Let's Talk Movies
How IMAX works
by Rebekah Scruggs
Issue date: 2/8/10 Section: A&E
Everyone's heard of the movie format IMAX, but do you know what it actually is or how it works? I wondered the same thing after viewing the film Avatar. So, I did some searching and here's what I found out.
Although IMAX technology has been around for about 23 years, its popularity hasn't skyrocketed until the past few years. According to hmfgv.org, the IMAX experience was created by a company in Canada called the IMAX Corporation.
So this is how IMAX works: the frame for an IMAX film is 10 times larger than a regular movie. The film is laid horizontally into the rolling-loop projector and is the key to the great clarity and detail a viewer sees in an IMAX film. The film for the movie passes through the projector at 24 frames a second and at 330 feet per minute. The entire film for an average 40-minute IMAX film would stretch the length of 2.5 miles.
Like the film in an IMAX movie, sound is important to get the full experience. IMAX films use a six-channel digital motion picture sound system and was created by the IMAX Corporation's subsidiary, Sonics Associates. The speakers created by Sonics varies in volume and spreads throughout the theatre so that a viewer can sit anywhere in the theater and get a clear and nearly perfect sound. With the sound, film and a few more elements working together, IMAX creates one of the most entertaining ways to watch a movie.
Although IMAX technology has been around for about 23 years, its popularity hasn't skyrocketed until the past few years. According to hmfgv.org, the IMAX experience was created by a company in Canada called the IMAX Corporation.
So this is how IMAX works: the frame for an IMAX film is 10 times larger than a regular movie. The film is laid horizontally into the rolling-loop projector and is the key to the great clarity and detail a viewer sees in an IMAX film. The film for the movie passes through the projector at 24 frames a second and at 330 feet per minute. The entire film for an average 40-minute IMAX film would stretch the length of 2.5 miles.
Like the film in an IMAX movie, sound is important to get the full experience. IMAX films use a six-channel digital motion picture sound system and was created by the IMAX Corporation's subsidiary, Sonics Associates. The speakers created by Sonics varies in volume and spreads throughout the theatre so that a viewer can sit anywhere in the theater and get a clear and nearly perfect sound. With the sound, film and a few more elements working together, IMAX creates one of the most entertaining ways to watch a movie.
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