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Author Topic: Cinerama returns to Seattle Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-04-2003 10:05 PM                     "FYI the screen problem at Seattle's Cinerama has been fixed and all looks good now." Peter, How whas the screen problem rectified? Mark  |  IP: Logged Jesse Skeen Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1517 From: Sacramento, CA Registered: Aug 2000 posted 03-04-2003 11:08 PM                     Cool- hope I see you guys tomorrow and/or Thursday! We're seeing How the West Was Won and This Is Cinerama. I'm camera-challenged though (I know how to use them, just don't own one- reason I don't have a picture here BTW!) so hopefully my friend'll bring one.  |  IP: Logged Jesse Skeen Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1517 From: Sacramento, CA Registered: Aug 2000 posted 03-04-2003 11:11 PM                     Possibly totally useless information related to this topic, but around 1988 there was an arcade video game that used 3 screens for a Cinerama-like effect- it was one of those side-scrolling run-and-jump games, forget the name of it. The center monitor was up front with mirrors on both sides of it reflecting the other 2 monitors which were actually mounted below. Most of the machines I saw had the color balance off on each monitor though.  |  IP: Logged Peter Kerchinsky Master Film Handler Posts: 326 From: Seattle, WA, USA Registered: Jan 2002 posted 03-05-2003 04:05 AM                     Mark: I'm not exactly clear on how the "moving screen" problem was fixed. but I believe some stagehands from our local ran seperate strips at the bottom of each strip to keep[ it from moving every time the air conditioning kicked on. I've been there several times this week and there's been no movement at all. I believe the black strips that someone mentioned earlier where that they ran out of time adjusting each strip but eventually that problem has also been corrected. They're running films from 11 am on each day and since we have all three booths on platters the projectionists are there from 10am til sometimes past 2 am unloading and loading film so these minor problems had to be done a little at a time. Also guys, I understand from those that worked today the print of THIS IS CINERAMA is a new print, looks good and that Thursday nights showing of HOW THE WEST WAS WON is a sellout.  |  IP: Logged Jack Ondracek Film God Posts: 2348 From: Port Orchard, WA, USA Registered: Oct 2002 posted 03-05-2003 05:37 PM                        quote: From Jesse... around 1988 there was an arcade video game that used 3 screens for a Cinerama-like effect The Seattle exhibition is notable because it's the real thing... all mechanical, all analog, 3 separate but synchronized projectors, amazingly well balanced, plus a sound playback unit, all held together at one time by 3 people who rarely take their eyes off the show, one of which dates back to 1953. It's probably about as "people-dependent" as the engine room of an old steamship. As far as I know (Peter?) the few concessions to current technology are the automation boxes, the platters & the xenon lamps. It's an amazing show of the technology of the time... even more so that we've got such an incredible collection of people in one place to get that thing working so well.  |  IP: Logged Claude S. Ayakawa Film God Posts: 2738 From: Waipahu, Hawaii, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 03-05-2003 05:54 PM                        Hi Mark, If the curved screen at the Cinerama Dome Theatre is solid and curved and not louvered with strips on the right and left like a true Cinerama screen should be, how can they project a picture with with even ilumination for people vieving the movie in the centre of the auditorium in three strip Cinerama? -Claude  |  IP: Logged Brian D. Whitish Expert Film Handler Posts: 103 From: Seattle, WA, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 03-06-2003 05:25 AM                     I had the priveledge to work the Tuesday night shift in the Abel booth for This Is Cinerama. Yes the group of people that have been working this are all excellent projectionists. Pete Kerchinsky has run many shifts and has quite a long career in projection. He started in Boston and ran Cinerama when it first came out. He has run everything there is to run and then some. Aaron Ridenour has covered a few shifts. He is a relative new comer but has done very well in every venue he has worked and run everything from 16mm to 35mm to 70mm and digital projection. The real heroes of this Cinerama festival have been the next three men. Jim Touhey, the house projectionist, has been in this business for many years and run everything there is to run. David McRae, another long time projectionist, also ran McRae Theatre Supply here in Seattle for many years and worked with his father when he ran it. David Miller currently works for American Cinema Equipment in Portland. He also still helps us out here in Seattle for special events. These three have put in many hours to keep this festival running smooth. Proudly I might addd that all are members of IATSE Local 15. I never thought I would ever have the chance to see Cinerama, much less actually get to work a booth shift. This Is Cinerama looked pertty good given the age of the source material. I would guess at a crowd of about 300-350 on the show that I worked. I am eagerly awaiting seeing How The West Was Won on Thursday. Its amazing that when events like this and the Seattle Internation Film Festival come along that its good trained projectionists that make them run. Its too bad the large exhibitors dont want to spend the money to give their customers the same quality the gentlemen above and many of you on this board give each time they run a film.