During the Spring Festival holiday, Lunar New Year movies are scheduled to be released in full swing. In addition to choosing movies, the different theaters are also dazzling, such as IMAX hall, Dolby Atmos hall, cinity hall, CGS China giant screen hall, etc. What do these terms represent, and how does it differ from traditional cinemas?
This article will explain the concepts of different theater names and teach you step by step how to choose the best viewing position and how to choose the right theater according to the movie.
How to choose the best viewing location?
When you usually watch a movie and buy a ticket, if you want to choose the viewing position with the best audio-visual effect, you don’t simply choose the middle position. Instead, you need to combine the movie type, theater specifications, screen size, step angle, Various factors such as screen angle and viewing needs are comprehensively considered.
For 2D movies, according to the best viewing position guidelines announced by the American Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, first of all, the picture needs to occupy the audience's field of view as much as possible, and the angle of sight between the audience and both sides of the screen must be at least ≥36°. The schematic diagram is as follows:
Picture source: Hand-drawn by the author
Secondly, in order to avoid cervical spine fatigue, the elevation angle between the audience and the horizontal line of the screen should not exceed 35°. The schematic diagram is as follows:
Picture source: Hand-drawn by the author
Based on these two principles, the angle of elevation between the audience and the horizontal line of the screen should not exceed 35°. Seats on both sides with too small an angle, front row seats with too large elevation angle, and last row seats that are too far away from the screen and too close to the rear speakers will all affect our audio-visual experience when watching movies, so in order to get a better For a movie-watching experience, it is not advisable to choose these types of seats.
Considering the comprehensive audio-visual effects, in order to facilitate everyone to make a quick choice, we summarize the corresponding positions of cinemas with different specifications as follows: If it is a small hall with rows 8-14, it is best to choose the center position in front of and behind rows 5 and 6; If it is in the middle hall of rows 15-20, it is best to choose the front and rear center of rows 7 and 8; if it is the lobby or imax hall of rows 21 to 25, it is best to choose the front and rear center of rows 9 and 10.
If you are watching a 3D movie, since 3D glasses will weaken the screen brightness by about 40%, for better visual effects, you should sit 1/2 from the screen to the projection window. The schematic diagram is as follows:
Image source: Author Hand-painted
The different ticket prices at different locations in the same screening room in the cinema are also priced based on the viewing effect. However, since everyone's viewing needs are different, the specific choice must be made based on their own needs. .
What are the differences between different theaters?
I believe that many viewers have noticed that movie ticket prices are closely related to the type of screening hall. So, what is the difference between IMAX halls, cinity halls, Dolby Atmos halls, etc., and traditional theaters?
movie is an audio-visual art that combines sound and light technology. The projection effect of a movie is determined by the projection system and sound reproduction system of the theater.
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The playback quality of the projection system is closely related to the screen and projector. Traditional digital projections mostly use ordinary-sized screens and use low-brightness xenon lamps as light sources. The resolution (affects the clarity of the picture (positively related to picture clarity) can reach 2k, and the frame rate (the number of picture frames refreshed per second, the higher the value, the more coherent the visual effect, the clearer the picture) is generally 24 frames; nowadays, most high-standard screening halls use Giant screens with a width greater than 21.3 meters (such as imax hall, cgs China giant screen, starmax, etc.) often use high-brightness lasers as light sources (such as laser halls), with resolutions up to 4k (such as 4k halls), and frame rates up to 120 Frame (such as cinity). The
sound reproduction system determines the auditory effect of the movie. Traditional theaters use 2D surround sound, while high-standard theaters such as Dolby Atmos halls use 3D panoramic sound to bring a better listening experience.
Generally speaking, high-standard cinemas often have multiple high-standard projection technologies at the same time, such as "giant screen 4k laser hall" and so on.When choosing a cinema, the picture brightness of 3D movies is darker, so it is better to choose a laser cinema; horror movies with panoramic sound effects will bring a hearty frightening experience; the dynamic seats of 4D cinema are equipped with environmental special effects such as water mist and smell. , while bringing a richer experience to the audience, it can also easily make first-timers feel uncomfortable. Therefore, it is necessary to choose different theaters based on the type of film and specific needs.
The mainstream high-end theaters on the market currently include imax, Dolby Cinema, cinity and cgs China Giant Screen. The feature of
imax is that it is specially shot with a super large screen and an imax camera, which allows the audience to see about 26%-40% more pictures than an ordinary screen. At present, the most widely used one is digital imax, and the best one is laser imax. If it is a movie with imax exclusive format, it is recommended to watch it in imax theater.
Dolby Cinema is composed of Dolby Vision with high restoration quality and Dolby Atmos that brings immersive experience. You need to look for the exclusive logo of "dolby cinema". The general "Dolby Hall" refers to only the Screening halls with Atmos technology, because Dolby Atmos can be used with any screen, but Dolby Vision is only used in Dolby Cinema. Audiences who pursue the ultimate experience in sound and image quality can choose Dolby Cinema.
cinity is the only theater in China that supports the screening of "4k+120 frames+3D". It can achieve the best viewing effect when watching high-standard movies. If you watch an ordinary movie, its immersive effect is actually not as good as a giant screen hall.
cgs China's giant screen is a domestic giant screen produced by imax. Although the official promotion is that it is not inferior to imax in all dimensions, due to the fact that the actual configuration standards are not uniform, there is a certain risk of encountering a low-configuration theater that lacks maintenance. It is necessary cautious.
In short, how to choose a cinema and a viewing location are closely related to the type of film and everyone's viewing needs. I hope this article can help you initially understand the characteristics and differences of different projection technologies, and add a sense of calmness and calmness when you buy a movie ticket next time!
source | Digital Beijing Science Center
