Press Conference: “U2 3D”

Catherine Owens on the choice of songs: “I think it was a joint choice between the band and myself. I chose to keep it very focused on the performance. In general with my own work, I like to
reduce things to the essence or the core and from U2’s point of view, they had already made a film called “Rattle and Hum”, where they did a lot of behind the scenes, band
interviews…and because the concept we decided on was really about their performance – their relationship with each other as they performed and then their relationship with the audience as
an extension of that performance – we really thought it would be far more challenging to make this the absolute pure core of who they are without any kind of distractions. The challenge was to
create a narrative, to create an arc within the performance.”

The U2 3D crew was on hand for the Out of Competition presentation of U2 3D scheduled for a midnight showing Sunday May 19. The
panel facing the press was composed of the director Catherine Owens and producers Sandy Climan and John Modell. Excerpts follow.

Catherine Owens on the intentions of the film: “I have a long collaborative relationship with U2. I make a lot of their visual content for their shows, so
in many ways I’ve done very good research work for this film. I have an awareness of 3D films and we saw some tests when we were first approached to make this film. Although the 3D that
was in place at the time, it wasn’t necessarily our language because U2’s way of working is very organic and they tend to follow one idea with another idea. We felt that if we could
bring a different type of experience then this medium could really work for us. We decided to bring a very intimate experience based on the band’s relationship with each other on stage,
using the scale of the technology and the intimacy of the band.”

Sandy Climan on the 3D process: “Hopefully what you will all see is a blending of creativity and physics. What reality digital has done is to have
production, post-production and exhibition of our friends in real 3D that will for the first time put you in the best seat in the house, will give you a view of the stage, from the audience, in
the audience, around the audience. It’s a record of this concert that is almost sculptural. The visualization of this will hopefully mean that you viscerally experience the
music.”

John Modell on technological advancements: “A paradigm shift we talk about a lot is going from silent to talkies, or from black and white to color. We
think this is a key change with regards to both digital delivery and also 3D. We all see in 3D in real life and every technological advancement in film has always been about bringing you closer
and immersing you into the story or the emotion of what you’re watching. Especially with this special group of artists, the apparatus becomes totally transparent and you are in their
bubble, in their zone and you feel these songs like never before.”

Photo copyright AFP