gizmodo.com: Back in the 1950s, the movie theater was a venue for radical experimentation. As the home TV kept people rooted to their sofas and out of cinemas, Hollywood was bold in the way it used technology to lure people back to the silver screen. Cinerama was just one of those ideas—but one that crashed and burned.
4 comments:
It makes sense that Hollywood in the 1950's was daring and exciting. Like the article said, they HAD to be. To be that ahead of your time to think of something that essentially seems like IMAX is pretty cool. Looking at an old drawing of what Cinerama was supposed to be is kind of interesting though. Up close it is really quite intense for the 50's. It is not surprising that it didn't take off as hoped but that is part of the beauty of the silver screen, you can try anything and the bigger the risk the greater the reward, or the fall.
Film to me is exciting, not just for the content, but for the possiblities. I mean, imagine if the movie Avatar or Pirates of the Caribbean was shown to some from the 1990s, let alone from the 1950s. In my life time, I have seen a drastic change in the the cinematic experience. It went from a relatively small 2D screen to 3D curved screens the size of a small cruise liner. With the advancements of film in just these few years, I'm really excited to see where it goes in the next century. I can't wait until theatrical experiences are holographic and interactive. I can see it now, having old classics like "Pirates" or "Alien" being re-released as a imersive and interactive experience. Film as come a long way, but I truly think that we have only scratched the surface of its potential.
I love "future" technology from the past. Things that were supposed to exist already but never came to be. The cinerama was a fun idea but it was way to complicated to ever have become popular. It needed three times the equipment that normal movies did which means it would have cost movie studios three times as much. This would have been a fun novelty but wouldn't have become a popular way to film and display movies. It seems like IMAX is really not that far off from what the cinerama wanted to be. So if you really want a cinerama experience find your local IMAX. (Brought to you by IMAX)
My Favorite movie theatre in Seattle (where I'm from) is the Cinerama. It was a classic theatre back in the 1950's that used the Cinerama technology. In about 2000 Paul Allen bought the theatre and fixed it up. You can still see Cinerama films there as well as 35mm and 70mm and modern digital and 3D films. I think that every generation tries out new ways of telling stories on the silver screen. Some stick around and some don't but they are all wonderful parts of a the fantastic world of film history.
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