English Russia: A vintage Soviet panoramic cinema was found to be still working in Moscow. Here is a story about the place, as told by Irina M. who currently works there. The facility that was built in 1959 included twenty two cinema projectors and twenty two screens running simultaneously. Nine speakers were installed in the floor to create surround sound. Back in 1959., the movies were created with a special rig of synchronised cameras placed in circle.
7 comments:
This is awesome. It reminds me of the Canada and France pavillions at Disney World's Epcot. It's awesome this kind of work was being done in the USSR this early. In a way it's poetic that simultaneously the scientists were creating bigger bombs but the artists elaboratr film rigs. I would be interested in seeing the original 22 camera rig for this.
I really enjoyed looking though these photos. I find the style of the time and place this comes from to be really amazing. Even the photos of buttons made me really happy. It would be super cool to get the chance to visit this place. The before and after pictures are cool because so little has changed over the years. I would love to learn more about how this system differs from a traditional film theatre. Based on a few of the photos it seems like the light from the projectors is right in the center of the images and that makes me think it would be right in your eyes. Perhaps the angles work out that the light is above your head.
Bringing old technologies back to life can be so amazing. These days, machine's functionings are so small and hidden within the object itself that it is amazing so see how exposed the workings once were. It's strange, and almost magical, to see the film winding around the outside of the camera body and to read how crudely they were able to achieve an effect similar to shat the Google cars do. I think many artists, and people in general, are beginning to realize new potentials for old technologies- and the results are amazing!
This place and the technology looks really amazing. I was really surprised to realize that these forms of projections were happening so early! The system for shooting movies for this kind of format must be extremely difficult and time consuming, that may be why these type of theaters aren't more popular in an everyday move-going experience. I have seen movies in theaters that are somewhat panoramic like this and the experience is amazing and so inclusive. I would love if these round pavilions became more popular in the US.
Very cool! The whole description of the place reminds me of the arms race style camera development that went on in east and west Germany while they were split which helped produce the Kiev brand of cameras. It feels similar in that there are too many examples of the Soviets or the West coming up with a crazy contraption of something to try and out-do the other side. Short of that, the surrounding experience is very cool, and something that im sure susan would love for our Arcade projects
This sounds really lovely! It's like seeing where planetariums and stuff like it started from. It's funny, I love what modern technology can do and all but something always seems so fake about it. What I find so great about older technology is that it's more realistic. Listening to a record is so raw and it feels more true than listening to a CD. I don't know why, but it always gives me that feeling in my chest and stomach that I get when I listen to music live. When I watch movies that my mom filmed on her old video recorder, those memories seem more real and more important than the videos I record with my new camera and with my phone. This is going to sound really weird, but it's the best way I can describe it: Old technology eats my innards in a good way. It devours me and I understand it as it understands me. Where as new technology seems so fake, no matter how HD it is, it's just keeps lying to us.
I would love to see a movie here. This makes me think of the Media mini in stagecraft. I wonder what Buzz would have to say about this.
We were talking recently about projectors and how they used to work and he showed us pictures of machines very similar to this. I really just want to know more about the mechanics about how something like this can actually be pulled off. I'm looking forward to bringing this into class on Monday.
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