- Digital cinema - as the name implies, uses digital technology to project motion pictures. In the Screen Machine and nearly every other digitally equipped cinema in the world, the movie is stored on a hard drive and projected using a digital projector. We use a Digital Light Processing projector, the Christie CP 2000-ZX. The film is stored in digital code on a server (a storage device for the movie or any video content, in our case a Doremi DCP 2000). This digital code is then used to power a tiny array of thousands of mirrors which hinge to produce varying shades of gray, from white to black and everything in between. The colour is added by the use of a spinning wheel, made up of mainly red green and blue portions (although there are other colours on the wheel) which is synchronised with the array of mirrors. To project the image onto the screen a beam of very bright light from a metal halide arc lamp is passed through the colour wheel bounced off the array of mirrors to form an image which is reflected through the lens at the front of the projector which focuses the image on the screen. In reality it’s much more complicated than that. A full explanation with pictures is available here.
|
- Digital sound – this is what makes a film come to life. Cinemas have speakers all around the auditorium to give the impression of Surround Sound. It’s all about transferring what you see on screen to what you hear around you. Helicopters seem to fly overhead, you feel explosions and bullets ricochet around the room. The soundtrack, which is read by a decoder, splits the sound into six parts, these bits of the soundtrack are then fed to specific speakers, this moves the sound around, making it all seem a bit more real.
|
- 3D - The switch to digital projection has allowed us to screen 3D movies. With the use of special glasses the image on the screen literally jumps right out at you. We've seen whole audiences duck out to the way of exploding bombs and try and grab objects out of the air. Don't worry we don't laugh - well not much!! The Screen Machine uses the XpanD system. No other type of 3D glasses will work in the Screen Machine (eg RealD ). We supply the correct glasses, however they are returnable at the end of the show. If we "lose" too many pairs it may reduce our ability to screen 3D movies and/or push up ticket prices to fund replacements. So please, can we have them back at the end of the show. They won't make your TV at home 3D and they can cause eye damage if worn in sunlight as they are not UV blocking.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
