Massive curved screens, spectacularly complex, gigantic projectors, three-eyed cameras, and "out-of-this-world" picture!
These days, it sometimes seems like there’s a new technological advance or gadget every week. There are certainly changes in the way we view movies and TV shows, with more and more people watching these on their computers. Video rentals have been consigned to history and HD, Blu-ray and other terms have entered the language (and some are on their way out already).
Yet, innovation is nothing new and the movie industry has been evolving since the first motion pictures were shown at the turn of the twentieth century. Even 3D, which is an option offered at theatres for many movies today, dates back to the fifties, although it didn’t catch on as well as expected back then.
This time at Dark Roasted Blend, we take a look at Cinerama, which was going to be the next big thing when it first appeared over half a century ago.
Most people are familiar with the massive screen of the IMAX theatre and in some ways, Cinerama was its forerunner, although the technique and technology employed were very different. In the early 1950s, Cinerama was thought by some to represent the future of the motion picture industry.
Cinerama was the first of several new cinematic techniques introduced when the movie industry was facing increasing competition from the new phenomena of television.
The Cinerama technique wasn’t completely new when it first appeared and a similar method had been used to film the silent epic Napoleon back in 1927. Cinerama’s widescreen movies were created using three cameras at the same time. In theatres, three synchronized 35mm projectors were employed, with the images shown on three large wraparound screens, which created an illusion of a panoramic view for the members of the audience.
This is Cinerama was a two hour travelogue, released in 1952. The movie was basically a collection of different scenes designed to promote Cinerama as the next big thing. An exciting roller coaster sequence set the stage for the rest of the film, which included this dramatic water skiing scene too:
Most of the films using the original three-strip Cinerama process were produced as full-length features, but were also travelogues or documentaries, such as Cinerama Holiday (1955),
These days, it sometimes seems like there’s a new technological advance or gadget every week. There are certainly changes in the way we view movies and TV shows, with more and more people watching these on their computers. Video rentals have been consigned to history and HD, Blu-ray and other terms have entered the language (and some are on their way out already).
Yet, innovation is nothing new and the movie industry has been evolving since the first motion pictures were shown at the turn of the twentieth century. Even 3D, which is an option offered at theatres for many movies today, dates back to the fifties, although it didn’t catch on as well as expected back then.
This time at Dark Roasted Blend, we take a look at Cinerama, which was going to be the next big thing when it first appeared over half a century ago.
Most people are familiar with the massive screen of the IMAX theatre and in some ways, Cinerama was its forerunner, although the technique and technology employed were very different. In the early 1950s, Cinerama was thought by some to represent the future of the motion picture industry.
The technique was even featured in the August 1952 issue (left) of Popular Mechanics magazine.
Movie audiences dropped as more and more people began owning TVs.
Studios wanted to convince the public that the movie theatre experience was still something unique that they couldn’t get anywhere else, but the studios also needed something different, even spectacular, to entice audiences back.
Seven Wonders of the World (1955), Search for Paradise (1957) and South Seas Adventure (1958):
