Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Article about Cinesphere And Gord Mcleod

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Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 07-03-2001, 11:35 AM:

I will temporarily delete this article as its not public yet. I thought it was but not so. I will re-post once its gone public.
Mark @ GTS

Posted by Bob Maar (Member # 763) on 07-03-2001, 11:52 AM:

Nice to read articles like this. Congratulations to Gordon. Thanks for the post Mark. One day I will visit this unique theatre.

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 07-03-2001, 11:57 AM:

Great article! And they got the facts right, unlike many articles about film or digital projection in the "popular press".

Congratulations, Gordon --- you are as much of an institution as Cinesphere itself.

BTW, the first of many IMAX films I enjoyed was "North of Superior", in Cinesphere at Toronto's Ontario Place, in 1971 B.G. (Before Gordon).
http://www.imax.com/films/distribution/north_of_superior.html
http://www.imax.com/theatres/toronto_cin.html
http://www.ontarioplace.com/en/cinesphere/index.htm

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John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Eastman Kodak Company
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7419
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: 716-477-5325 Cell: 716-781-4036 Fax: 716-722-7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 07-03-2001, 01:47 PM:

Hopefully they will finish editing it and allow a link in the future
sorry

Posted by Dave Bird (Member # 490) on 07-03-2001, 02:13 PM:

I spoke with a retired carpenter who's in his mid-70's now who does some odd jobs for me now and again. He was in Toronto a couple weeks back to visit the grandkids and they visited Ontario Place for the day. He'd heard that "North Of Superior" had been restored for it's 30th anniversary and wanted to see the "picture show". This is a fellow who I suspect has not been in a movie theatre in years, decades maybe. His comments on the presentation was nothing short of gushing. He marvelled at the colours, brightness and sharpness. Some of the "fly-over" shots (of a fire particularly) said were so vivid they almost made you ill. Overall, they absolutely loved it. So much for the "uninitiated" that "don't know the difference".

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 07-03-2001, 02:26 PM:

Dave said: "He marvelled at the colours, brightness and sharpness. Some of the "fly-over" shots (of a fire particularly) said were so vivid they almost made you ill. Overall, they absolutely loved it. So much for the "uninitiated" that "don't know the difference".

It also says lots about the image quality and stability of the original 30-year old negative. Gordon's original print was faded pink, since it dated back to the early 70's and was made on the older ECP (5385? 5381?), years prior to the introduction of the Kodak "low fade" print stocks in the early 80's. By all accounts, the new Kodak VISION print looks very good, and with proper storage, should stay that way for decades.

Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 07-03-2001, 02:30 PM:

This print is on Vision stock and at the end of the summer the plan is to have it photguarded to protect it for a long time since it will probably get circuited to other theatres.
DKP did a marvelous job retimming it

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 07-03-2001, 02:33 PM:

Gordon --- protective coatings certainly can help reduce scratching, but what's your experience with long term storage of prints from the mid-80's that had UV-cured coatings? Do the dyes hold up as well as untreated prints?

Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 07-03-2001, 03:22 PM:

An example would North of Superior the old prints from the original runs were half photoguarded and half not and they all have about the same fadeing in them on about 2000+ passes each

Posted by Ben Wales (Member # 92) on 07-03-2001, 04:41 PM:

I would recommend anyone who visits Toronto, to see the Cinesphere at Ontario Place, it a most interesting Theatre I have visited (been about 4 times!)and in the hands of one of the best Chief/Technical Projectionist in the industry Gordon Mcleod.

Well Done Gordon, keep up the good work!

Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 07-04-2001, 11:04 AM:

Well it has been approved so here is the link to the article http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_8_3/feature-article-cinesphere-7-2001.html
enjoy

Posted by Jerry Chase (Member # 660) on 07-04-2001, 11:44 AM:

Great article!, but "Total power at Roger's command: 24,600 watts!"???

Am I missing something? Who is Roger?

Posted by John Walsh (Member # 168) on 07-04-2001, 11:59 AM:

It is a good article.. looks like it had the right amount of "gee, wow" type facts and info that even techinal people would like.

Gordon, do you really wear a tie to work, or was it just for this story?

Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 07-04-2001, 01:38 PM:

Roger is a typo
Yes I wear a tie to work
even when doing service with a shop coat

Posted by Jerry Chase (Member # 660) on 07-04-2001, 02:40 PM:

Ah. Roger that. BTW, I've been looking for an animation of the rolling loop and shutter on the web that shows the movement and light path and haven't found one. Anyone know of any links to such a beast? If not, anyone up for making one?

Posted by William Hooper (Member # 71) on 07-04-2001, 10:50 PM:

Great article!

And the most accurate piece of theater-tech oriented journalism I've seen. Nice work on getting over the straight story, Gordon.

