Cinerama

:For the UK rock group, see: Cinerama (band)

History

Cinerama was developed by Fred Waller and was the outgrowth of many years of development. A forerunner was the triple-screen silent Napoléon made in 1927 by Abel Gance; Gance's classic was considered lost in the 1950s, however; it existed only by hearsay, and Waller could not have actually seen it. Waller had earlier developed an 11-projector system called "Vitarama" at the Petroleum Industry exhibit in the 1939 New York World's Fair. A five-camera version, the Waller Gunnery Trainer, was used during the Second World War.

Related Topics:
Fred Waller - Napoléon - Abel Gance - 1939 New York World's Fair

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The word "Cinerama" combines cinema with panorama, the origin of all the "-orama" neologisms. ("Cinerama" is also an anagram of "American.")

Related Topics:
Cinema - Panorama - Neologism - Anagram

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Cinerama was introduced on 30 September, 1952, at the Broadway Theatre in New York.

Related Topics:
30 September - 1952 - New York

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The photographic system involved three interlocked 35 mm cameras equipped with 27 mm lenses, approximately the focal length of the human eye. Each camera photographed one third of the picture shooting in a criss-cross pattern, the right camera shooting the left part of the image, the left camera shooting the right part of the image and the center camera shooting straight ahead. The three cameras were mounted as one unit, set at 48 degrees to each other. A single rotating shutter in front of the three lenses assured simultaneous exposure on each of the films. The three angled cameras photographed an image which was not only three times as wide as a standard film, but photographed a wide angle image photographing 146 degrees of arc, close to the human field of vision, including the peripheral vision. The image was photographed six sprocket holes high, rather than the usual four used in other 35 mm processes. And the picture was photographed and projected at 26 frames per second rather than the usual 24.

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In the theater, Cinerama projected from three projection booths shooting back in the same criss-cross pattern as the cameras. They projected onto a deeply curved screen made of over 1100 strips of material mounted on "louvers" like a sideways venetian blind. This was a big-ticket, reserved-seats spectacle, and the Cinerama projectors were usually adjusted carefully and operated skillfully. Vibrating combs called "gigolos" were used to provide a linearly-ramped shading at the edge of each frame, so that they joined without a grossly obvious line or seam. Great care was taken in to match color and brightness when producing the prints. Nevertheless, the joins between the three panels were usually noticeable. Optical limitations with the design of the camera itself meant that if distant scenes joined perfectly, closer objects did not. A nearby object might split into two as it crossed the seams. To avoid calling attention to the seams, scenes were often composed with unimportant objects such as trees or posts at the seams, and action was blocked so as to center actors within panels. This gave a distinctly "triptych-like" appearance to the composition even when the seams themselves were not obvious. Enthusiasts say the seams were not obtrusive; detractors differ. Lowell Thomas, an investor in the company with Mike Todd, was still raving about the process in his memoirs thirty years later.

Related Topics:
Triptych - Lowell Thomas - Mike Todd

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In addition to the visual impact of the image, Cinerama was one of the first processes to use multitrack magnetic sound. The system, developed by Hazard Reeves, one of the Cinerama investors, played back from a 35 mm, 6-track (and later 7-track) sound film, through five speakers behind the screen for truly directional sound. A surround track (later two) played back through speakers in the auditorium with a sound engineer directing the sound between the surrond speakers according to a script. The projectors and sound system were synchronized by a system using selsyn motors.

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The system had some obvious drawbacks. If one of the films should break and be repaired with the damaged frames cut out, the corresponding frames would have to be cut from the other two films in order to preserve synchronization. The use of zoom lenses was impossible since the three images would no longer match. Perhaps the biggest limitation of the process is that the picture looks natural only from within a rather limited "sweet spot." Viewed from outside the sweet spot, the picture is annoyingly distorted. But these problems certainly did not stop moviegoers from appreciating this innovative wide-screen process.

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Worthy of note is the special Cinerama screen, which consisted of hundreds of separate vertical strips. This design eliminated cross-reflections on the deeply curved screen. Anyone who has seen the washed-out appearance of an IMAX Dome presentation will appreciate why this was important.

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The impact these films had on the big screen cannot be assessed from television or video, or even from 'scope prints, which marry the three images together with the joins clearly visible. Because they were designed to be seen on a curved screen, the geometry looks distorted on television; somebody walking from left to right would appear to approach the camera at an angle, move away at an angle, and then repeat the process on the other side of the screen.

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During the fifties, Cinerama was presented as a theatrical event, with reserved seating and printed programs. Patrons would dress up to attend.

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Although most of the films produced using the original three-strip Cinerama process were full feature length or longer, they were travelogues or collections of short subjects such as This Is Cinerama (1952) the first film shot in Cinerama. Other travelogues presented in Cinerama were "Cinerama Holiday" (1955); "Seven Wonders of the World" (1955); "Search for Paradise" (1957); "Cinerama South Seas Adventure" (1958). There was also one commercial short, "Renault Dauphin" (1960). Even as the Cinerama travelogues were beginning to lose audiences in the late 50s, "Windjammer" (1958), a spectacular travelogue was released in a competing process called Cinemiracle which claimed to have less notceable dividing lines on the screen thanks to the reflection of the side images off of mirrors (this also allowed all three projectors to be in the same booth). Due to the small number of Cinemiracle theatres, specially converted prints of "Windjammer" were shown in Cinerama theatres in Cities which did not have Cinemiracle theaters, and ultimately Cinerama bought up the process.

Related Topics:
This Is Cinerama - Cinerama Holiday - 1955 - Seven Wonders of the World - Search for Paradise - 1957 - Cinerama South Seas Adventure - 1958 - Renault Dauphin - 1960 - Windjammer - Cinemiracle

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Only two films with traditional story lines were made--The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm and How the West Was Won. In order to make these films compatible with single film systems for later standard releases, they were shot at 24 frame/s, not the 26 frame/s of traditional Cinerama.

Related Topics:
Brothers Grimm - How the West Was Won

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