Earlier this month at the Giant Screen Cinema Association (GSTA) conference in Montréal, we had the chance to see Spiderman 2 on a big, IMAX size screen. If you have not been to an IMAX or other Large Format Cinema in the recent past, the screens are in the neighborhood of 60 feet tall by 80 feet wide (the actual size varies depending on the number of seats and real estate available).
One of the problems that the industry has is how to fill these theaters or “getting butts in the seats” as they say. Traditionally an IMAX or Large Format Film is about 45 minutes in length and is some form of documentary film taking us to places we have never been before, or cannot go to. Outer space is a great example. However with more IMAX theaters showing up as part of the mega multiplex, theater owners have resorted to showing standard films on the big screen. They either blow up the image and present a very grainy film or only fill up a very small portion of the screen and let the audience view what seems like a “postage stamp” compared to the screen size.
To address this problem IMAX has develop a Format Conversion Process called DMR (Digital ReMastering). The process starts by converting a 35mm frame into digital form at very high resolution, capturing all the detail from the original. The proprietary software mathematically analyzes and extracts the important image elements in each frame from the original grainy structure to create a pristine form of the original photography. This is the most complex step in the IMAX digital re-mastering process.
To create the brightness and clarity that audiences have come to expect from the IMAX experience, IMAX uses a proprietary computer program to make the images sharper than they were originally, while colors are adjusted for the unique technically superior characteristics of the IMAX screen. The completed remastered film is then transferred onto the world’s largest film format, 15-perforations 70mm.
To create the brightness and clarity that audiences have come to expect from the IMAX experience, IMAX uses a proprietary computer program to make the images sharper than they were originally, while colors are adjusted for the unique technically superior characteristics of the IMAX screen. The completed remastered film is then transferred onto the world’s largest film format, 15-perforations 70mm.
Other Films that have been converted by the DMR process include:
– Apollo 13
– Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
– The Lion King
– Beauty and the Beast
– The Matrix Reloaded
– The Matrix Revolutions
– Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Having had the chance to work on a number of film post-production studios, the standard quality of the multiplex cinemas has been very disappointing to us – the quality bar is just to high. We have seen how you should be able to hear and see a film. Spiderman 2 in DMR on the big IMAX screen is as close as it gets to being at the studio!
IMAX®, The IMAX Experience® and DMR® are trademarks of IMAX Corporation.