Dating from the late 1970s or early 1980s, this was shown in movie theaters that proudly exhibited films in Dolby Stereo (optical analog stereo + monaural matrixed surround).
Wow I have been looking for that trailer for years - I saw it at my local UCI and it was often either that one or the one which as far as I remember was flying over some green fields over a cliff (or something like that). What I loved about this trailer was how the sound suddenly changed in the middle from what sounded like Mono into full stereo effects - it was amazing!!! Thanks!!!
I can tell you this design was made in 1978, but was printed off for many years. You can still get it these days from many cinema trailer suppliers, but they go for about £32 these days! It was still commonly used until the early 90s - we had them until about 2001, but stopped using them as although we haven't upgraded, I never saw the point in advertising the fact that your sound system is out of date! A UCI cheif once told me they used to keep a lot of them for basic speaker tests!
Another interesting fact I forgot to mention is that this wasn't an official Dolby trailer... This was made by someone similar to Cinema Concepts (their name escapes me) who had the rights to use the Dolby Stereo logo. Though Cinema Concepts were the leading name in 35mm trailers, their Dolby Feature Presentation film didn't have the logo as they didn't have the rights. Dolby's offical 'A' type trailer was a little shorter and had sound whooshing sound effects rather than music.
yes, if anything goes wrong with the dolby digital sound track, dolby stereo sr is used. dolby stereo is still in theaters, most likely old ones or look in movie listings (detroit free press is a good way)
I'm sure it was a dolby stereo ad where it was a low flying shot over some nice country side (green fields with some hikers etc) which then went over the cliff and displayed the Dolby (or Dolby Stereo) logo - it had a more orchestral score as I remember - not as good as the trailer featured here though.
It is not an official Dolby Stereo trailer. It was made by a US firm called Filmack who famously made a lot of US style trailers (the hot dog ad you see playing behind Travolta in the drive thru in GREASE is one of theirs) and was sold in the UK by Jacro. It was just a stereo presentation film that somehow got the licence to use the Dolby logo. The official Dolby A trailer was quite boring, it was just a woosh with the Dolby Stereo logo against a starry background.
Matt, Dolby Stereo (or Dolby 'A') is discontinued & no longer installed by any companys. A lot of old/independent cinemas still have it, or may install second hand ones to replace old home-made stereo systems. The one a few have mentioned about flying over a cliff was the 'Dolby SR'(Spectral Recording) one, & was called 'The Henry Mancini Dolby Fanfare'. Unlike the one here, this was an official Dolby film and is long discontinued. The one playing here is made by FILMACK and is still available.
Most Dolby A processors with me played around 5.5 or 6, but I must admit I used to put this up to 7! The prints of this film were not actually all that loud to be honest, and despite popular belief, it is not an official Dolby trailer either despite being one of the most well known...
No, sorry I was talking about DOLBY analogue processors (CP55 A-type and up) who used this trailer even if their system was SR as it was generic to analogue Dolby Stereo cinema processors as a cheap option and to save switching to SR trailers etc if it was moving screens to a different Dolby Format. But I am talking about the basic 2-track split to left/right-centre/mono-surroundsystem you mean.
No longer have access to equiupment sadly, cinema closed last September due to a new 'ODEON' as they still have the cheek to call themselves. If left on 5.5 or 6, it was a 'comfortable' level, but not enough to show off the variable direction effects and too quiet for a busy house - 7 would give it some oomph...
I'm actually surprised companys like UCI actually used this, as as good as it is, it was sold by independent cinema suppliers only and not Dolby, whom they obviously got all their others from. This was the only unofficial Dolby film I know of, but was very popular and stil is, though DOLBY STEREO implies that you are using Dolby 'A' analogue, but can be generic to all analogue Dolby formats, but would be underselling your cinema if you had (eg) Dolby SR. This film costs around £30-40 these days
Which one? This or the officially made ones? The offical ones covered Dolby A and SR - they were identical except A Said DOLBY STEREO and the others DOLBY STEREO SR (with SPECTRAL RECORDING above logo). There was also the famous Dolby SR Mancini fanfare that was reused with an altered logo for Dolby Digital.
