Word: cinerama
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Manhattan moviegoers last week were packing a Broadway theater to see something new in moviemaking called Cinerama. The critics enthusiastically called it "thrilling," "sensational," "breath-taking," "spectacular" and a "revolution in motion pictures." The movie itself, a haphazard series of travelogues called This Is Cinerama, would have excited no one if it had been shown by ordinary projectors on a flat screen. What made audiences sit happily through two hours of the first public sampling of Cinerama was the "three dimensional" sensation to eyes & ears (TIME, July 2, 1951). The illusion jammed the spectators into the front...
...Cinerama's trick is produced by filming its subjects with a three-lens camera (each lens aimed from a different angle). Then the film is projected, by three projectors, on a wide, concave screen; the sound is played over several loudspeakers placed around the theater. Result: an impression of full-dimension sight & sound. Cinerama's ability to drag the audience into the picture shows up best in the outdoor scenes that capitalize on vast panoramas, since the idea is to present the same wide-angle view on the screen that the human eye sees normally...
...criticism: Cinerama's camera seems too immobile; there is little use of the customary drama-heightening tricks used in conventional moviemaking, e.g., panning, cutting, tilting...
...Movie Producer Merian C. Cooper (Grass, Chang, King Kong), who is devoting most of his time to the new process, says that Cinerama can do anything regular movies can do, and do it better. "The basis of drama doesn't change at all, but the method of presenting it changes radically," he says. Instead of moving the camera's eye, Cooper plans to direct the viewer's eye to the most dramatic spot. With panning made unnecessary, the scope of Cinerama's screen will increase the effectiveness of straight-on shots. Other techniques will have...
...Cinerama officials are already planning to shoot feature films. The new medium, they claim, will in time replace most flat-screen movies. While many moviegoers are ready to accept this prediction, some agree with one owl-eyed critic who said, after a bout with Cinerama: "They're riding a two-wheeler, but they've never learned to walk...