IMAX is just a big screen right?

Yes it’s a big screen, a really BIG screen, but it’s so much more than just that, but seeing as you mentioned the screen size lets talk about that first - The screen at IMAX Melbourne Museum:

• is the World's 3rd Largest screen
• is therefore Melbourne’s largest screen by far
• is Australia’s 2nd largest screen (IMAX Sydney in Darling Harbour has the world’s largest screen)
• has Australia’s largest projected 3D image (our 3D image takes up more of our screen than at IMAX Sydney)
• is 23m high (that’s 7 stories!) and 32m wide (1.5 semi-trailers!)

But IMAX is much more than just a big screen. If we were ‘just a big screen’ we’d be just like any other ordinary cinema and IMAX Melbourne Museum is anything BUT ordinary.

You can’t just build a big screen and then use regular cinema technology to show films on it. Why? Because the larger the screen the more you need to ‘blow-up’ the image coming out of the projector. The more you do this the lower the on-screen quality of the picture – you lose sharpness, definition and clarity and that’s exactly what you don’t want on a big screen. IMAX Melbourne Museum uses completely different technology to project images on it’s massive screen and it allows these super-size images to be of the highest quality in clarity & definition as possible. Think of a comparison between a picture on a full HD Plasma or LCD TV versus that on an old CRT TV set – there’s a big difference isn’t there? Well that’s about the same difference between pictures on screen at a regular cinema and those on screen at IMAX.

So what is this different technology that IMAX uses?

The key to both our big screen and the quality of the images on that big screen is LARGE FORMAT 15/70 FILM

To put it simply, the bigger the film frame, the bigger the projected image and the better the quality of that image. The film format comparison shows the difference in size between standard cinema (called 35mm) and IMAX (15/70mm). You can fit 10 x 35mm film frames into each IMAX 15/70 film frame! It’s the sheer size of this large format film that allows us to project crystal clear images of the highest quality on the World’s Largest Screens. This means YOU get to enjoy what is simply the best picture on offer, there is literally nothing better!

What about IMAX Sound?

Sound is critical to the IMAX experience. The film soundtracks are delivered through a mighty 15,000 watt 6-channel digital surround sound system. You may have heard of  Dolby Digital and DTS sound in cinemas? Well these two brands are different forms of digital sound compression – or simply two different methods of compressing the amount of information contained in the soundtrack in order to make the file size more manageable. IMAX sound uses no form of sound compression, thus losing no sound information and therefore delivering the world standard in cinema sound.

What about 3D? Isn't IMAX all about 3D?

IMAX is renowned for showing 3D and has been for many years. This is due to the 3D experience being the most convincing of any 3D medium. There are quite a few reasons for this, the main ones centering around the quality of the on-screen images (thanks to that large format film!), the sheer size of the screen and the fact that the IMAX Melbourne Museum cinema was purposely designed and built to show 3D films (more on this later). However not all of our films are 3D. This is because a film has to be shot in 3D by the film makers to be shown in 3D at the theatres. Not all films are shot in 3D, therefore we can’t show those films in 3D – get it?

Why are some ordinary cinemas showing 3D films now?

3D cinema is in the midst of a big come back at the moment and this time it’s being touted as the next best thing since the introduction of sound and then colour in the movies (that’s a pretty big call!). The public are responding enthusiastically to this latest evolution in movies and therefore Hollywood are delivering more product in 3D. Because of this, regular cinemas are converting some of their auditoriums to show 3D films to take advantage of this surge in both public interest and available product. However the experience of seeing a 3D film in regular cinema is NOT the same as seeing it in IMAX Melbourne Museum. Why you ask? Read on!

Why are some 3D films not shown in IMAX 3D?

Only particular films are either filmed with Large Format IMAX film or chosen to be converted to it. This means that some of the Hollywood produced 3D films are not available on the super-size IMAX film – we can only play those movies that are converted (the same deal applies to regular 2D movies and is why we do not always show all the films available at regular cinema).

Is seeing 3D in a regular cinema the same as seeing it in IMAX 3D?

DEFINITELY NOT! The IMAX theatre at Melbourne Museum is a purpose built 3D theatre – it was designed around exacting technical specifications in order to ensure the highest quality 3D experience to all our guests. These specs include:

• the positioning of the screen
• the angle of the seats to the screen
• the angle of the stadium seating deck
• the quality of the 3D image
• the size of the screen

With IMAX Melbourne Museum using a purpose built 3D cinema, Large Format film producing the best quality pictures in the world, combined with the World’s (3rd) Largest Screen we can offer a 3D experience that is second to none.
Size is important because the 3D effect is lost once the image on screen reaches the border of that screen – therefore the bigger the screen the better the 3D effect. With IMAX screens filling your field of view you can’t help but be immersed in the action and part of the film! Most other 3D cinemas are regular auditoriums that have been converted to show 3D films. Very little is changed in regards the design of the cinema and of course the size of the screen is limited by the original size of the auditorium –  the 3D experience is therefore a compromise.

TAKE THE IMAX EXPERIENCE TOUR - CLICK HERE

What about digital cinema – isn’t that the future?

Yes it most definitely is. Digital cinema is having a large impact on the movie world and there are some definite benefits that revolve around negating the cost of film prints and their associated shipping costs. However, for large screen IMAX theatres like ours, digital technology is not good enough to fill our screen with images anywhere near the quality to match that of Large Format film, which remains the benchmark for on screen presentation.

But  aren’t there smaller IMAX Cinemas that use digital rather than film?

Good point – let me tell you a story..... Once there were 3 bears, all of whom were heavily into large format film and projection systems. They loved IMAX and each had their own system to match their size:

1. Papa Bear had an IMAX GT system – this was the biggest IMAX system around, it was only used for the biggest IMAX theatres in the world just like the one at IMAX Melbourne Museum.
2. Mama Bear had an IMAX SR system – this was a medium size system used for those IMAX theatres that had medium size screens – still bigger than regular ordinary cinema, but not as big as the IMAX GT theatres.
3. Baby Bear had an IMAX MPX system. MPX was an abrieviation for Multiplex and these little systems were used to retro-fit auditoriums in existing multiplex cinemas – thus they were in fact little bigger than regular cinema, but still used large format film which was of the highest quality.

Sorry to interrupt the story, but is there a point to this?

Sorry about that, I was getting carried away. Point is, Yes there is an IMAX digital system now available, BUT they are only available to replace the film based MPX systems (that Baby Bear had!) designed to fit into existing multiplex cinema complexes. They are not giant screen IMAX cinemas like IMAX Melbourne Museum (the screen size area is typically less than ¼ of ours) and therefore digital is considered acceptable for these small screens.

Right then, I’m now an IMAX expert, so what’s Vmax & Cinemaxx?

These are the names given to regular cinemas (in multiplexes) that have the biggest screens in that particular complex. They also usually have some form of name-brand sound compression like Dolby. Like all other regular cinemas they use regular cinema projection systems to project images onto their screen.
They are renamed and marketed differently and you are usually charged an additional amount to see a movie in them.
Aside from the similar names, Vmax and Cinemaxx bear no resemblance to IMAX, neither can offer the image and sound quality that a genuine IMAX theatre produces.