READ MORE: Insider Tips for Creating the Best Sound Design for Your Film
Editor’s note:
This post is presented in partnership with Dolby Laboratories and AMC Theatres
in conjunction with Warner Bros. Pictures and Village Roadshow Pictures’ action
adventure film, “In
the Heart of the Sea,” coming to Dolby Cinema
at AMC Prime December 11, 2015.
Movie studios and big theater exhibitors are working harder than ever
these days to provide enhanced cinema experiences for moviegoers. Among the
most exciting of these offerings is the new roll out of Dolby Cinema at AMC
Prime. Dolby Laboratories and AMC Theatres have teamed up in the design
and implementation of state-of-the-art theaters to offer an incredible
experience in sound and vision. Their plans call for 100 new Dolby Cinema at
AMC Prime auditoriums by 2024, with 50 of those set to be completed by
the end of 2016.
The company has made a real effort to create an immersive experience. It starts right when you enter the
theater: Moviegoers find themselves in a attractively designed signature
entrance, and then, in most locations, proceed along an audio-visual pathway leading
to the auditorium itself. This pathway is outfitted with wall projection images
and sound, relating to the specific movie showing.
All this is just to set the mood and tone of the experience to prepare the audience for what’s to come.
When you enter the actual auditorium, you have arrived at the
belly of the beast. Dolby and AMC have taken great pains to coordinate their
efforts on every aspect of the design and implementation of these theaters. All
Dolby Cinema at AMC Prime theaters are black inside with matte black walls and
ceilings. The seating is made of luxurious black leather recliners, arranged in
pairs, that can vibrate with the action.
The interior design is purposeful, and meant to virtually
eliminate any light or color interference. The designers have even utilized new
low ambient LED lighting for the aisles and stairs, which still comply with
safety, but greatly reduce the amount of light that could interfere with the
projection experience.
They have also taken great care in limiting the amount of
seats and optimizing the layout of the seating to insure that all seats have a
great view of the massive screen. This is really more like a First Class
seating environment in an aircraft, rather than an average theater experience.
The screen is designed to fill the entire front wall of the
theater room, from floor to ceiling and wall to wall. Dolby and AMC have done
comprehensive acoustical design and set-up for these theaters, and they require
these rooms to meet strict studio specifications normally reserved for
theatrical mixing studios.
The Dolby Cinema concept offers a new level in digital
projection technology called Dolby Vision. These new proprietary projectors
were developed in conjunction with the projector manufacturer, Christie, and
utilize 6P modular laser technology. These machines are capable of delivering
twice the brightness of standard premium cinema projectors with stunning
contrast ratios of over a million to 1.
But what does this really mean? First and foremost: the images are more
colorful, have more punch and dynamic range, are sharper looking and more
realistic.
To create a truly captivating experience, Dolby Vision is combined with
Dolby Atmos to complete this amazing audio-visual set-up. Dolby Atmos is a
sound format that utilizes a larger number of full range speakers to create a
completely immersive sound experience around and above the audience.
With speakers placed all along the side walls, back wall,
and two rows along the ceiling, as well as the typical large array mounted
behind the screen, sound can be “panned” or located practically anywhere in the
room. This takes the sound experience to a whole new level, and with the
speakers being full range, and supported with subwoofers in these different
locations, an explosion can happen above you or behind you with all the audio
force that used to be only possible from the front wall speakers.
Not only does the Dolby Atmos sound system provide a great
listening experience for the audience, it has also opened up exciting new
possibilities for the film’s creative, which has been embraced by all the major
Hollywood studios, Academy Award-winning directors and sound mixers, among others.
While it’s possible to get mired down by all the techno-jargon, there’s no question that we are entering a new era in high end theatrical sound and
vision. These new Dolby Cinema at AMC Prime locations are built to deliver a
superior experience in every way. With two exciting new titles due out this
month, “In the Heart of the Sea” and “Star Wars – The Force Awakens,” the time is ripe for this heightened experience.
Indiewire has
partnered with Dolby Laboratories and AMC Theatres to present an advanced
screening of Warner Bros. Pictures and Village Roadshow Pictures’ action
adventure film, “In
the Heart of the Sea,” coming to Dolby Cinema
at AMC Prime December 11, 2015. “In the Heart of the Sea,” directed by Ron Howard, is based on Nathaniel Philbrick’s best-selling book
about the real-life maritime disaster that would inspire Herman Melville’s
Moby-Dick. When their ship, the Essex, is assaulted by a whale of mammoth size
and will, Captain Owen Chase (Chris Hemsworth) and the rest of his surviving
crew are pushed to their limits and forced to do the unthinkable to stay alive.
Tom
Efinger began his film career in New York City in the early 90’s, and has since
worked on numerous films and television projects. As Founder, chief engineer,
and president of Dig It Audio, Tom brings over 20 years of professional audio
experience to the table. Tom has received 2 Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding
Achievement in Sound for “The Devil Came on Horseback” and “Full Battle Rattle.” Tom also received a Grammy Award for Sound Mixing on Best Comedy Album, 2010
for “Lewis Black: Stark Raving Black.”
READ MORE: 8 Tips for Making Your Film Sound Great from the Industry’s Top Sound Designers and Execs
Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.
