Kinopanorama
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Kinopanorama is a three-lens, three-film widescreen film format. Although Kinopanorama was initially known as Panorama (Russian: панорамный фильм, panoramnyy film) in the Soviet Union the name was later revised to include its current name prior to the premiere screenings in Moscow in 1958. In some countries, including Cuba, Greece, Norway and Sweden, it was usually marketed as Soviet Cinerama. When Great Is My Country and The Enchanted Mirror, were exhibited at the Mayfair Theatre in New York City in 1958, it was briefly advertised as Cinepanorama. Kinopanorama is for the most part identical in operation to that of Fred Waller's American-designed Cinerama format.
Overview
Kinopanorama was developed between 1956 and 1957 by research technicians at the USSR Cinema and Photo Research Institute (also known as NIKFI). The chief designer of the prototype camera was Evsei Mikhailovich Goldovskii (1903–1971), the eminent Soviet inventor and scientist. The mechanical design of the first camera, which was designated as model SKP-1, evolved from the comprehensive research into other patents, each of which cited the invention of devices for the filming—and projection—of 'mosaic images' (moving and still), lodged with the
There are various, albeit minor, technical differences in the
The first Kinopanorama film,
Kinopanorama cinemas
Seven cinemas designed (or renovated) for the exhibition of 3-film (and later 70mm) Kinopanorama were built in the former USSR from 1958 onwards. The Mir Kino Theatre, which opened in
As of 2023, the
Relaunch
The Kinopanorama three-lens process was re-launched in 1993 by Fifth Continent Movie Classics in Australia. John Steven Lasher, the former record label executive, secured the purchase of PSO-1960 camera number six, which was restored by NIKFI technicians to working order.
A test film, known as Chastity, Truth and Kinopanorama (a pun on the title of Steven Soderbergh's Sex, Lies, and Videotape) was shot in Moscow in 1993 before the camera and crew were flown to Sydney. A short documentary film titled The Bounty was screened on 19 March 1995 at the Bradford Widescreen Festival.
In 1999, Fifth Continent and Vision 146 SARL produced a two-reel restoration of
In 2006, Fifth Continent converted the PSO-1960 camera to accept camera negative stock milled for the BH 4740 'negative perforation'. This is because film stock is no longer milled for KS 'positive perforation'. In 2007, a crystal-sync motor replaced the original 24-volt DC variable speed motor as well as the 240-volt 3-phase 50-hertz synch motor.
See also
- List of film formats
References
- ISBN 0-89950-242-3.