As everyone knows, James Cameron has taken movies to a whole new level with the technology behind “Avatar.”
Still, Cameron hasn’t exactly been sitting on his hands waiting for Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin to strike up their opening monologue. Having taken motion control and 3D to previously unimagined levels, he’s hard at work reinvigorating some other filmic devices.
Here are a few of the ideas he’s polishing up for the new century:
Sensurround was a rumbling theatre-shaking sound created by Universal Studios for the 1974 film “Earthquake.” Anybody who was around in those days remembers how stupendously entertaining it was. But there were some drawbacks: some customers puked into their popcorn bags and products rattled off shelves in nearby businesses. It ultimately was seen as a failure and faded into film history until recently, when Cameron took on the task of resurrecting it. “In no way did Sensurround give the feeling of being in a real earthquake,” he says. “You need to have stuff falling on people’s heads. And that’s what I’m going to do. Nothing very heavy, but even a good-sized piece of Styrofoam can really get your attention if you’re not expecting it. Combine that with 3D boulders and it’s a truly immersive experience.” He expects to have 352 CameronQuake™-ready theatres set to go by 2013.
Smell-O-Vision. Any regular movie-goer knows that smells in movie-theatres have never been limited to popcorn. But it took producer Mike Todd, Jr. to add this essential third sense to the movie experience with “Scent of Mystery” in 1960. At key moments in the narrative, various fragrances were pumped under the theatre seats. Smell-O-Vision faced competition from the copycat Aromavision and, as with Sensurround, there were numerous technical problems. People in the balconies complained that the smells reached them too late, so their whiffing wasn’t synchronized to the story-telling. Some found the smells too faint, so there was a lot of loud snorting and sniffing, which other patrons found distracting. The problem wasn’t solved until John Waters developed Odorama technology for the release of “Polyester,” starring Divine and Tab Hunter, in 1982. The genius of Odorama was its simplicity: scratch and sniff cards with colored dots. “Citizen Kane” was my favorite film until “Polyester” made it possible for me to smell Divine’s farts.
“I don’t want to criticize John Waters,” says Cameron, “but just thinking about snatch and sniff cards makes me madder than I am at Meryl Streep for thinking that voicing ‘Fantastic Mr. Fox’ had anything to do with motion capture.” While Pixar and Dreamworks have been testing smell-equipped 3D glasses, Cameron opted for transmitting aromas directly through the synapses into the brain. “The nasal passage might seem the obvious route,” says Cameron. “But what if somebody has a cold? My films are for all audiences, and that includes people with stuffed-up noses. CameroScent™ will give the audience such an immersive experience that they’ll be reaching for their virtual hankies. Which will seem to be there.”
Percepto was developed by famed producer/director William Castle for the film “The Tingler.” During the climax of the film, the lights would go black and the voice of Vincent Price warned the audience, “The Tingler is loose in THIS theatre! Scream! Run for Your Lives!” At this moment, the projectionist would trigger buzzers in some of the seats. “Percepto was no more than a cheesy gimmick,” says Cameron. “Trust me, when I zap the audience in the ass, it will draw them into the story, not send them running out of the theatre!”
Looking Ahead As recently reported in The New York Times, some people have complained that watching 3D movies give them headaches, nausea, blurred vision, and other symptoms of visually induced motion sickness. There are also potential problems from falling debris from CameronQuake™ as well as allergic reactions, seizures and strokes from CameroScent™, and various butt-related ailments from CameroCepto™. Cameron feels that he will have all the bugs worked out in time for the 2014 release of his next film, but just in case, he has a backup plan. “I have taken .05% of my profits on my films and given a $2 million contribution to each and every member of the House and Senate,” says Cameron. “We need to have a better health care system in America so that the viewers of my films will have access to affordable care when my movies make them sick.”
