Initial D Third Stage Making Of The Movie

Initial D Third Stage Making Of The Movie (頭文字D Third Stage Making Of The Movie, Inisharu D Third Stage Making Of The Movie) is a behind-the-scenes "making of" special for the movie Initial D Third Stage, It was released on the Initial D The Movie Special Box on DVD and VHS on August 29th, 2001.

Contents
The special is split into 4 chapters, each chapter talking about the development and production of Initial D Third Stage. The following content is roughly translated into English from Japanese and may not be 100% accurate.

Chapter 1
Chapter 1, titled "The World of D ~Gorgeous Voice Cast~", focuses on the voice cast of the movie and the importance of how they bring life to the characters they voice. The chapter includes a section where the voice cast introduces themselves and their respective characters, along with their thoughts on the movie. Additionally, it showcases behind-the-scenes footage of the voice actors recording the dialogue for their characters, which took place in October 2000.

Chapter 2
Chapter 2, titled "The World of D ~3DCG~", discusses the use of CG and its evolution since its incorporation in the First Stage. It also delves into the challenges involved in compositing 2D animation and 3DCG models. The chapter includes an interview with Executive Producer Ren Usami, wherein he discusses their journey of experimentation and gradual improvement in composing elements for the first, second, and third stages. Eventually, their efforts led to a project efficient enough to succeed on the grand screen of a movie. The process of compositing the 2D animation and 3DCG is also demonstrated with a scene using both as an example.

Initial D has evolved in its portrayal of showing high-speed paced battles on the mountain pass. In the past stages, certain scenes down the mountain pass were filmed by tilting the camera to make it look like a slope. However, for the Third Stage, an in-house developed program was used to reproduce a three-dimensional slope on which the car is driven. This program is capable of detecting collisions between the CG car and its environment and can calculate the behavior of the car to the last detail. The movie also makes use of perspective mapping, which enhances the realistic feel of the car driving down the mountain pass. The process involves mapping a 2D background to a 3D guide and then constructing the scene by placing many 3D elements based off both the guide and background. By utilizing perspective mapping, it enables the use of 3D camera work. This allows for the composition of the car into a scene, resulting in a much more realistic viewing experience. Lastly, in this section, is the process of synchronizing the 2D person with a 3D CG car, taking note of the camera work. two Using an example from the Second Stage, firstly, is the creation of objects for the camera to map according to the 2D person, enabling the use of 3D camera work. This process creates an image in which the camera wraps around the 2D character while maintaining the facial expressions of the 2D character, so that the movements of the 3D car and the 2D character become one and synchronized.

Release
The Making Of The Movie was released on the Initial D The Movie Special Box on DVD and VHS on August 29th, 2001.

Music

 * Running In The 90's - Max Coveri (Recap)
 * Deja Vu - Dave Rodgers (Recap)
 * Spacelove - Fastway
 * Speed Lover - Speed Man
 * Street Of Fire - Dave MC Loud
 * Fightin' The Night - Dave MC Loud
 * Max Power - Dr. Love ft. D.Essex
 * Space Boy - Dave Rodgers
 * Gamble Rumble - M.O.V.E.
 * Jiremna - Every Little Thing
 * Hey Ho, Let's Go - Dusty
 * The Race Is Over - Dave Rodgers
 * Take Me Baby - Mickey B. (Trailer 1)
 * Spacelove - Fastway (Trailer 2)
 * New Love - Priscilla (Trailer 2)
 * Live In Tokyo - Kelly Wright (Trailer 2)
 * Strike On - M.O.V.E. (Trailer 2)