Showing posts with label movies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label movies. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 15, 2016

3D Film From Its Birth To Its Current Status In American Culture

3D Film From Its Birth To Its Current Status In American Culture

During the early 1950's the 3D film first made its impression on American pop culture. Everyone from children to adults were wearing the old red and blue spectacles when they went to the movies. At the time this type of filming was mostly demoted to cheap niche films that required expensive special effects to keep fans entertained, few of the 3D films of the 1950's went down in cinematic history.

Eventually the astronomical cost of producing the rudimentary 3D films of the time began to be too much for most studios. Film makers weren't getting what they wanted out of the expensive to budget films and eventually they dropped into oblivion.

Around 1980 the 3D film began to show up again. By the time the 80s rolled around B-movies were a smash hit and pop culture was once more intrigued by the third dimension.

Finally as the century turned, improved technology made it much more affordable and easier to both create and display these types of films. That life was a still a pretty short one as the trend was eventually forgotten about and allowed to stagnate.

These films made their comeback slow and steady through children's films. Just after the turn of the century studios worked to develop a method of producing 3D movies that was not only more effective but more affordable, too. The biggest success story of the twenty-first century came with 2009's runaway success, Avatar. After producers witnessed the kind of success a film like Avatar could bring about, 3D exploded. Developers instantly began to work overtime to bring out new 3D capable televisions.

Now that 3D film has caught the attention of the market practically every movie to come out is shown in 3D for just a few bucks more. The technology is no longer exclusive to the box office, either, as it is finding its way into family homes in many different forms. Movie players and video game systems have been updated with 3D capabilities to be enjoyed on the various 3D TV sets now on the market. Even home recording devices allow families to make their very own 3D film.

The 3D trend seems to be here for good this time around with many major movies such as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows movie, Scott Pilgrim vs The World, and Tron Legacy being played in 3D. The reborn fad of 3D film is expected to continue to develop into more and more realistic film experiences for movie goers as time goes on.

About the Author

Article Written By: Natalie R. Retana 

Thursday, June 9, 2016

Bollywood, Hollywood enrolled in Dubai tourism drive


Bollywood, Hollywood enrolled in Dubai tourism drive


Dubai

A picture shows workers working outside the Raj Mahal area, which is part of the Bollywood of Dubai Parks and Resorts (DPR).


Domes inspired by the royal palaces of India rise from a new Bollywood theme park under construction in Dubai, part of a drive to lure millions more tourists to the emirate. It already boasts opulent shopping malls and numerous luxury resorts, but the Gulf city-state has even grander ambitions and the film industry is center stage. Bollywood Parks is part of Dubai Parks and Resorts (DPR) which is being developed as the region’s “largest integrated theme park resort”. Spread over 25 million square feet (2.3 million square meters), it will feature three theme parks and a water park.
The resort is located near the region’s busiest port and close to where Dubai is expanding its second airport to make it the world’s largest. The Bollywood theme park, a first of its kind inspired by the Indian popular movie industry, aims with its centerpiece Rajmahal Theatre, cinemas, rides and simulators to increase Dubai’s appeal to tourists from South Asia. “We are trying to target a wide geographic area, but of course the majority will be from India and countries in close proximity to India … and (are) big lovers of Bollywood,” said its general manager, Thomas Jellum.
Around 14,000 construction workers are toiling round the clock to keep DPR on track for its October opening. More than 14.2 million people visited Dubai in 2015, but the target is 20 million by 2020 when the Gulf emirate hosts the global trade fair Expo 2020. Dubai has invested billions of dollars over more than a decade to put itself on the map as a regional business and tourism hub. It has built a modern infrastructure unmatched by its regional peers. And as turmoil hits traditional tourism destinations in the Middle East and North Africa, Dubai has capitalized on its reputation as a safe haven for tourism and business.
Tourism authorities have said hotel capacity was to reach 100,000 rooms in May, boasting that Dubai aims to “position itself as a top 10 global destination in terms of available hotel supply”. Hotel occupancy stood at 85 percent in the first quarter of 2016, with average nightly revenue of $142 per available room. To increase tourist numbers, Dubai is looking for visitors far from beyond its Gulf neighborhood. “The benefits would be limited if we rely on markets that we are used to. We need to expand our marketing to new places,” said Dubai Tourism chief Issam Kazim. Visitors from Gulf countries represented the largest regional group last year at 3.3 million, up 12.8 percent, with Saudis alone numbering 1.54 million. But Indian visitors surged by 26 percent to 1.6 million, becoming for the first time the largest single nationality, while Britons rose 11 percent to 1.2 million. “We do not want to focus on six or seven markets. We want to focus on 20 markets,” Kazim told AFP.
More theme parks in pipeline
Bollywood Parks will target visitors passing through Dubai and aims to “keep them a little bit longer”, said Jellum. Other theme parks are also being developed to increase the number of visitors. Next door, Motiongate Dubai teams up three major Hollywood studios-Dreamworks, Sony Pictures and Lionsgate. It features rides that take visitors across simulated settings like the Smurfs Village, Madagascar and Kung Fu Panda, among 27 attractions based on 13 popular movies.

“Our target is everybody,” said Motiongate Dubai general manager Guido Zucchi, including visitors from Gulf countries and elsewhere. The theme parks are only the latest additions to a long list of entertainment venues in Dubai, including an indoor ski slope. But authorities do not seem worried about saturation in Dubai’s tourism market. “We follow a long-term strategy,” said Dubai Tourism’s Kazim. He said authorities make sure “hotel room numbers do not rise before seeing that the number of visitors is increasing,” stressing there is “continuous dialogue between the private sector and the government” over expansion. Motiongate Dubai is also confident. “The tourists that Dubai is attracting every year, together with the expected ones for the following years, will absolutely be enough to create in this region an important destination, not only for tourism but also for leisure,” said Zucchi. -AFP