Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Cinerama Aussie style in the backyard

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Posted by Mark Nicol (Member # 839) on 10-09-2009, 06:48 AM:

Not sure if John Mitchells backyard Cinerama in Sydney Australia has been posted on Film-Tech before.

I stumbled across this link trying to find info on his operation and was amazed at the photos of his setup.

Any other info about John would be most appreciated.

http://www.lenardaudio.com/education/images/a17/cinerama/cinerama.html

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 10-09-2009, 07:11 AM:

I've known of John's setup for quite a long time. I still find it very sad that it's stuck showing in his back yard... deserves a better place than that...

Mark

Posted by Paul Gordon (Member # 3320) on 10-09-2009, 07:16 AM:

Love those massive mags for the Cinerama reels! very cool

Posted by Damien Taylor (Member # 4255) on 10-09-2009, 07:54 AM:

Wow, now that is a shed!

Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 10-09-2009, 01:10 PM:

It looks like he's got the three projectors in one booth -- is it possible to do it like that without prisms ala Cinemiracle?

Posted by Mark Lensenmayer (Member # 134) on 10-09-2009, 02:43 PM:

Frank, many of the later CINERAMA installations used only one booth without the CINEMIRACLE mirrors. CINERAMAHISTORY.COM has some pictures of the Columbus site that show the setup. I don't think these installations used a control engineer outside the booth, but I may be mistaken.

Posted by Cameron Glendinning (Member # 3516) on 10-09-2009, 05:07 PM:

quote: Frank Angel
It looks like he's got the three projectors in one booth -- is it possible to do it like that without prisms ala Cinemiracle

Well as I am in some of the photos and have obviously been there (along with many exerienced sydney based projectionists) I guess I'll try to give you some answers.

I first heard of the Cinerama BYT in the late 1980's. The backyard screen is made of three pannels and probably only around the 25ft mark wide, therefore the projectors spacing is pretty much as it should be in that scale. Obviously you are pretty close to the screen. Both the sound and picture are awesome!

John Mitchel has also bought or modified some cinerama cameras and that night was trying to incorperate his first test with the cameras into the show. The cinerama prints are unfortunatly starting to show their age. He has most if not all the 3 stripe films in his collection.

quote:
Wow, now that is a shed!

It looks like a normal mild mannered garage from the road!

Posted by Mark Lensenmayer (Member # 134) on 10-09-2009, 07:27 PM:

I was at the New Neon in Dayton when John Harvey received some 3-strip test footage. He ran it after the regular Cinerama screening. It was footage of a large cable car with some nice scenery. It was quite a thrill to see the first 3-strip footage shot in 50 years. I think John Mitchell also provided John H. with some new footage from the Kinopanorama film JOYFUL RACING CORNERS. I couldn't understand what was going on, but it was great fun to watch. I'm glad to know John M. still has his 3-strip setup and is helping to keep CINERAMA alive.

Posted by Robert Throop (Member # 61) on 10-10-2009, 09:48 AM:

quote: Frank Angel
is it possible to do it like that without prisms ala Cinemiracle?

The first Cinemiracle installations used front surface mirrors for the outboard projectors. I believe later installs dispensed with the mirrors and used the lateral lens adjustments on the Century projectors for fine tuning.
Bob

Posted by Sean Weitzel (Member # 244) on 10-10-2009, 02:42 PM:

I had heard of the mythical backyard cinerama in Australia but had never seen actual photos of it. Very cool! [thumbsup]

I've seen the new three strip prints of How the West was Won and This is Cinerama in Los Angeles, and later saw Search for Paradise and Windjammer in Seattle at the Seattle Cinerama in 2003. I think I heard mentioned that the Windjammer print, possibly the Search for Paradise were loaned from John Mitchell. Both were pretty faded and when I was in one of the booths when Windjammer was being set up, it smelled strongly of vinegar. The photos of the AMC Cinerama posted in the pictures section are those I took back in 2003.

Posted by Mark Nicol (Member # 839) on 10-13-2009, 06:53 AM:

Thanks everyone for your info on John, Cameron how lucky you were to be there!

Now if we could only get Paul Allen interested.....

Cheers

Mark

Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 10-13-2009, 03:44 PM:

One night I was there we also managed to watch 'The Last Valley' in 70mm...

in his living room. [thumbsup]

Posted by Michael Voiland (Member # 5386) on 10-13-2009, 04:59 PM:

quote:
One night I was there we also managed to watch 'The Last Valley' in 70mm...

in his living room. [thumbsup]

We need photos of that.

Posted by Mike Olpin (Member # 1115) on 10-13-2009, 10:37 PM:

Perhaps one day I can have an IMAX in my backyard. [Smile]

Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 10-13-2009, 10:46 PM:

Yes, won't be long and there'll be some cheap projectors on the second-hand market.

Posted by Joshua Waaland (Member # 287) on 10-14-2009, 02:37 PM:

Good luck getting an Imax print or any of their equipment. I think they keep close tabs on that stuff.

Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 10-14-2009, 04:16 PM:

That's the old IMAX. The new IMAX obviously doesn't give a shit...if they did, there'd be no MiniMax.