Cinema in the round
18th September 2006
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| Place-Hampi |
It’s showtime at the world’s first interactive three-dimensional cinema. Over the past month UNSW’s iCinema Centre for Interactive Research has been showcasing new computer and filmmaking technologies to government, industry, academics and the media.
The Centre offers researchers and new media professionals the opportunity to create interactive “immersive” cinema experiences that will change the way audiences view and relate to the movies in the future.
“Interactive cinema is a form of cinema that combines all forms of media - voice, video, music, text, images and animation - so that people can create their own cinematic experience,” says iCinema’s co-founder and director, Professor Jeffrey Shaw.
“It plunges audiences into an ‘immersive reality’ where there are no barriers between the virtual and the physical, and where narrative is created spontaneously and cooperatively.”
iCinema's showpiece is AVIE, a 120 square metre circular screen that surrounds the audience and provides the backdrop for three-dimensional immersive cinema experiences. Driven by six computers, 12 high resolution digital video projectors and a 26-channel spatialised audio system, it is a cinema in the round like no other.
“Like Omnimax or Imax theatres, we are creating a new set of cinematic experiences, and pretty soon there will be urban locations where people can go to experience immersive, interactive cinema,” says Professor Shaw.
One of the Centre’s most recent interactive installations is called Place-Hampi, a virtual heritage project which has been awarded a $520,000 ARC Linkage Grant.
The work recreates the UNESCO World Heritage site of Hampi, India, in digital form using stereoscopic panoramic photography and computer animation technology. It will premiere in France later this year at the Lille Cultural Capital Europe Festival.
The iCinema Centre for Interactive Cinema Research is a joint venture of the College of Fine Arts and the School of Computer Science and Engineering.
The full story is in the September issue of UNSW’s magazine, Uniken.
See more images here or go to the iCinema website.
The Centre offers researchers and new media professionals the opportunity to create interactive “immersive” cinema experiences that will change the way audiences view and relate to the movies in the future.
“Interactive cinema is a form of cinema that combines all forms of media - voice, video, music, text, images and animation - so that people can create their own cinematic experience,” says iCinema’s co-founder and director, Professor Jeffrey Shaw.
“It plunges audiences into an ‘immersive reality’ where there are no barriers between the virtual and the physical, and where narrative is created spontaneously and cooperatively.”
iCinema's showpiece is AVIE, a 120 square metre circular screen that surrounds the audience and provides the backdrop for three-dimensional immersive cinema experiences. Driven by six computers, 12 high resolution digital video projectors and a 26-channel spatialised audio system, it is a cinema in the round like no other.
“Like Omnimax or Imax theatres, we are creating a new set of cinematic experiences, and pretty soon there will be urban locations where people can go to experience immersive, interactive cinema,” says Professor Shaw.
One of the Centre’s most recent interactive installations is called Place-Hampi, a virtual heritage project which has been awarded a $520,000 ARC Linkage Grant.
The work recreates the UNESCO World Heritage site of Hampi, India, in digital form using stereoscopic panoramic photography and computer animation technology. It will premiere in France later this year at the Lille Cultural Capital Europe Festival.
The iCinema Centre for Interactive Cinema Research is a joint venture of the College of Fine Arts and the School of Computer Science and Engineering.
The full story is in the September issue of UNSW’s magazine, Uniken.
See more images here or go to the iCinema website.
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