Enter the Smile Box
I remember when TCM was a basic cable channel showing old, obscure movies that were collecting dust in the film vault that Ted Turner bought.
TODAY – TCM is a real savior for anyone who wants real movies as modern movies have no heart and soul. (of course there are always exceptions) And it’s now only part of premium packages on dish or cable. (does anyone have cable service anymore? Cable is so 20th century – maybe caves can’t get satellite?)
Tonight we were treated to CINERAMA in SMILEBOX format.
The wrap-around screens that original Cinerama used was concave. The camera that filmed the action ran three strips of film simultaneously through what can only be described as a fish eye lens …
Playback in special Cinerama theaters consisted of three synchronized projectors. To me – this is a real feat back in those analog only days to keep three projectors in sync with each other.
Cinerama was/is an amazingly clunky, monstrous technology to implement but the results were stunning for the times. It did drive people back to the cinema in the early 1950s – that was 60 years ago !
The Cinerama image is warped in order to look normal when it hits the concave screen (curved inward).
So seeing a Cinerama film projected onto a flat, standard screen, the image would seem to become more leaning outward as you look further from the center.
So this Smilebox is a letterbox image that looks like a smile apparently.
Trees and everything else does not bend outward from the center like some sort of psychedelic art film made by college students in 1968 …
TCM premiered the ground-breaking introduction to Cinerama documentary titled “This Is Cinerama” in Smilebox last night.
The image is melded together well from the three original separate projected images – beautiful image and color.
Further info can be found at the CineramaAdventure web site.
It does take some getting used to – personally, it would be nice to go ahead and crop the “tips” off – the upswept corners – but it is interesting to see everything as it was originally shot.
I don’t see anyone seriously wanting to make a modern Smilebox movie – unless there is a new craze for concave screens … like the new craze in 3D which is already petering out as no one really likes it – but will experience it once or twice as a novelty.
Which brings me to this one complaint –
Technology should enhance the art,
not require the art to fit the technology !
Anything that depends on a particular technology to exist does not last very long.
You can quote me on that …
not dependent on the technology.
You can quote me on that, too …
I do remember as a kid going to a traveling dome theater that was constructed in the parking lot of the local shopping mall that was sponsored by Chevrolet – called the “Chevy Show” … It was a thinly veiled promotion for the new line of car models.
It was really cool ! The inside of the dome was the entire screen. You could look up, to the sides and behind – we were “inside” the movie ! It gave a physical sensation of movement even though we were sitting in chairs.
I cannot find any information except there was a craze in the late 60s to early 70s called Cinema 180 that was a popular amusement park attraction at the time with specially photographed films of flying scenes and roller coaster rides to go along with it.
I do not know if the “Chevy Show” theater was Cinema 180 or not – but it was just another innovation in movie theater technology that came and went. Usually, something does not last because it is difficult to implement and maintain.
The IMAX craze seemed to follow this but was a curved screen up and down as well as right to left.
Theatrical crazes come and go. They are usually an answer to lower theater attendance to drive the public back to buying tickets. But they are usually short lived.
Today we can have our own theater in the home with big screen TVs which is a better answer to going to theaters. But nothing can replace the theater experience.
Just as drive-in movie theaters were a staple in American entertainment and was then replaced by cultural changes and better technology, theatrical crazes also go the same way.
I’m still waiting for the holographic style television technology we saw for the Jet Screamer Show back in the 60’s on The Jetsons !
Enjoy the crazes while they are with us.
Category: Tony Rollo Blog
