Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2011
Cinerama
The gimmick: Sometimes wider is better than bigger. That was the thought at least, behind the Cinerama projection technique, which used three projectors to play a film on a specially created wide and curved screen, spanning 146°. The 1962 western film How the West Was Won was the most noteworthy film in the format.
The result: Moviemakers had a hard time converting the format to show in the vast majority of theaters that weren't equipped with a Cinerama screen. But it lives on through the efforts of a few fans, who operate small theaters showing the movies on Cinerama screens. Devotees include Microsoft's Paul Allen, who owns a Seattle Cinerama theater.