question about smileboxing

[NipkowDisc]

so there is no way tcm could show ice station zebra or 2001: a space odyssey in the same way they have smileboxed how the west was won?

 

I be not a technician so I hafta ask elementary questions...

but if they can do it...

 

well sir...

 

I wanna see it.

[hamradio]

so there is no way tcm could show ice station zebra or 2001: a space odyssey in the same way they have smileboxed how the west was won?

 

I be not a technician so I hafta ask elementary questions...

but if they can do it...

 

well sir...

 

I wanna see it.

 

"2001" was originally planned to be shot in 3 strip Cinerama but  that was changed to Super Panavision 70.

 

[markfp2]

"Smileboxing" is an artificial approximation of how a movie that was released in the original 3-strip Cinerama process looked on that deeply curved screen.  ICE STATION ZEBRA was not shot in that process even though they referred to it as Cinerama. Doing so would likely  make it distorted. Regardless, TCM could only show it if the distributor provided them with a "smilebox" version and there isn't one.

[NipkowDisc]

"Smileboxing" is an artificial approximation of how a movie that was released in the original 3-strip Cinerama process looked on that deeply curved screen.  ICE STATION ZEBRA was not shot in that process even though they referred to it as Cinerama. Doing so would likely  make it distorted. Regardless, TCM could only show it if the distributor provided them with a "smilebox" version and there isn't one.

I say tcm oughta get off their lazy accolade-prone duffs and make 'em then. now there's a project! tcm makes 3-strip prints of ice station zebra and 2001: a space odyssey.

[JamesJazGuitar]

I say tcm oughta get off their lazy accolade-prone duffs and make 'em then. now there's a project! tcm makes 3-strip prints of ice station zebra and 2001: a space odyssey.

 

Well TCM is full of couch potatoes.    That should be something you respect.

[FredCDobbs]

"Smileboxing" is an artificial approximation of how a movie that was released in the original 3-strip Cinerama process looked on that deeply curved screen. 

 

That is not quite true.

 

The Cinerama screen was very curved and was the same height (top to bottom) all the way around. A "smilebox" image is short in the middle and tall on each side edges. But NO movie theater screen or process ever produced such an image.

 

The trick to seeing Cinerama as it was filmed is to find the one single seat in the entire theater, up fairly close to the screen, that is the same distance from both edges of the screen and the center of the screen. That will give you an image of a screen that is the same height all the way around the curve, from your viewing position. This position represents the position of the center of the Cinerama cameras.

 

All other seats in the theater will give you a distorted image. The "smilebox" concept comes from taking a still photo of the theater movie screen from the far rear center of the theater. That is what causes the distortion that shows the middle of the screen shorter than the two outer edges of the screen.

 

Note the small audience in this Cinerama-screen theater. They are all trying to sit in that 1 perfect central seat so they will see NO "smilebox" distortion of the screen. And note that the camera that took this photo DOES see the "smilebox" distortion, because the still-camera is locate at the REAR of the theater.

 

[hamradio]

 

 

 

 

Notice how people are sitting for the "sweet spot"?  Even with standard widescreen, I like to sit center - 2nd row.

[hamradio]

I say tcm oughta get off their lazy accolade-prone duffs and make 'em then. now there's a project! tcm makes 3-strip prints of ice station zebra and 2001: a space odyssey.

 

"Holiday in Spain" (1960) is in Smilebox but I think TCM don't have the rights to it.  It's available on Bluray, movie was shot in Todd 70 not the 3 strip process.

 

 

The trailer..

 

 

The only movie left that can be restored in Cinerama is "The Golden Head". At present only the trailer is available in the Smilebox format.

 

[markfp2]

That is not quite true.

 

The Cinerama screen was very curved and was the same height (top to bottom) all the way around. A "smilebox" image is short in the middle and tall on each side edges. But NO movie theater screen or process ever produced such an image.

 

The trick to seeing Cinerama as it was filmed is to find the one single seat in the entire theater, up fairly close to the screen, that is the same distance from both edges of the screen and the center of the screen. That will give you an image of a screen that is the same height all the way around the curve, from your viewing position. This position represents the position of the center of the Cinerama cameras.

 

 

Technically, you're correct, that's why I called it an approximation. Like you pointed out, a lot depended on where you were sitting. How it looked to your eye  also depended on the physical layout of the theater and where you were  in relation to the midpoint of the screen's hight.

 

The Cinerama house in the area I grow up in was new and designed for Cinerama. The incline or "rake"  of the floor wasn't particularly steep so one didn't notice a distortion of the shape so much.

 

When I moved here, many years later, what had been a Cinerama theater was still operating running 70mm roadshows. That had been a much older theater which had been converted and the rake of the floor was much steeper. So even sitting dead center the picture could look different.  Depending on how far back and higher you were, you might actually be looking down which could trick you eyes as to the actual shape of the screen.