Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: EXPO 2005 Aichi Japan

This is topic EXPO 2005 Aichi Japan in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Kevin Baglow (Member # 721) on 06-18-2005, 10:43 PM:

I'm In Japan making a Doco on the event for any one interested. Theres not a foot of film being shown anywhere of cource - all big sceen video.
SONY is showing their 150 ft wide Laser-movie screen. TOSHIBA is showing off their FINAL FANTASY type SI-FI movie where 25 people to a theatre can watch the film with there own face attached to the actors 'bodies'. HITACHI is showing a virtual reality ride where the audiance can catch in their hand, and throw around the 3D animals in the movie. Robots are a big part of the EXPO too. Pics on www.filmtheatres.com

Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 06-18-2005, 11:34 PM:

Wow. An expo without an IMAX. What's a world expo without an IMAX?

The one thing I really wanted to see there is the recreated house used in Miyazaki's My Neighbor Totoro. The reservations to get in to see it have been sold out for months, and now there is a major battle going on between several cities in Japan to have the house relocated after the expo ends. In the midst of all that high-tech, the #1 attraction is a recreated 1950's house... [Smile]

The 2005 World Exposition, Aichi, Japan

Satsuki and Mei's House

Posted by Kevin Baglow (Member # 721) on 06-19-2005, 10:46 AM:

I Believe the first IMAX film was shown at an EXPO -40 or so years ago. Any one have details on what was shown where & when?

Posted by Richard Fowler (Member # 893) on 06-19-2005, 11:47 AM:

Kevin,
your are probably refering to EXPO 70 in Osaka, Japan. The IMAX show was "Tiger Child" which was in the Fuji Pavilion. The show was a hit with 25,000 people a day.

Posted by Kevin Baglow (Member # 721) on 06-20-2005, 12:14 PM:

Many thanks Richard, Ive ofically got a media pass now so will interview the PR people at the pavilions for more technical info. There is certainly some cutting edge gizmos there.

Posted by Dave Macaulay (Member # 813) on 06-20-2005, 02:57 PM:

"Tiger Child" was a multimedia presentation, the 15/70 projector did full screen images but there were other projectors as well. I didn't see the 1970 Expo so I can't tell you what else they had on screen.
I have seen the 15/70 Tiger Child footage quite a few times though. It is mostly multi-image segments and there are sections where parts or all of the image area is left dark, presumably for slides or whatever to use the screen. There are a few full screen images - Gordon Lightfoot playing guitar and a closeup of a very pregnant torso are what I remember.
The film itself makes no sense to me (actually Japanese Expo films as a rule make no sense to me). Tiger Child has a few strange things though; lots of thalidomide children, and a "terrorist" sniper shooting at people ends the film footage. Cheery stuff.
The 15/70 process was initially to be a way to make the motion picture part of a multimedia presentation more flexible. The men who started Imax had done a huge project (Labrynth) at Expo 67 in Montreal with multiple interlocked movie projectors and many, many slide projectors and lighting effects. The show died with the fair, as the screens and building could never be recreated economically for an encore. If the film was all on one projector, they thought that such presentations could be shown in different venues.
When the full-screen images in Tiger Child appeared on the big screen for the first time (In Osaka - there was no large screen existing during production and, in fact, the projector system was unfinished when shipped) the impact was so amazing that the multimedia application was sidelined and 15/70 as it is now was born.
Imax Corporation changed its name from the original "Multiscreen Corporation" soon afterwards.