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To fill this huge area, IMAX uses ordinary film, but in an unusual way. It takes 7o-mm film-stocll, and runs it
through the camera (and later the projector) from left to right rather than from top to bottom. As a result, 70.
mm becomes the height of the frame rather than the width. This makes an I MAX frame the largest ever used.
It is just over 5 square Inches (13 square em) In area, - ten times larger than the frame on 35-mm film. For the
audience, the vastness and clarity of the projected image make it something that they experience rather than
just watch. The curved screen stretches either side and up and down. filling the limits of their vision. On top
of this, the sound tracll comes from enormous speakers situated In various places round the theatre. Audience
involvement can be total.

So far, the films made in the I MAX system have concentrated on travelling and scenery. One of them, called
simply To Fly, shows views from balloons, vintage aircraft, helicopters, stunt planes, jets and hang-gliders. It
has been playing in I MAX theatres round the world for the last ten years. The I MAX system is very expensive
to Install. Also no-one has yet worked out a way of filming a full-length entertainment feature with it.

Showscan - Another new process that alms for greater audience Involvement is Showscan. Showscan uses
a screen that is slightly curved, like Cinerama, and letter-box shaped, like CinemaScope. Its film-stock is 70.
mm. What makes Showscan different is Its frame rate. It Is photographed and projected at 60 frames per
second, which is 2 1/2 times faster than the standard rate. The result, its inventor claims. is picture-quality
better than anything ever seen before. Like I MAX, Showscan cinemas have a steep auditorium-but with only
100 seats.

PICTURE PALACES • During the last years of the nlneteenlh century, film-shows did not last very long. They
were usually just one part of a varied bill of entertainment. However, it soon became evident that the public
was willing to pay money to be entertained solely by films, and some shops and arcades were converted Into
cinemas. On average, there would be about fifteen shows a day. The seats were just ordinary wooden chairs,
but the public still kept coming. From around 1905, cinemas began to be designed and built specially. Pro-
grammes became longer, and seats became more comfortable.

An Escape into Adventure - The great age of cinema-building began after World War One. In London, some
cinemas could seat as many as 3500 people. The elaborate architecture offered customers an escape from the
rather drab post-war world. Some of the cinemas were decorated to look like Chinese pagodas, while others
copied Egyptian temples or Spanish villas. They had exotic names such as the Alhambra and the Trocadero.
Inside were marble staircases, glittering chandeliers, mosaic floors, splendidly uniformed staff and plushly
padded seats. The best cinemas also had a restaurant and a full-time professional organist who played
bacllground music before the programme began.

A New Approach • In the fifties and sixties, as audiences began to fall away, cinemas were forced to close
down as fast as they had been put up in the twenties and thirties. A new way of presenting films has recently
worked well in America, and been brought over to Europe. It is called a 'multiplex'. This goes bacll to the old
idea of making the film-show only one among many attractions on offer.

CREDIT WHERE IrS DUE • At the beginning and end of a film, the credits are shown. These provide
Information about who has done what on the making of the film. They show very clearly that fllm-maklng Is
always the result of team-work. The most important names to appear before the film properly starts, as well as
the stars, are the producer and director. The producer has overall control and looks after the money side of
film-making, while the director is in charge of the creative side of the film.

Once the subject for the film has been agreed, the producer has to work out what it is likely to cost. The Idea
then has to be sold to someone with enough money to invest. Another job is finding the right writer and director
for the subject. During the actual filming, the production team also keeps an eye on the day-to-day spending.

One of the director's main jobs is finding suitable actors and then getting their best performance out of them.
However, a good performance Is wasted unless the film-stock has recorded it satisfactorily, so the director Is
also concerned with lighting, cameras and other technical aspects.

There are normally two or three assistant directors to help· particularly when crowds of extras are involved.