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CINERAMA: SUPER-MOVIES OF THE FUTURE

Realism par excellence, thrills that either lift you right out of your seat or set you stiffening against its back,
panoramic sight and sound which makes you an integral part of the action unfolding on the screen - these are
the bases of the new Cinerama system of super-movies which might well provide the motion picture theatre
with the blood transfusion which is so badly needed to arrest. possibly reverse, the galloping anemia which now
afflicts the movies' economic body.

So intense is the feeling of realism transmitted by Cinerama that no a few viewers are overcome physically -
the genteel term is "nausea" or "seasick" - and are compelled to leave the auditorium hastily. Cinerama
pictures are expected to make their first public bow late this year, with arrangements for permanent installa-
tions in theatres pointed at 1951.

Three-Dimensional Image Aspect. Cinerama is the brainchild of Fred Waller, formerly with Paramount Pic-
tures, and designer of the famous Waller Gunnery Trainer which utilised a five-lens camera and five projectors
to show airplanes realistically on a curved screen. The Cinerama three-lens system is a simplified modification
of the earlier setup. The sound recording and reproduction system was engineered by Harold Reeves, of
Reeves Sound Studios (N.Y. City) who compiled an impressive record for electronic tricks during World War II.

Cinerama's sponsors do not claim that their pictures are stereoscopic or three-dimensional movies, that is, in
the strict technical interpretation of these terms. Such films require either a special screen that only a limited
portion of an audience can view from a precise rigid-necked angle, 1.2. or the use of analysers or special
spectacles. No such extraneous gadgets are needed by Cinerama audiences, who view the screen images in
wholly normal fashion.

Normal binocular (two-eyed) vision, while playing an important role in the viewing of motion pictures, is only
part of the overall reason why such images seem real. Cinerama starts from this basis and, by skilfully
combining other elements of human vision and intricate compensatory optical and mechanical equipment,
produces what is substantially a stereoscopic effect.

In real life one can look all around as well as straight ahead; and the Cinerama big "wrap-around" screen of 8
times standard size and 4 times as wide forms a great curving arc across one's field of view that surrounds the
onlooker with the action and gives one the feeling of being right in the midst, not outside of things. Images in
close-ups appear so near and so real that one feels he could reach right out and touch them. This impression
is achieved by the picture-taking lenses that match the human eye in focal length and give exactly the same
perspective.

Truly Stereophonic Sound. Nor is the eye alone subjected to this amazing simulation of reality. Truly stere-
ophonic sound positions the sound at exactly on the point of the screen from whence the sound emanates,
even from behind the viewer.

The filming and projection of Cinerama movies represents a prodigious feat of planning and execution - eve-
rything is on a grand scale. The eye-filling picture covers a field of vision about 146% wide and 55 1/2" high-
which compares with the extreme limit of human eyes of 160% by 75%. Even the most satisfactory wide-angle
lens couldn't possibly accommodate more than a fraction of this sweep, thus the reason for Cinerama's three-
cameras-in-one.

The eyes of this 150-pound camera are three matched lenses of 27mm focal length set at angles 48%. apart.
Each lens records one-third of the total width of the scene upon one of three standard 35mm films carried in as
many film magazines. Otherwise, the three sections operate as one.

Simultaneous Tri-Focusing. The lines of sight of the three lenses converge and cross at a point 11/16 inch in
front of them, where a single revolving-disc shutter serves them all, thus assuring synchronization of expo-
sures. Simultaneous focusing of all three lenses is accomplished by a single knob; while another knob controls
the diaphragm settings in unison.

Individual Cinerama film frames are one-half again standard height; and since three film strips are used, this
means that the total amount of film used is 4 1/2 times as much as for a standard 35mm motion picture.
After the camera has dissected the scene into three parts, it remains for the theatre's projection system to put
the parts together again. This requires three projectors instead of the customary single one. Installation of
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