I was fortunate enough to see CINERAMA at the London Casino in 1964. A very impressive presentation. My home cinema, with the CINERAMA screen installed, creates an excellent impression of the original shows. Filmed in Black & White.
Very nicely done. I worked for Cinerama in London during it's final years and got to see every film shown at the Casino during my time there, including those that weren't filmed for Cinerama such as Ben-Hur, but every film shown on that huge curved screen still looked tremendous.
Very interesting - I have a similar installation in Valenciennes - Northern France - OPTOMA videoprojector and ... two 35/70mm PHILIPS DP70 projectors !!!
I operated a pair of DP70 's back in the late 70's, 4,000 foot spools, carbon arcs and change overs every 30 to 40 mins. Then in the late 80's four DP70 's with Zenon lamps and cake stands in a four screen cinema conversion. Very reliable machines !
@@davesdigitalmovies Yes they were very reliable machines - so the international nickname was The Rolls Royce of Projectors !!! The first that I knew was when I was student(I'm 75 today) at EMPIRE CINERAMA in Paris after conversion from 3 screens system to 70mm.
@@mrcinerama3071 Happy birthday, I assume the Empire Cinerama was the single lens system, I saw Mad, Mad, etc: World projected onto the Cinerama screen back in 1964... p.s. I will be 78 next birthday
@@davesdigitalmovies The Paris Empire Cinerama theater was fully equipped with triple projectors, but switched to 70mm single film projection when the triple Cinerama cameras stopped being used, and replaced by the single lens Ultra Panavision process. But the result wan't as good, Ultra Panavision shooting angle was very far from Cinerama's 146°, and as the result the Cinerama immersive effect was lost, despite beng projected on the same screen. I have seen alt the three strips Cinerama films at the Paris Empire Cinerama theater (but the Brothers Grimm), and one in Ultra Panavision (The fall of the Roman Empire).
Good illusion trick. Of course in the Cinerama days there was no curved mask. The effect simply came from an extremely curved screen, so it was just a matter of perspective. But this Smilebox-trick works very well when your head dived into the movie. Great job!
Very nice to see another home Cinerama set up. If you are ever in Shropshire you must come and see mine, I have digital but I also have 2 Phillips DP70 35/70mm projectors.
I would love to know how you made the screen, how much of a curve how are you able to maintain focus clarity at the edges of the curve. I have the smileboxed versions of some of the cinerama films from flicker ally and would love to show them on something similar. I have watch this a few times now and I am intriged to know how you did it. :-)
The screen is an 8 x4 sheet of hardboard, with 25mm x 50mm timer glued to the vertical outer edges. These are fixed with a bolt to the side frames which have been fixed to the stage surround. The hardboard bends naturally and almost holds itself in place. The masking is hardboard, held with bolts (side) or wooden brackets (top) and covered with a very dull black cloth. Make the masking over size, hang or bolt in place, then project the smilebox image onto the screen. Draw a line where the picture covers the masking, cut to shape, & cover with black material. The centre of the screen is about 6/7 ins back from the sides. This does not affect the focus unduly. Good Luck!
Very smart idea. Have to try to do something similar in my home cinema. Thanks for the smart solution. if I do something similar. I promise to write a comment to. I also have an optoma that I put in the ceiling as you did. With projector sat on a sledge, to be able to get as large a cinemascope image as possible.
I am pleased that my film has inspired you. The black masking to fit the picture makes a much better viewing experience. On the large format screen, I can show, Cinerama, Todd-AO, and Imax. All with different masking arrangements.
0:45 They tried to establish wide screen movie in 1930 and it failed, because for movie theaters the transition to films with sound track was expensive enough. When television came, it became different. One interesting point, the old Fox Grandeur equipment was used for Todd AO and Fox reused the old name for its 70 mm releases.
Great job! I Love the idea of a Cinerama screen at home. But why did you have to mask the projection? I own How The West Was Won on BD and it comes with a smilebox version. Don’t all Cinerama movies on Blu-ray come with them? Another question: don’t you have focusing issues since the sides of the screen are at different distances from the lens? Best regards!
There is a slight difference in the smilebox mask on some films, and I use my projector mask for home movies, see my video 'Home Cinema CINERAMA' As for focusing issues, see my video, 'A Curved Screen for Home Cinema' I hope this helps. Regards, David
I have been thinking for a long time to install a home Cinerama, but I fear that there could be focus problems on a deeply curved screen, looks like you screen is not as deeply curved as were Cinerama screens.
The three projector Cinerama set up needed a deeply curved screen due to the projector layout. My screen curves inward about 8 inches, the width is 96 inches. This does not cause any more focus problems than the projector angle beaming down. The curve and black masking produce a very satisfactory Cinerama experience. Also a completely blacked out room is recommended.
@@davesdigitalmovies Thanks for you answer. The Cinerama theater screen was deeply curved to match the 146° shooting angle of the triple Cinerama camera. Both were needed to achieve the full immersive Cinerama effect. If one of the two isn't there, it doesn't work, as it happened with Ultra Panavision films. I had noticed on your video that you own screen wasn't as deeply curved as the genuine Cinerama screen, but it's probably a good compromise for a home installation as special correction lenses used for Ultra Panavision in Cinerama theater are a very rare thing...
@@78Dipar The single lens Cinerama (70mm) could not match the three strip process (3x 35mm). Much the same as Imax Digital cannot match the 15/70mm Imax. It's real nostalgia to see the Cinerama films again as close to the original presentations, well worth making your own Cinerama set up. I hope you are successful with your home Cinerama......
I can see you put a lot of work into your setup. Good job on the screen and video! I imagine your projector must be set back quite a ways for focus not to be a problem. I too have an Optoma projector, and for a 120" image I have it set back about 20 feet from the screen. Like your projector railing too. Thanks!
It can be done with a digital set up, but a bit OTT for a modest home cinema, sorry about the disappointment. The curved screen does create a good imitation of true CINERAMA with the smilebox method on blu-ray. P.S. The tabs are fake, but look good.
