Page 2 - CinemaRecord #11R.pdf

71. IMAX -A Viewers Comment. lby Noel Kerr

I MAX, promoted as "The Worlds Biggest Screen· is now installed in Sydney, and soon in Adelaide, had its' VIP
opening in Melbourne on Friday, 15th May, 1 ge8. Irene and I attended a special preview on May 19th at irs
Melbourne headquarters which is part of the initial phase of the $260 million Museum complex in Rathdowne
Street, Carlton. The Melbourne I MAX theatre is a joint venture between Museum Victoria and Cinema Plus Ltd.

"Everest - Mountain without Mercy" was the fifty minute feature.
It appeared that the management was determined to get every
invited guest into the mood by creating their own mini expedition.
To reach the main foyer one had to follow arrows stuck to the
walls of the "almost finished" theatre. These led through narrow
concrete hallways twisting backwards and forwards and then up
never ending flights of stairs until we were all sure that we had
left base camp miles behind. And that only got us to the foyer. On
entering the theatre proper, we were again confronted with more
I MAX" Theatre stairs which then placed us just about in the centre of the steeply
ua!En J83©XJJ~oo~ raked seating. After reaching this summit, we all sat down and
waited to see if the climbers on the screen could match our speed
and endurance.

Although not over padded, the seating, along with headrests, was quite comfortable. The large 32 metre wide
by 22 metre high screen which is made of a nylon type material with an open wave for sound was about the only
visual item as the rest of the theatre body was painted black, with the exception of blue coverings on the seats.

Show time! The theatre lights dimmed and a display of the I MAX symbols was played over the side walls and
screen for about 30 seconds. The main feature commenced with great impact. (Although this film was shot in
20, other production now and in the future will be done in 30 using the large liquid crystal glasses supplied to
patrons. I believe they are powered by batteries and contain small speakers.)

The impact of the huge screen was quite dramatic. The 480 capacity audience was taken for helicopter rides
over mountain ranges on through rock bridges, dives down steep cliffs, and the affect that I felt was the most
dramatic, being hit by an avalanche after seeing it rolling towards the camera. The resulting sound impact could
be felt by one's body.

I'm not sure if it was the centre position we were sitting in but I did think there was a slight light drop off from the
centre of the screen. There were times when I felt parts of the film was underexposed. (I don't mean the special
effects shooting of the low level fog and the evening scenes with the moon up high and the tents lit by lamps.)
As usual, close up shots of the climbers and people in general produced their own natural effect of sharpness.
With the odd exception of some not-quite-in focus scenes, most of the camera work was excellent with good
angles and a steady camera support.

No complaints with the sound system and the special effects of the multitrack system was not overdone as I
had suspected it might have been to add more impact. When needed the bass had body hitting impact and the
overall sound was crystal clear and directional.

The film itself was not just on the climb but traced some of the history of previous attempts. When needed to
show some "home movie" footage the image was reduced to related size. The return to full frame had great
impact.

Apart from the large screen affect, we felt the film stood quite well on its own and was quite thought-provoking.
I believe I MAX have over 100 films in their library at the moment with feature movies in the making. The first
space film "The Dream Is Alive• has already been seen by 38 million people. Melbourne is one of the 160 I MAX
theatres in the wortd and this is expanding.

At first I thought a lot of the early scenes where we suffered some vertigo were only taken to give impact to the
large screen. Thinking about it later I realized that just about all of these shots have been used before on films
with little extra affect. It was the large screen that had given the almost 30 impact. We cheered the climbers on
reach the summit, but an even bigger cheer should be given to the blokes that had to carry the heavy I MAX
camera up the mountain.

2