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Goodbye 70mm IMAX Projector |
Read more at
in70mm.com The 70mm Newsletter
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Written by: Dick Vaughan, Duncan
McGregor and Roxy van der Post, Picturehouse Bradford at National Media
Museum |
Date:
05.06.2015 |
Pair
of IMAX 70mm 3D projectors in 2006 and the QTRU - Quick Turn Reel Units
"Non-rewind" to the left, developed by Kinoton around 1996. Picture by
Thomas Hauerslev.
Click to see enlargement
This summer we say goodbye to the good old 70mm IMAX projector at
Picturehouse at National Media Museum (NMeM), as it will be converted to
digital and the cinema will be refurbished. Jo Quinton-Tulloch, director of
the Museum, told the Telegraph and Argus in February: ‘Upgrading the IMAX
theatre is part of our promise to improve the cinema operation at the Museum
and crucial to us achieving our ambition to be the place in Yorkshire to see
film.’
When IMAX opened at the NMeM in 1983, a little over 10 years after the IMAX
technology premiered in Japan, it was
the first ever IMAX Cinema
in Europe and contained Britain’s largest cinema screen – it had to be
lowered into the auditorium through the roof, as there was no other way to
install it.
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More in 70mm reading:
The First 70MM IMAX Cinema
in England
Imax Sound
System
The Basics
of The Rolling Loop IMAX Projector
Internet link: |
Steel Wheels
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IMAX
70mm film. Picture by Thomas Hauerslev.
Click to see enlargement
The first feature length film ever to be filmed in the IMAX format was the
Rolling Stones 1990 Steel Wheels concert. When the Stones were performing in
Manchester, Mick Jagger, Ronnie Wood and other members of band and crew
drove to Bradford after their performance to watch several rushes on the
Museums IMAX screen, so they could feedback on how they thought the filming
of their tour was going. They asked the Museum to keep their appearance
private and this was duly honoured, so around midnight they were able to see
themselves up real close on Bradford’s giant IMAX screen.
Ronnie Wood later attended the UK premiere here in Bradford. With a newly
refurbished IMAX sound system and huge air-filled figures of women and a
wolf, as featured on stage in the concert, set up in front of the museum, it
was a night to never forget.
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A great learning experience
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IMAX
70mm film. Picture by Thomas Hauerslev.
Click to see enlargement
The museum also hosted some astronauts to coincide with the opening of one
of NASA’s IMAX space films. Cosmonauts visited the Museum to answer
questions from school groups who were keen to learn more about their
experiences in space.
One of the original co-founders of the IMAX system, the Canadian Graeme
Ferguson, visited Bradford several times. He received an honorary doctorate
from the University of Bradford in 1994, and performed a live Q&A discussing
his career and why he chose to invest in the IMAX. Ferguson’s name still
appears on the IMAX screen on a daily basis, as executive producer of Hubble
3D, one of our current popular school screenings.
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The IMAX Experience
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Pair
of IMAX 70mm 3D projectors in 2006 and the QTRU to the left. Picture by
Thomas Hauerslev.
Click to see enlargement
When, in 1994, the IMAX Company started to see a growth potential in
Hollywood content, and was able to use the Digital Re-Mastering (DMR)
technology to turn existing films into IMAX hits, it decided to go public
with this new format. Now, only twenty years later, there are more than 837
IMAX theatres across 57 countries, screening the latest blockbusters from
Christopher Nolan, James Cameron or J.J. Abrams.
IMAX is an experience so all-inclusive that the audience becomes part of the
on-screen action. So make sure you pay a visit to Bradford’s refurbished
IMAX cinema when it reopens in September, to climb Mount Everest with Jake
Gyllenhaal, fight SPECTRE with Daniel Craig or travel to a galaxy far, far
away.
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28-07-24 |
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