IMAX and 3D: In Theaters and At Home

While IMAX theaters and 3D effects have lurked for a long time in the background, recently filmmakers have been using them to revolutionize the movie industry. As moviegoers (and library patrons!) become more aware of these innovations, let’s take a look at what IMAX and 3D mean, both for the general public and for you, the media-savvy librarian.

IMAX, 3D, and the future of film
As home theater technology grows more advanced and box office revenue continues to drop, movie theaters are searching for ways to entice viewers with experiences they can’t get anywhere else. Movie studios are helping theaters step up their game by producing an increasing number of films in the IMAX and 3D formats. These viewing technologies provide moviegoers an intense, immersive experience that is (as of now) difficult or impossible to replicate at home.

IMAX
IMAX is a video technology that allows images to be recorded at a much larger size and higher resolution than traditional filming. A standard IMAX screen is 72’ x 53’; this takes up most of the viewer’s field of vision, placing them “in the movie” in a way that standard theaters simply can’t. Traditionally, IMAX technology has been limited to documentaries and specialty projects, such as planetariums. One of the first uses of IMAX as an entertainment venture was a Rolling Stones concert film in 1991.

As of September 2010, there were more than 445 IMAX theatres in 47 countries. While this is only a fraction of the number of standard theaters, the format is growing in popularity. In 2010, IMAX raked in a record total of $546 million, over 200% more than their 2009 income.¹

Paramount has signed on to produce a number of upcoming films in the IMAX format. Super 8, Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, and Mission: Impossible—Ghost Protocol will be shot for IMAX screening. Transformers and Tintin will be shown in 3D as well.²

3D
Film is generally a two-dimensional experience: height and width. As the name implies, 3D adds a third dimension: depth. Most people are familiar with the goofy red-and-blue-lens glasses generally associated with 3D viewing—necessary to produce the 3D illusion; the picture would be nearly impossible to view without them because of the distortion that produces the effect.

An occasional novelty for so long, 3D gained traction as the technology for creating the effects improved and decreased in cost. It exploded into the mainstream in 2009, though, with such films as Coraline, Up, and, of course, Avatar, which has gone on to become the highest-grossing film of all time with nearly $3 billion in box office receipts worldwide.³ Avatar was actually filmed specifically for 3D with cameras developed especially for the project, rather than having 3D effects added in post-production like previous 3D movies. This only further heightened the legitimacy of this theatrical effect.

Avatar’s creator, movie mogul James Cameron, sees a bright future for 3D. “My guess is that within the next five years we'll be almost completely in 3D in theatres,” he said in a recent interview with the Sydney Morning Herald. He’s currently preparing his epic Titanic for a 3D rerelease in 2012.⁴ Additionally, George Lucas has announced plans to rerelease the entire Star Wars saga in 3D, beginning with Episode I: The Phantom Menace in 2012.⁵

Merging of IMAX and 3D
With the increased revenue seen by IMAX and the success of 3D films like Avatar, it’s obvious that the future of movie theaters lies in these advanced technologies. So why not combine the two? As it turns out, that’s exactly what’s happening. Again, Cameron was on the leading edge with the 3D IMAX documentary Ghosts of the Abyss in 2003. Feature films have followed; in fact, nine out of the thirteen films slated for IMAX release in 2011 will be in 3D.⁶

Home Theater
The goal of all this, as mentioned previously, is to get viewers to visit theaters by offering them a movie-watching experience they can’t create for themselves at home. Televisions and Blu-ray players capable of producing the 3D effect are on the market, but they remain a niche product for now. One recent survey predicts that one-third of American households will have a 3DTV set by 2014, so we’re still a few years away from 3D being a mainstream home technology.⁷ And as for IMAX, forget it. Even the largest HDTVs and 3DTVs can’t come close to duplicating the experience of a giant theater screen.⁸ Still, I’m sure those in the home theater business won’t give up on trying to replicate the moviegoing experience as closely as ever-advancing technology allows.

Effect on Libraries
So, what does all this mean for you, the librarian? With 3DTV in its infancy, demand for 3D Blu-rays is likely to be limited for now. As with any fledgling technology, demand will increase with time, so it’s something to keep an eye on. Have there been any patron requests for 3D Blu-rays at your library? Or have you heard any feedback on why patrons have or have not adopted the technology in their homes?

