4D Cinematic Experience

I went to Alton Towers on Monday and had two interesting cinematic experiences.

The first was the 4D screening of the animated Ice Age 4D film.  This was a regular 3D film with 3D glasses and all the 3D effects but presented in a modified cinema.  The fourth dimension was the addition of physical interaction with the movie.  In this case it included fake snow falling on the audience when there was an exterior scene set in a snowy landscape, fans that add to the effect of whizzing down a snowy slope at high speed, surround lighting in the theatre that turns red when the characters are trying to survive a river of flowing molten lava and most bizarre of all, a small flexible plastic lace attached under the seat which is blown at certain times so it slaps around your legs so you think you are entwined in a forest undergrowth.  It was all good fun, and a novelty and on the whole the extra effects worked well.  There was a bit of an issue in that after the scenes on the screen had moved to an interior shot there was still the remnants of the snow from the previous scene falling around the audience, which didn't feel quite right, but as an experience it was a good idea well presented.

I had been to a similar 4D cinema presentation a few years ago at a Lilo and Stitch film at Disneyland Paris. For that presentation they included an extra 'extra' dimension in that it was a 3D film, with environmental effects such as the Ice Age film on Monday, but then the characters on the screen broke the fourth wall and addressed specific members of the audience as part of the film.  Obviously this was done by the actor voicing the characters being able to see the audience from behind the scenes and improvise the script accordingly.  For example the character addresses the girl in the blue coat at the end of row C and creates a  closed conversation to make sure the animated movement of the mouth fits the real life conversation.  That was very well planned and executed and worked really well.  Like the Ice Age experience it was a fun and unusual cinematic experience.

The implication is that in this age of changing presentations of films there is another, extra consideration to be given to the planning, filming and editing of films for screenings outside of the traditional cinema.