The IMAX Experience

Reading chapter 22 in the multimedia book made me think about the times I've been to the IMAX Dome at MOSI in Tampa. You’re surrounded by the images on the large, dome screen and at times it's easy to feel like you're actually wherever the movie takes place. However, every shot becomes its own experience and at times it becomes hard to focus on anything in particular. This was okay for the slow paced documentaries that I saw which give you plenty of time to take in your surroundings, but I can't imagine watching a huge blockbuster movie on one of these screens. I’m pretty sure they actually do show some of them at MOSI, but watching a fast paced film edited MTV style in that type of setting seems like it would be nauseating and irritating to sit through. Adding the senses of smell, touch, and taste could actually become a hindrance to connecting to an audience. I could easily see the film becoming more unfocused, chaotic, and impractical. This futuristic cinema not only calls for a new type of artist, but also a new type of audience if it is to become standard for films, which is what I believe the author is suggesting will eventually occur.