¹ http://www.shadowlocked.com/201101031215/news/imax-rakes-in-546-million-and-counting.html
² http://popwatch.ew.com/2011/01/12/transformers-3-tintin-super-8-imax/
³ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/
⁴ http://www.tgdaily.com/games-and-entertainment-brief/53519-james-cameron-sees-a-future-of-nothing-but-3d-movies
⁵ http://www.starwars.com/movies/saga/announce3d/index.html
⁶ http://screencrave.com/2011-01-04/imax-breaks-new-records-in-2010-and-releases-2011-film-slate/
⁷ http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/news/2011/03/21/3DTV.html
⁸ http://www.afterdawn.com/news/article.cfm/2010/10/13/lg_unveils_world_s_largest_led_3d_hdtv

Hot This Week

The DVD list sees new releases in its top spots; Travis Barker and Rise Against both make strong debuts on the CD chart; and James Patterson and Neil McMahon come out on top for fiction.

DVD

1. Tangled
2. Black Swan
3. Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Season 2
4. Mad Men, Season 4
5. Les Miserables: The 25th Anniversary Concert
6. Inside Job
7. Jillian Michaels Ripped in 30
8. Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred
9. The Fighter
10. The Tourist

CD

1. Adele, 21 
2. Rise Against, Endgame
3. Lupe Fiasco, Lasers
4. Glee: The Music, Season Two: Volume 5
5. Mumford & Sons, Sigh No More
6. Justin Bieber, Never Say Never: The Remixes (EP)
7. Avril Lavigne, Goodbye Lullaby
8. Now That’s What I Call Music 37
9. Travis Barker, Give the Drummer Some
10. Marsha Ambrosius, Late Nights & Early Mornings

Fiction Books

1. Toys, James Patterson and Neil McMahon
2. Sing You Home, Jodi Picoult
3. The Jungle, Clive Cussler and Jack Du Brul
4. The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest, Stieg Larsson
5. The Wise Man's Fear, Patrick Rothfuss
6. The Tiger's Wife, Tea Obreht
7. The Paris Wife, Paula McLain
8. A Discovery of Witches, Deborah Harkness
9. Love You More, Lisa Gardner
10. Minding Frankie, Maeve Binchy

Non-Fiction Books

1. Red, Sammy Hagar
2. Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand
3. Moonwalking with Einstein, Joshua Foer
4. The Social Animal, David Brooks
5. Jesus of Nazareth, Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI)
6. Decision Points, George W. Bush
7. Physics of the Future, Michio Kaku
8. Cleopatra, Stacy Schiff
9. Blood, Bones, and Butter, Gabrielle Hamilton
10. A Simple Government, Mike Huckabee

Midwest Tape Now Offers Columbia Classics on DVD and Blu-ray

In an effort to show continued dedication to film preservation, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has launched Columbia Classics. This collection not only includes digitally restored films, but also hundreds of classics, restored to the highest quality and available for the first time on DVD and Blu-ray through Columbia Classics’ Screen Classics by Request (DVD on-demand) program. Through our partnership with Sony Pictures, we are proud to announce that we now offer this collection, which debuted with 100 titles this past fall and adds more titles every month.

According to DVDtalk.com, this program is very similar to the Warner Archive Collection (also available from Midwest Tape): “Like WB's program, Screen Classics by Request is a heady mix of cult favorites (Crash Landing, The 27th Day, The Interns), forgotten epics (Genghis Khan), Columbia series films (four ‘Jungle Jim’ adventures starring Johnny Weissmuller), intriguing but largely forgotten gems (Mickey One, 10 Rillington Place), foreign films (Les voleurs, a.k.a. Thieves), good-to-indifferent TV movies (The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, To Sir with Love II, Hart to Hart: Home Is Where the Hart Is), and bizarre, one-of-a-kind oddities (Birds Do It).”

What is DVD on-demand?
DVD on-demand is the most cost-effective way to bring DVDs and Blu-rays to market—only when consumers or libraries want them. Columbia Classics’ Screen Classics by Request titles are individually ‘burned’ based on orders, rather than churned out in bulk amounts and disseminated to retailers and media distributors.

