Eunice Machuhi
3 July 2009
Nairobi — Visitors to Nyali Cinemax have more reason to find their way to the cinema hall starting this month to experience its recently launched technology.
Once more, the firm has come up with an attraction to excite its audience, and raised the bar for quality entertainment in not only Mombasa, but also the whole of East Africa.
Cinemax is the first movie hall to adopt the latest cutting edge digital technologyict the introduction of East Africa's very first 3D digital cinema.
This goes to show just how the use of technology has led to new innovations.
Initially, images were captured and stored on a single reel, and led quickly to the development of a motion picture projector to shine light through the processed printed film and magnify these "moving picture shows" onto a screen for an entire audience.
Now the advent of digital cinema projection systems has brought about a rebirth of 3D efforts on the part of the movie studios.
Nyali Cinemax marketing manager Sapna Sachania says that with this new development, the audience enjoys a richer, more gripping 3D experience with colour sharper and image clearer each time you take a seat in the auditorium.
"It is a whole new experience that brings out a new level of audience excitement," she explains.
The computer-animated film -- the ICE- AGE 3 Dawn of the Dinosaurs, which is the latest instalment to the hit the ICE AGE franchise premiered on July 1 worldwide -- was produced on 3D and was the first to be screened at the movie hall using this new technology.
The same is designed to deliver the highest quality and most faithful productions, and makes it easier on the eye of the audience. Other films to follow are Disney's UP at the end of July and then G-FORCE soon after.
A pair of special state-of-the art 3D glasses is given to each viewer that will, in conjunction with the latest cinema projection technology enable the person to see the film in a three-digit dimension.
Samtchi Patel, 10, a fan of animated films, was on a stroll with his guardian, and could not miss the incredible moment and got himself a ticket.
"For just a moment, I removed my 3D glasses, and the screen flattened. What was so near me suddenly disappeared, and the animated images blurred and looked like ordinary," he said.
Sapna says that the glasses can be worn above the normal ones, but if misplaced or damaged, a fine of Sh5,000 is payable to get a new pair.
Currently, there are only 300 pieces, and although the auditorium fitted with this technology can accommodate many more, an audience exceeding that number cannot be allowed inside.
There is also an added advantage as there are no additional charges for the movie. "The idea is to entertain and attract more audience," she notes.
Another movie enthusiast, Jabez Odero, says that he was curious to see the difference and took the opportunity on Thursday.
I have watched all ICE AGE with my kids and when I saw the weekly pamphlet and noticed the latest release was to be screened, I bought the ticket.
Although I was not sure what 3D, is all about, I am impressed by the difference on the screen. The technology is interesting, looks good and is worth trying. I do not regret coming at all," says the advertising executive father of two.
Shitul Sachania, the general manager, says digital 3D cinema is based on the same principle as human visual perception.
The movie is simultaneously shot with two digital cameras, which just like the eyes, are a few centimetres apart, with each camera recording a slightly different perspective of the image.
At the theatre, the two images are synchronously projected to the screen and the resulting picture to the naked eye is blurred, but with polarised 3D glasses, the image is a brilliant and perfectly focused three-dimensional pictures.
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