Maui Newspaper Publishes 3D Issue
Featuring over 100 3D images, paper may be the first of its kind
WAILUKU, HAWAII – MauiTime, Maui’s only independent, locally owned newspaper, has published an issue featuring more than 100 3D photos. The 80-page issue–the annual Best of Maui readers poll, which highlights the island’s top people, places and businesses in a number of categories–hit stands July 22.
“We believe we’ve created the world’s largest 3D newspaper; we haven’t found any other publication that’s done it on this scale,” said Publisher Tommy Russo. “In that sense it was a leap of faith, but I’m proud of our team for pulling it off.”
(Check out the edition here)
To achieve the 3D effect, MauiTime’s sales and production departments utilized Fuji’s Finepix Real 3D W1 3D camera, which allowed the production department to produce red-blue anaglyph images. Without Fuji’s amazing 3D camera this successful publishing gimmick would not have been possible. “It was a lot of work, definitely much more than a normal issue,” said Art Director Chris Skiles. “We were learning this process as we went.”
Due to the unique, unprecedented nature of the undertaking and limitations with the island’s only printing press, prior to distribution, 3D glasses were hand-inserted into all 18,000 copies of the paper to allow readers to view the 3D images.
“Usually the layout and images in the paper support the words, but for this issue it was really the other way around,” said Editor Jacob Shafer. “Of course we hope people will read what we wrote, but we know the main focus will be on the visuals.”
On the sales side, Russo said it was exciting to bring something different to his clients. “We’ve seen a few national magazines sell 3D to major brands,” said Russo. “But we were selling 3D to local mom and pops–yogurt stands and Mexican restaurants.”
Link to a flip through book of the ads:
http://www.mauitime.com/Scribd.Item-3877.113117_Best_of_Maui_3D_ads.html
The 3D issue marks another step forward for MauiTime, which in the last year has launched a comprehensive redesign and earned local and national awards. Earlier this month, the paper earned second place at the 2010 AltWeekly Awards from the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies, for excellence in cover design.
“We’re a small company with limited resources, but we strive to be an innovative content company for news and entertainment on Maui,” said Russo. “We want to keep giving our readers things they’ve never seen before.”
Links to 3D editorial photo galleries:
MauiTime is Maui’s only independent, locally owned newspaper. Founded in 1997, the paper is a member of the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies (AAN), and also produces online content at mauitime.com, and on its blogs: mauifeed.com, mauidish.com, and mauivents.com. You can follow MauiTime on Twitter, @mauitime and on Facebook, Facebook.com/mauitime.
Tags: 2010 AltWeekly Awards, Association of Alternative Newsweeklies, Chris Skiles, Jacob Shafer, MauiTime, Tommy Russo
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