Business screen magazine (1967)

Craccful, flowing lines that suggest a huge tent mark the German pavilion at Expo 67. Sculpture in the foreground is the work of one of 40 Canadian artists commissioned to create such pieces. Expo 67: c:r:. T^HE 1967 World Exhibition in Montreal -^ will bring a new dimension to the art of cinema. The theme of the Exhibition, "Man and His World" could well be subtitled '"Man and His Films" since at least 50 pavilions will use film in one way or another. There are enough film showings to keep a person watching during the entire six months of the Exhibition. Film at Expo will be used as never before. The tradition of going to your neighborhood movie-house to watch a story unfold in black and white or technicolor may seem almost primitive after the World Exhibition. Many of the techniques will demand a keener imagination and more active involvement by the viewer, who himself becomes an integral part of the multiplicity of images. Blend Images on a Multitude of Screens This is especially true of the multiscreen technique, which in itself is not new — Abel Gance used split screens to project his famous Napoleon film at the Paris exhibition 40 years ago — but it probably reaches its most exciting stage of development at Expo. It enables the spectator to pick and choose his images, assemble the pieces as though he is working on a jigsaw puzzle, and blend them into a meaningful artistic whole in his mind. The film presentations at many pavilions are not restricted to the ordinary screen. Images will shoot along walls, bounce off ceilings and fioors. Films will be projected on acrylic blocks, on spinning globes, on gigantic parasols and on glass prisms. The screens take the shape of circles, hexagons, crosses and many other geometric patterns. Audiences on the Move in Expo's Exhibits Visitors aren't simply seated but they are whirled around from screen to screen on carousels: they are strapped into seats and take off on simulated space rides as the stars are projected on an overhead dome; they stand in an enormous hall to be bombarded by film originating from 150 different projectors. Film is often combined with live performances and kinetic displays for greatest artistic All Dimensions at s World Exhibition Displays inside Canada's Katimavik pavilion will help depict Expo's theme— "Man and His World." tracing time, navigation, nature and man. effect. This use of moving pictures with sound, light, acting and ingredients from other theatrical forms is, in fact, one of the most exciting stories of the Exhibition. Perhaps the largest-scale and most ambitious film project at Expo — and one of the world's most avant-garde cinematographic adventures — is Labyrinth, created by the National Film Board of Canada on Cite du Havre. Within a windowless concrete structure that \\ ithin this geodesic dome of the United States pavilion, a special theatre will feature an unitsiial film— "A Time to Pluy"—to be shown on three screervi in 35nim color. (See page 39) An "Opening Day" Preview of Audiovisi Media on Display at Expo 67 in Montri. stands five stories high and resembles a fo the visitor is taken on a cinematic journey pursuit of the Minotaur within himself. The basic idea for Labyrinth is derived fro the Greek myth of Theseus, who entered maze to slay a voracious half-bull and ha human monster that periodically sated its a petite by devouring seven maidens and sevi youths. Since these ancient labyrinths we meant to symbolize life itself, the Expo proje tries to relate, through a synthesis of arch lecture and film, the story of life, and of ma: You'll Remember That \'isil to "Labyrinth' The Expo Labyrinth is a dramatic exper ence. So dramatic, in fact, that the produce Roman Kroitor, of the National Film Boat was prompted to say: "We believe that oni having seen it people will never be quite tf same again." Labyrinth consists of three chambers, eac of which holds up to 500 people, and the toti experience lasts 45 minutes. In the first chan ber. the audience watches from four balconie at different levels as the story of !^an the Hen unfolds on two mammoth screens at rigt angles to each other. One is on the floor belo' the audience and the other towers 45 feet u a facing wall. As a viewer watches a ste< ] worker walking nimble-footed along the girde I of a skyscraper hundreds of feet above th ground, he has a dizzying sensation as if were himself moving along the beams. The second chamber, fitting in with th maze concept, is made up of mirrored glas prisms and some 10,000 multi-colored light controlled electronically by soundtrack. As the visitor finds his way through th' labyrinth, he enters the third and final cham ber, which contains five screens in symbolii cruciform shape. The scenes on the 60-foot b; 60-foot cross are significantly contracted ti evoke a profound poetic effect. The cinematic features of Labyrinth have se the tone for many of the theme pavilions, whicl use film to complement other displays. Experience the Grandeur of Polar Regions For instance, in the Man and the Polar Re gions section of Man the Explorer, visitors an taken on a carousel ride around a series o! screens. The films, originating from a dozer projectors in the center give a visitor the fee of the strange grandeur of the polar regions even to the extent of receiving periodic blast' of cold air. Watching the films, a visitor experiences the bitter and beautiful polar night, the outburst! of life in the Arctic spring and the brilliance ol a day that is six months long. Also, he relives man's first struggle in the Arctic and shares in the dreams of the men who are forging its future. The producer, Graeme Ferguson, and his crew spent many months travelling the polar regions from Lapland to the South Pole, col lecting footage. In the Man and Planet section of the same pavilion, a vertical screen 45 feet high, is used (CONTINUED ON THE FOLLOWING V.\GV. 20) 18 BUSINESS SCREENI