Technicolor IP And ShowScan
Dear Gary: I have just finished reading your fascinating article about the revival of the original Cinerama process which appeared in Issue 25. I love the idea of a bunch of us buying stock to pay off their theatre debt so that this can be continued. You should be commended for bringing this up. Maybe you could organize something through the magazine? I was privileged to see many of the original Cinerama films at the Warner Cinerama Theatre in Hollywood in the early ’50s. I clearly remember seeing How The West Was Won, twice. Some years later, when it was re-released in its 35mm scope format, I rushed out to see it knowing that it would not be the same. But I was still excited to be able to see this great film in any form after so many years. Aside from the obvious short comings of the transfer, I cried in disbelieve when I found that MGM had completely cut the final aerial scenes, along with Spencer Tracy’s narration and the final music, which summed up the entire film. I could never stand to watch it again until I purchased my letterboxed LaserDisc copy. A very poor substitute and the print is faded, but at least the entire film is there to enjoy, if not the whole picture. I was particularly interested in the comment in your article about several of these Cinerama prints being Technicolor IB Prints. So, I thought that some of your readers might be interested in the following: On July 30, 1997 there was a combined meeting of the local chapters of SMPTE and the AES at the Samuel Goldwin Theatre (the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Screening Theatre) in Beverly Hills, California. The subject of the meeting was a demonstration of their new state-of-the-art speaker playback system which was recently completed. The feature shown was Batman And Robin. There were introductions from JBL, Dolby Laboratories, the film’s Sound Director, the Producer and a few others. Just before the film was run a representative from The Technicolor Corporation came to the podium (a surprise) and announced that the print we were about to see was one of only two new Technicolor IB prints of this film. The audience, all industry insiders, immediately broke into a loud applause. He explained that in 1994, the Technicolor Corporation decided to study the possibility of bringing back the original Technicolor IB process to make release prints, minus the unwanted environmental problems with the original dyes. Their first full-length trial was to make five IB prints for Warner Brothers restored version of Giant two years ago. I saw this film (coincidentally, at the “Cinerama” Dome in Hollywood, which was built for the premiere showing of It’s A Mad Mad Mad Mad World right after How The West Was Won closed), but I did not realize that it was a genuine Technicolor IB print. I was very disappointed in this “restoration” after seeing the restored versions of Lawrence Of Arabia and Vertigo, but I assume that this was due to either the original photographic elements that were available or perhaps the budget that Warner Brothers allocated for this “restoration.” I am sure that it was not due to the Technicolor printing process. The audio at this special screening was indeed awesome, but the print was breathtaking. It was the absolute STAR of the evening. Real blacks, great flesh tones and very little grain. The Technicolor rep gave the audience some background on the process, which is celebrating its 80th anniversary this year. He also explained that their IB process is the only one in use today which uses pin registration throughout the entire printing process, thereby eliminating much of the image creep that is so common in today’s release prints (due to the high speeds used in printing today). The obvious question was asked about which sound system was used for playback at this screening, Dolby, DTS or SDDS. The Sound Director said that both he and the Producer strongly prefer Dolby Digital. I remember attending another combined meeting of SMPTE and AES some years ago in the very same venue for a special screening of Jurassic Park where DTS’ Terry Beard gave a demonstration of the then new DTS Theatre Sound System. One final note. In your article, you mentioned Doug Trumbull’s ShowScan process. I was working at Paramount in the late 70s when this process was developed. Its original implementation used a 65mm camera negative which was printed on 70mm release stock without the usual mag sound track, both running at an astonishing 60 frames per second. His special projector utilized two 4,000 watt Xenon lamp houses and a special Zeiss wide angle projection lens. The Mann National Theatre in Westwood, California was completely re-fitted to show the demo reel. Stewart Filmscreen made a special 70-foot wide screen which covered the full curtain opening, from the floor to the ceiling. The sound system was originally called VistaSonic Sound (remember Vista Vision?) and was played back at each showing on an interlocked 6-track mag full coat recorder, not unlike the Cinerama system. The sound system (which pre-dated digital audio) was developed by Paramount Sound Systems and utilized 14 speaker locations in the theatre which included several subwoofers. Each audio channel could be directed to any of these speaker locations, under the control of a computer which was synced to the film via SMPTE time code. The sound level on each track was also controlled by the computer which allowed for a dynamic range which approached today’s digital capabilities. Unfortunately, Paramount did not move forward with either ShowScan or VistaSonic Sound (which was actually used in Popeye and Dragonslayer in about 12 theatres). Doug Trumbull’s first commercial release for ShowScan was to be his film, Brainstorm which would have been an excellent vehicle to showcase his revolutionary new motion picture exhibition system. Each of the dream sequences was to be shown in ShowScan while the rest of the film was to be shown on a traditional projection system. It would have knocked your socks off! I don’t mean to take anything away from the Cinerama process, nor your article. This system was developed many years after Cinerama. It is, however, one of the most dramatic motion picture experiences that you will ever see and it deserves much more recognition that it has ever received. Imagine, a 70-foot wide image with the brightness of video, the color, contrast and image quality of film and NO camera jitter during horizontal pans! Back then, you could not play back thunder at levels approaching reality, without an audio engineer being present to do a live mix for every channel at every performance, as was done many years earlier with Fantasia. Subwoofers, although common today, were not in general use (Sensurround excepted), even in the best 70mm houses. And yes, there were no seams to distract from the enjoyment of the motion picture experience. Cinerama could do things that this system could not, but as a practical matter, which of us really wants to go back to playing our vinyl LPs with their annoying ticks and pops, even if they do sound better than CDs? Finally, it may be of interest to your readers that the VistaSonic Theatre Sound System was also being developed (in competition with Dolby) to bring something as close to 70mm 6-track mag quality sound as possible to local 35mm theatres. At that time 70mm magnetic sound release prints cost about $18,000 each, while 35mm optical prints only cost about $1,500 each. Each theatre had new speakers, amplifiers and a special optical pickup unit installed to upgrade the entire sound system. The 35mm implementation of VistaSonic Sound (not a part of ShowScan) incorporated a proprietary optical sound printing and playback system for its compatible optical prints which it licensed from none other than Terry Beard. Yes, the same Terry Beard, more recently of DTS fame. And now you know “the rest of the story.”
Richard Greenhalgh
Editor Gary Reber Comments:
Thank you for the update on the Technicolor IP process. That is exciting and I hope quality-conscious filmmakers and studios will support at minimum premier prints in the process. I have also had the opportunity to experience ShowScan on numerous occasions, including the Mann National Theatre showing and at the company’s former Culver City, California facility. What an incredible filmic experience. And what a sound system, all matched loudspeakers delivering a six-channel discrete presentation. None of this small loudspeaker surround pretense.
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