of brilliance, precision and 3D magic. Everyone who has seen this piece has reacted with excitement and thrilling pleasure. It's a work of art and of great movie-making."

For more information about Legend3D, please visit www.Legend3D.com

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