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Topic: Are REAL Imax films dying out?
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Claus Harding
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1149
From: Washington DC
Registered: Oct 2006
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posted May 14, 2010 10:27 AM
Adrian,
According to the grapevine, two things are going on with IMAX:
One is, as you mention, the Hollywood features using the format selectively for some scenes, as a selling gimmick.
The other, more ominous thing is that IMAX is more and more becoming video, with theatres that advertize "IMAX" but which have smaller screens and use digtial projection.
There was a story about a meeting between IMAX top brass and the theatre managers where the latter were strongly asking for there to be a differentiation between real IMAX and the video version in the advertizing, but the company wouldn't allow it.
Everything is "The IMAX Experience" and they figure most people won't give a damn. As usual, the good stuff loses, being flattened down to the lowest common denominator.
It is remarkable that here you have the higest-quality format ever invented in terms of pure film 'look' and resolution and they are throwing away the very thing that made them special, the pure quality unobtainable by anything else.
I like to imagine that at least a few regular joes will attend a digital IMAX screening after having been told how great the IMAX format is, only to come out thinking "what is supposed to be so special about it?" but most likely I am dreaming.
Claus.
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"Why are there shots of deserts in a scene that's supposed to take place in Belgium during the winter?" (Review of 'Battle of the Bulge'.)
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Barrie Didham
Film Handler
Posts: 67
From: Dunedin,New Zealand
Registered: Sep 2009
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posted May 15, 2010 02:20 PM
Its like anything these days,if its good,its got to go.
Most have gone the way of Digital and i cant see them turning back,it cheap and less work needed to keep it going,and with 3D being all the rage,it seems the most likley media everyone will want to work with
IMAX made it to New Zealand but never really made it out of the ball park,I remember them saying at one point that we could see IMAX coming in the main citys,but it never happened,then it kind of just faded away,i would say 70% of people here have no idea what IMAX is and those that do link it to fun rides rather them Movies.
The thing that worrys me is in the future what will we be left with,can Digital stand the test of time,you can pickup 8mm up to 35mm films now from 50 years ago thats almost as good as the day it was made,its the type of media that even if you didnt have a projector,you could workout how it was used and build one,but down the line when even i may no long be around what will left for those wanting to look back at the past,i find it hard to believe that budding collectors will one day have a forum up like this to talk and trade thier DVDs or storage chip cards with 40 to 100 years old 3D movies on them,and if they found an old disc how would they even know what it was or how to use it,i really dont think Digital will last long enough and at some point these Digital films maybe lost for ever.
When i look back i can see how Hollywood as it was came to an end,Vinyl was treated the same way we now treat film and look where those producers of music are now,take EMI,thier almost bust,the CD failed them and the MP3 will push them over the edge with time(anyone here remember the first one hit wonder on MP3 only? I dont),like film the vinly was the mainstay of what they were,and much like film we can still find it and use it today.
The smaller everthing gets the more risk that we will loose it alltogether one day,and mankind will look back on us with little knowledge of us at all,we may with time be seen as the second Dark age,there will be hardly any record of us at all,no photos,films or sound recordings or paper trails,as the Silicone fade away with time we will go with it.
Long live the hard media of old,long live and hail the humble film.
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Between Heaven and Hell there will always be Super8
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