HOW CINERAMA'S SEARCH FOR PARADISE WAS RESTORED

[Omaha Steve]

Dave Stromhaier (below and in the video) and I worked together to try to save Omaha's Indian Hills Cinerama Theater. These films will have the smilebox AND letterbox version in the same cover. One for each Blu-ray disk in the package.

Great info on the Cinerama process here: http://www.widescreenmuseum.com/widescreen/wingcr1.htm

OS


http://www.flickeralley.com/blog/preservation-news/how-cineramas-search-for-paradise-was-restored

In the video excerpt below, Dave Stromhaier explains how Cinerama and Image Trends restored SEARCH FOR PARADISE. See the flight over Nepal before-and-after their restorations techniques were applied. More restoration details and scene comparisons are available in his full presentation, one of the bonus features in the SEARCH FOR PARADISE Blu-ray/DVD Combo, now available for pre-order.

You can see the full restoration results in Cinerama's SEARCH FOR PARADISE, now available for pre-order.
For more exclusive sneak peeks like this one, plus film preservation news and special discounts, sign up for the Flicker Alley Newsletter.

[longship]

1. I remember Cinerama in Detroit.

First, it was the Music Hall theater, where I saw It 's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. Laughed my ass off, ended up in the aisle I was laughing so hard. They still had the huge, curved Cinerama screen.

I also saw 2001, Kubrick's iconic space adventure, at the Michigan Theater in downtown Detroit, supposedly in Cinerama. ( It wasn't but it was great to see it on a truly big screen.)

I never saw This is Cinerama or the other experiments in that technology. But Detroit's Music Hall is still a venue for the arts. Of course, it's downtown, right around the corner to the Detroit Opera House, the former Grand Circus Theater, now renovated to perform opera, an awesome venue which I have attended many times.

I have fond memories of Cinerama.

[navarth]

3. Hey! You go back a ways, doncha?

I remember seeing Mary Poppins at the Adams Theatre on Grand Circus Park. Great memories.

[hunter]

2. That's really cool.

The IMAX of its day, for those who never experienced it.

[navarth]

4. Nice. Good luck with saving the theater.

I'm curious about the original data. Did they have film scans? Floating-point color is going to give them more info so there's less loss of color in the vignette removal/color correction. Did they use prosumer-level stuff like After Effects or Premiere? Removing the lens distortion could have been done with numerous softwares.

Just curious.

[Omaha Steve]

5. There is a full documentary of the restoration process on the "How the West Was Won" Blu-ray

The theater was demolished in 2001, I'm in the documentary: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0378712/?ref_=ttmi_tt

Also see: Archives: That time Indian Hills Theater was king and Cinerama was a thing: http://www.omaha.com/go/archives-that-time-indian-hills-theater-was-king-and-cinerama/article_8dc7b8d6-5b7c-52a9-b946-f7bf925f34f9.html

The Indian Hills last the last of 3 hatbox theaters that were designed for Cinerama. The Cinerama Dome is the last built for the format extant.

[navarth]

6. the theater was demolished???? FUCKING ASSHOLES

This is part of the soft underbelly of capitalist amurka. Plenty of money for all kinds of crap, golf courses, guns, whatever disposable manufactured pop star is spewing rhythmic pablum, but NONE for saving a wonderful place like that. Unconscionable.

It must have been really painful for you guys to lose that place. I felt the same way about Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Haven't felt the same way about MLB since.

Thanks for the tech link, maybe I can satisfy my professional curiosity.

[navarth]

7. What a gorgeous building it was. I've always loved 50's and 60's ultra modern.

Like an episode from The Jetsons. It reflects a much more optimistic view of the future in America. So sorry it's gone.

I'll bet it's a really nice parking lot!! shit.