Posted by Tao Yue (Member # 836) on 07-05-2001, 08:48 AM:

Very interesting article. Accuracy seems to have be helped by the fact that Brian Florian actually knows something about theatrical motion picture projection, unlike the stereotypical newspaper reporter.

One thing I found strange, though -- if he's been keeping up with film and projection, how come he didn't know about the Lawrence of Arabia restoration? Even if he didn't hear about it when it came out about ten years ago, the title of the film gets back into the news every time the Harris/Katz team releases another restoration.

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Tao Yue
MIT '04: Course VI-2, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Projectionist, MIT Lecture Series Committee

Posted by David Kilderry (Member # 142) on 07-07-2001, 04:36 AM:

Ron Jones invented one of the few real breakthrough motion picture projection advances of the last 50 years. The rolling loop enabled IMAX to have the steadiness, clarity and giant images that it does so well.

Ron was an Australian, who worked as a projectionist in Brisbane I understand, and loved to tinker. The irony today is that the Brisbane IMAX theatre is closed and at last report was just gathering dust.

David Kilderry

Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 07-07-2001, 07:15 AM:

Not true, David. It is open.
Click here

Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 07-07-2001, 01:10 PM:

More interesting was that Ron got the idea for the rolling loop while stuck in traffic on his way home and was worried he would forget the idea before getting home.
He apparently stayed up all night to build the prototype

Posted by Brian Florian (Member # 939) on 07-16-2001, 05:40 AM:

It is so very gratifying to see that article meets with the approval of you folks in the cinema community. Thanks for the positive comments.

Jerry, I'd love to work on an animation of the Rolling Loop. Just got to figure out how best to do it. Probably with Flash or something.

Tao Yue, thank you for noticing. I think I'm pretty unique in that even though our web-zine is "home theater" oriented, I am very much an advocate of cinema, always relating back to it.

From the age of 9 to 19 my family was actually in Kenya, which at the time was just coming into it's independence and still had a lot of "colonial England" around. I grew up in th 80s attending cinemas which belonged in the 60s: Grand, enormous movie houses with balcony et all! I remember James Bond was real popular over there and they would frequently re-run them so unlike most my age, I've seen them all on the ~big~ screen.

When I returned to North America and saw the generally poor state of pill-box theaters, I took it upon myself to be versed in motion picture technology.

As far as Lawrence of Arabia, part of that was to keep the article moving along and interesting. I admit though, I had completely forgotten about the restoration until Gord mentioned it. I'm just sad I'm not in one of the 20 cities which will get the dye transfer prints of Apocalypse Now Redux this fall.

Cheers and above all, happy watching!

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Brian Florian
Editor, Canada

Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity http://www.hometheaterhifi.com

Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 07-16-2001, 05:52 AM:

Hi Brian

Welcome aboard.

Very good article indeed. I particularly like the visual of Gordon 'gliding' over the front of the mammoth projector.

(Not that I'm doubting that would happen though, Gordon)

Posted by Oscar Neundorfer (Member # 458) on 07-16-2001, 07:06 AM:

Hi Brian,

Welcome to Film-Tech. I thoroughly enjoyed the article on the Cinesphere and Gordon.

Anyone interested in home theatre should check out the site for which Brian writes. http://www.hometheaterhifi.com

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Oscar Neundorfer
Chief Engineer
SMART Devices, Inc.

oscar@smartdev.com

Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 07-16-2001, 10:39 PM:

Welcome aboard Brian now you will have to come back and visit us in the booth again

Posted by Adam Martin (Member # 641) on 08-10-2001, 11:04 PM:

Back to the top. This article about Gordon's booth is referenced in the "IMAX Basics" thread.

Posted by Brian Florian (Member # 939) on 08-11-2001, 07:15 AM:

Where is that thead at?

------------------
Brian Florian
Editor, Canada

Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity http://www.hometheaterhifi.com

Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 08-11-2001, 07:48 AM:

Well today is Ontario Places 30th anaversary and also serial #1's 31st birthday
may the loop keep rolling
today's events
special screening in 70 5perf A Place to Stand (double system mag)
Graeme Ferguson one of the 3 founders of Imax will make a special presentation on the making of North of Superior and then the restored print will be screened
Then a reception for all old staff and the IMAX gang and a lot of booth visitors
Happy Birthday

Posted by Adam Martin (Member # 641) on 08-11-2001, 08:47 AM:

Brian, the thread is here in the Film Handler's Forum.

Gordon, happy anniversary to all at OP and to s/n 1! If I didn't have to work today, I'd be there!

Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 08-11-2001, 06:41 PM:

Well the party went off without a hitch
In the morining the screening of A place to stand was well recieved.
Graeme's presentation on North of Superior was excellent with Bill Shaw also present. Before the film Bill Houston who wrote and sang the title song was here to perform it live.
Later in the day we also screened Nomads of the Deep and Silent SkyDavid Keighley was here with his family the helicopter pilot who did the areials for Nof S was here as was the theatres first projectionist
I think most people had a good day