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Chapter 13: The World of IMAX 3-D
- The University Press of Kentucky
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3-D Is Launched at IMAX It was collaboration between the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) and the IMAX Systems Corporation in 1982 that produced “the first experimental 65mm 3-D IMAX negatives for stereoscopic motion picture presentations.”1 The NFB had begun experimenting with 3-D in the early 1950s, working with Norman McLaren. For the 1951 Festival of Britain, McLaren created two imaginative 35mm dual-band 3-D animation films with Around Is Around and Now Is the Time. Celina Bell remembered, “It was not until 1973 that real interest in 3-D was renewed at the Board when Ernie McNabb, Colin Low and John Spotton, the NFB’s official 3-D nuts, were asked to make a film for the American Bicentennial celebration.”2 The trio of 3-D nuts modified John Norling’s original 1939 dual-camera arrangement used to shoot the Chrysler film In Tune with Tomorrow for the World’s Fair, with two cameras at 90 degrees and a partially silvered mirror at 45 degrees. They first shot a 3-D test using 35mm cameras. Then they modified the camera arrangement to accommodate two 65mm cameras and shot a test. When the Walt Disney Company saw it, they decided to use it for filming Magic Journeys. The next step for McNabb, Spotton, and Low was to produce a successful 3-D presentation using the larger-gauge 15/70mm films for IMAX. “The result of IMAX is the viewer’s increased involvement and participation in the screen action,” said McNabb.3 Colin Low agreed. “IMAX seemed to be an ideal format for stereoscopic transmission for a number of reasons,” wrote Low. “It produces a large image of great fidelity. Its image The World of IMAX 3-D 13 172 3-D Revolution is extremely steady because of its unusual projector. The film moves horizontally , and the motion is not dependent on the action of claws in the sprocket holes.” In short, “the system’s ability to produce a large, steady, bright, high-fidelity image makes it ideal for 3-D.”4 Though Canada did not pursue the American Bicentennial project, “mainly because there was no single location for the celebrations, and a traveling show would have been prohibitively expensive,”5 the double 70mm 3-D material was shown at a comprehensive 3-D conference held April 1–2, 1977, at Concordia University in Montreal. By December 1982, Low had put together two IMAX 15/70mm cameras for a 3-D projection test at the IMAX plant. Available space allowed for a twenty-foot-wide screen with projectors sixteen feet from the screen. “It became apparent at the screening,” wrote Low, “that objects of considerable size could be In 1994, IMAX 3-D theaters began to appear in multiplex cinemas, like the Edwards chain of theaters. Photograph by Ray Zone. [44.200.40.97] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 00:33 GMT) The World of IMAX 3-D 173 brought out into the stereo space,” and that “there is less tendency to look at the edge of frame. The frame window is truly on the edge of the viewer’s peripheral vision.”6 Graeme Ferguson Discusses the Origins of IMAX 3-D In 2005 at the Large Format Cinema Association (LFCA) Conference in Hollywood, California, IMAX cofounder Graeme Ferguson was presented with the Kodak Vision Award for his contributions to founding the largeformat film industry. Ferguson is a producer, director, and cinematographer who for many years served as president of IMAX Corporation, overseeing the growth of the IMAX theater network and the development of many groundbreaking large-format filmmaking and projection technologies . He was personally responsible, along with director Toni Myers, for the growth of the IMAX space film library, as well as development of the IMAX 3-D underwater filmmaking techniques used for Into the Deep in 1994. David Keighley is a senior vice president of IMAX Corporation, and he runs IMAX/DKP 70mm in Santa Monica, which oversees quality control and delivery of all IMAX 3-D films to theaters around the world. As a part of the Kodak Vision Award presentation, Ferguson had the following conversation with David Keighley about the origins of IMAX 3-D.7 Keighley: Could you tell us how IMAX got into the business of 3-D? Ferguson: 3-D was quite interesting. As soon as we thought of IMAX, we thought, “Of course, we can also have IMAX 3-D.” It became a kind of standing joke...