On-demand DVDs are manufactured using the most widely accepted [DVD] format, DVD-R. As noted in an earlier News & Views post (DVD-R vs. DVD+R), DVD-Rs are developed through duplication (disc burning) with cost-effective retail DVDs, whereas titles produced en masse are developed through a more costly replication process.

How can I find this collection on Midwest Tape’s website?
There are several ways you can access Midwest Tape’s Columbia Classics collection on our website:

• Select “Columbia Classics” while browsing DVD collections via Browse.
• Search via SmartBrowse stock number prefix “CBO” or collection name “Columbia Classics” to access all available Columbia Classics titles.
• Select the “Columbia Classics” collection displayed on the Midwest Tape homepage.

Click image above to access collection.

Hot This Week

Mel Brooks' giant movie collection debuts at number three on the DVD list, while new releases from Lupe Fiasco, the Glee cast, Avril Lavigne, R.E.M., and Sara Evans bump the Biebs down to number nine on the CD chart. Both the fiction and nonfiction lists also see many new additions.

DVD

1. Les Miserables: The 25th Anniversary Concert
2. The Fighter 
3. The Mel Brooks Collection
4. Inside Job
5. Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred
6. The Walking Dead: Season One
7. Megamind
8. Jillian Michaels Ripped in 30
9. Barbie: A Fairy Secret
10. Masterpiece Classic: Downton Abbey

CD

1. Lupe Fiasco, Lasers
2. Adele, 21 
3. Glee: The Music, Season Two: Volume 5
4. Avril Lavigne, Goodbye Lullaby
5. R.E.M., Collapse Into Now
6. Sara Evans, Stronger
7. Mumford & Sons, Sigh No More
8. Marsha Ambrosius, Late Nights & Early Mornings
9. Justin Bieber, Never Say Never: The Remixes (EP)
10. Now That’s What I Call Music 37

Fiction Books

1. The Jungle, Clive Cussler and Jack Du Brul
2. Sing You Home, Jodi Picoult
3. The Wise Man's Fear, Patrick Rothfuss
4. The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest, Stieg Larsson
5. Love You More, Lisa Gardner
6. A Discovery of Witches, Deborah Harkness
7. Minding Frankie, Maeve Binchy
8. The Paris Wife, Paula McLain
9. River Marked, Patricia Briggs (not available on audiobook)
10. Silent Mercy, Linda Fairstein

Non-Fiction Books

1. The Social Animal, David Brooks
2. Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand
3. Moonwalking with Einstein, Joshua Foer
4. Townie, Andre Dubus III
5. A Simple Government, Mike Huckabee
6. Decision Points, George W. Bush
7. Cleopatra, Stacy Schiff
8. The Information, James Gleick
9. Blood, Bones, and Butter, Gabrielle Hamilton
10. Jesus of Nazareth, Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI)

NPR Joins Midwest Tapes’ Standing Order Plans

This past November we introduced our First Listen Today online collection, which allows users to browse albums that are streaming daily on National Public Radio’s website. Due to the popularity of that feature and the high regard held for NPR’s music recommendations, we’ve taken that collection a step further. Midwest Tape now offers the Featured on NPR Customized Standing Order Plan, featuring music highlighted and recommend on NPR.

With a variety of programs aimed at fans of various genres, NPR has long had a reputation for being on the cutting edge of new music. The First Listen feature gives music fans the unique opportunity to listen to albums in their entirety before they are officially released, and their New Song of the Day feature exposes music fans to a new song daily. This week, NPR is showcasing songs from artists playing at the South by Southwest (SXSW) music festival.

In addition to these NPR Music staples, the Featured on NPR plan will include music titles highlighted in NPR reviews and their All Songs Considered feature. Examples of showcased music on NPR include such albums as “Big Roar” by The Joy Formidable, “All Eternals Deck” by The Mountain Goats, and The Ebene Quartet’s “Fiction.”

The Featured on NPR plan will consist of up to ten titles per month, and customers who sign up for this plan will receive carts every four weeks starting on April 6^th. Like all our standing order plans, you can set your cart quantity at any amount and adjust titles and quantities any time.

Interested in signing up for the Featured on NPR or any of our music standing order plans? Contact Chris Shope at 800.875.2785 or cshope@midwesttapes.com.

What do you think of this new plan? Is there another standing order plan you’d love to see? Share your thoughts here as comments.