Technicolor News & Views (November 1953)

“THIS IS CINERAMA" —Cinerama CINERAMA uses three strips of film projected simultaneously by three synchronized pro- jectors set at 48° angles to each other. The three images form a continuous panoramic scene on a screen covering a field of vision 146° wide and 55 high — over 4 V 2 times as large as the conventional screen. To keep a line from appearing where the three im- ages meet, tiny comblike bits of steel in each projector at the side of the film track, vibrate up and down to blend the edges of the film image. The motion picture industry in the United States is now at a third point in its evolution — three-dimensional and wide screen pictures. The two outstanding points of evolution in the past develop- ment of the motion picture form of entertainment were the advent of sound and of color. The current phase of evolution affects photography, labora- tory procedure, prints and theatre projection. The interest occasioned has been heightened by the fact that, broadly speaking, three different techniques came almost simul- taneously. These may be summarized as: (1) Cinerama, Wide Angle, or Peripheral Vision This is evidenced by the production “This Is Cinerama" which created a furore in New York City. It has been playing there for months with no apparent abatement, and is being shown in other cities. In the ordinary motion picture theatre the audience is looking at the picture usually on a screen about 24 feet in width. With the Cinerama production, the picture is projected on a screen about three times as wide and one and one-half times as high as the ordinary picture and the audience feels as if it were in the picture instead of looking at it. Cinerama employs three cameras for photography, three projectors and a large curved screen in the theatre. (2) CinemaScope Another procedure for bringing about wide angle vision is being sponsored by Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation and is called “CinemaScope." In this method of presentation the effect is also that of wide angle vision which, however, is brought about in a manner entirely different from Cinerama. Instead of employing three cameras and three projectors it employs one camera with a specially designed optical attachment for the lens and employs one projector in the theatre again with a specially designed optical attachment. The angle of vision of the audience may be intermediate between that of the normal flat motion pic- ture screen and Cinerama. CinemaScope employs a large curved screen in the theatre in place of the present relatively small flat screen. The first Cinemascope picture to be released was “The Robe," by 20th Century-Fox, whose forthcoming pictures in this medium include “How to Marry a Millionaire" and “Beneath the 12-Mile Reef." Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer has produced “Knights of the Round Table" and “Rose Marie" for CinemaScope presentation. (3) Three-Dimensional or Stereoscopic Pictures Working out and perfecting the equipment and operation required by Cinerama and CinemaScope to operate in the theatres on an international scale may take many months. Meanwhile, processes have appeared which are not similar to either Cinerama or CinemaScope. These processes are stereoscopic, that is, three- dimensional, in the sense that human vision is three-dimensional due to the separation of the two eyes. A number of pictures of this type are being exhibited, such as “Second Chance" (RKO). An example of three-dimensional pictures emanated from Great Britain under the name of Stereo-Techniques, Ltd. and which with “THE ROBE"— 20th Century-Fox CINEMASCOPE uses only one strip of film. Scenes are pho- tographed with an anamorphoscopic wide-view lens in front of the regular camera lens. This compresses the im- age within the full aperture of 35mm film. In projection, another anamorphoscopic placed before the projector lens expands the compressed image to a screen over two and a half times as large as the conventional screen. —FOUR—