believe, if only for a few hours, that they have entered another world,” he says. The experience is enhanced by Kraftwerk’s 4D seats, which were specially designed for the fi lm. Features include a spider- web launched onto visitors’ faces which is pulled back as they try to grab it.
CONTENT IS KING SimEx-Iwerks has gone for recognisable brands with its latest releases, which are all the types of fi lms that have huge popular- ity among the family audience. Dora and Diego’s 4-D Adventure is new for this sea- son at the Bronx Zoo in New York. Happy Feet 4-D Experience is the latest attraction for both Drayton Manor theme park in the UK and Chimelong Paradise in Guangzhou. Madame Tussauds New York has gone for The Wizard of Oz 4-D Experience. “Many of our clients are already reporting signifi cant increases in guest satisfaction and box offi ce returns,” says senior vice president fi lm distribution Mike Freuh. All the fi lm makers agree that it’s the
content which will drive this industry for- ward and keep it ahead of competition from the mainstream. “After you get used to the new effects, you’re back onto the content, so content is always king. After all, the new technology is just a new way of re-hashing existing, good content,” says director of Animalive, Ali Kord. Ben Smith, creative director at Red Star,
says brands and intellectual property (IP) are the way forward, and also that attrac- tions are asking for seasonal fi lms. This is why the company’s chosen to use Dracula for its latest fi lm – a Halloween adventure where the infamous Count is accidently
Animalive’s Sea Life fi lm. Director Ali Kord says that despite new technology, content is king
awoken by a grumpy teenager and his bumbling dad on holiday in Transylvania. “While 3D fi lm is breaking out of attrac-
tions and into cinemas and home video, 3D and 4D attractions are still hugely popular if they can offer a high quality entertain- ment experience, combined with a popular IP,” says Smith. “However, venues can’t afford to be lazy about their fi lm selection – it’s no longer enough to just offer a 3D fi lm, you need really good fi lms which peo- ple want to watch. Dracula 4D brings the internationally recognised Dracula brand to 3D visitor attractions for the fi rst time. It’s designed to work in 3D, 4D and 5D thea- tres with moving seats, as well as motion simulators. Although it’s a spooky adven- ture, we made sure there’s nothing too scary in there for young children and that the fi lm’s funny and full of action.” Now Red Star is working on Sleigh Ride, ready for the Christmas season.
MONEY MATTERS
“There’s enormous pressure for operators to stay ahead of the game now. Most of the quotes we’re asked for include options for some sort of stereoscopic element,” says Kord. “Fortunately there’s a whole slew of new technologies which offer 3D solutions in different ways, and most of them are very affordable. For operators with a big 4D experience, it’s expensive to upgrade, but for other attractions, it can cost as little as £20,000 ($30,000, 24,000).” Monkton agrees that it doesn’t have
Happy Feet 4-D Experience is hugely popular with family audiences worldwide
74
to be expensive for a 4D effects theatre: “Operators can keep the attraction fresh each year by offering new fi lm content. We’re able to retro-fi t our theatres with additional special effects. The great thing about showing a new fi lm at the start of the season is that it effectively means they’re offering a new attraction without a major new attraction capital outlay. For example, Drayton Manor showed The Curse of Skull Rock in 2009 and for 2010 they’re showing Happy Feet 4D.”
Read Attractions Management online
attractionsmanagement.com/digital
SCALING DOWN Proving 3D cinemas don’t have to be huge and costly to be effective is Spanish museum, The Honey Interpretation Centre, in Arnes. Explaining the process of producing honey and the life of bees, the council-owned interpretation cen- tre was created for 310,000 (£264,000, $385,000). Local company Urano Films made the fi ve-minute fi lm and Charmex supplied the equipment. As the museum is relatively small, passive 3D glasses were used, which is cheaper than installing an active system. Museum director Monica Almestoy says the 3D short makes a big impact among visitors, who are always impressed by the effects. For a more compact 4D experience, Sega Amusements Europe offers an eight-seater (more seats can be added if desired), 4D motion theatre, with a library of 3D fi lms, which can be installed into existing buildings within a couple of days. The patented technology in the seats offers up to 2Gs of acceleration and 100 move- ments per second. According to Justin Burke, general manager sales for Sega Amusements Europe, running with three movies, which is the standard for start up operations, means that repeat visits are high and fi lms can easily be swapped to keep the attraction fresh. 3D may be coming to the home, but
attractions still have the edge, as Bryans points out: “You probably won’t get water splashed in your face while you’re sitting in your armchair!” I took my four-year-old daughter to see
The Curse of Skull Rock at Land’s End. Although she hid her face at a few points, and wasn’t happy about being doused with water, for the most part she was mesmer- ised, particularly by the bubbles falling from the ceiling, which made her feel as though she was underwater. Afterwards she said: “I had the best day ever,” which proves these attractions are delivering exactly what they set out to do. ●
AM 3 2010 ©cybertrek 2010
3D/4D
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