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-06-2003 01:35 PM                     "how can they project a picture with with even ilumination for people vieving the movie in the centre of the auditorium in three strip Cinerama?" _______________________________________________________________ Claude, I don't know what type od=f screen surface it actually is but it is not louvered. They could have done it correctly and had the center section solid and the sides louvered like some of the early Cinerama screens were. They were concerned that the sound system would make the louvers jiggle fomr the motion of the air. The whole thing is pretty stupid if you aske me.... Mark  |  IP: Logged Jack Ondracek Film God Posts: 2348 From: Port Orchard, WA, USA Registered: Oct 2002 posted 03-06-2003 02:48 PM                        quote: Its amazing that... its good trained projectionists that make them run. I'll second that. Imagine what that might look like if the theatre were turned over to some of the chain operators around here! BTW... did the local change its number? I thought it was 154.  |  IP: Logged Roger Manning Jr Film Handler Posts: 32 From: Encinitas, CA, USA Registered: Jan 2003 posted 03-06-2003 04:06 PM                     Anybody know when "How The West Was Won" will play at the dome in L.A.? My wife & I went up there for "This Is Cinerama" we loved it. Roger [ 03-06-2003, 06:34 PM: Message edited by: Roger Manning Jr ]  |  IP: Logged Mark Ogden Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 943 From: Little Falls, N.J. Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-06-2003 05:18 PM                     Like a lot of people, I reacted with great indignation when Pacific announced that they would stay with the single sheet screen for the Cinerama Dome. But I saw This is Cinerama there twice, and I can report that I was never once taken out of the picture attention-wise because of noticeable cross reflections. In fact, looking back, I’ve seen a lot of 70mm films that used all the real estate on a deeply curved screen (at the Dome, the Uptown, and the old UA in the Cherry Creek section of Denver, fer instance) and I can’t remember once when I was distracted enough by cross reflections to be annoyed. So I wonder how big an issue cross-reflection really is. Of course, when I made this argument in a usenet group some time back, somebody flamed me back and told me that I wasn’t paying enough attention or looking carefully enough. But that’s just my point: I’m there to be entertained and/or amazed, not to look for projection problems. If there were contrast problems due to reflections, they were either below my perception or noted but not severe enough to be a huge distraction. On the other hand, I’m SURE that I would have been distracted by a louvered screen whose strips were in motion from the HVAC (or the sound), if that’s what the issue was. Bottom line: my $.02 is that the single sheet at the Dome, from what I’ve seen, doesn’t detract from the presentation at all, and that they are more or less getting away with using it. Claude, do you know the Cinerama projectors at the Dome? They were apparently liberated from a theatre there in Honolulu. I took some shots of them and they are in the update of 1/31/03.  |  IP: Logged Claude S. Ayakawa Film God Posts: 2738 From: Waipahu, Hawaii, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 03-06-2003 05:54 PM                        Mark, Yes, I did know Hawaii's Cinerama projectors was refurbished and is now being used at the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood. Alan Sakaida, Pacific's Picture & Sound engeneer told me this after I asked what was going to happen to the projectors when I saw the equipment still in the booth shortly before the Cinerama closed about two years ago. The Cinerama was very beautiful with elegant Salmon colored drapes covering the walls with maching seats that were very comfortable. The Cinerama was not a very large theatre. I think the sitting capacity was about 800. The screen was much smaller than the one that was in Honolulu's original Cinerama house, the Princess Cinerama in the downtown area of the city. The old Princess was a huge theatre that had a seating capacity of over a thousand seats. Before the theatre was set up for Cinerama, the Princess had the largest screen in the Territory of Hawaii before we entered the union as a state. They called the screen MAGNASCREEN and it looked like and was just as huge as the Waikiki IMAX's screen. If the theatre was still standing, it could have easily be converted to IMAX because of the very high ceiling and great acoustics. -Claude  |  IP: Logged Jesse Skeen Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1517 From: Sacramento, CA Registered: Aug 2000 posted 03-07-2003 01:54 PM                     Typing this at a paid interenet terminal across from the theater at the motel I stayed at- great show!  |  IP: Logged Tao Yue Expert Film Handler Posts: 209 From: Princeton, NJ Registered: Apr 2001 posted 03-07-2003 02:48 PM                        Jack wrote: quote: The Seattle exhibition is notable because it's the real thing... all mechanical, all analog, and quote: As far as I know (Peter?) the few concessions to current technology are the automation boxes, the platters & the xenon lamps. It's been mentioned before (though not in this thread) that the sound is transmitted through a digital link from the reproducer in Charlie booth to the sound processors in Baker.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-07-2003 03:07 PM                     "In fact, looking back, I’ve seen a lot of 70mm films that used all the real estate on a deeply curved screen (at the Dome, the Uptown, and the old UA in the Cherry Creek section of Denver, fer instance) and I can’t remember once when I was distracted enough by cross reflections to be annoyed." ______________________________________________________________ I've noticed cross reflection a number of times and at these theatres..... The New Neon, The Uptown, and the Villa in Slat Lake City. The Villa did have a solid sheet and just a matte surface. The New Neon had a pseudo strip screen which was not installed correctly and that was why the cross-reflection there. The uptown had a slight noticable cross-reflection on the strip screen when I saw Gettysburg in 70mm there, it is reportedly much worse with the solid sheet that replaced the strip screen. The Villa was also pretty bad when a scope film played on the screen, which was a Cinerama Screen. Mark  |  IP: Logged

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