Thrill Ride: The Science of Fun The Movie in Barnstable, MA

• Info
• Cast & Crew

• Genre: Documentary
  
  Synopsis:
  ``Thrill Ride: The Science of Fun'' is a white-knuckle adventure that takes full advantage of the power of large format films. Projected on a screen more than six stories tall, the film puts every member of the audience in the front seat of some of the wildest rides ever created. The ultimate ride film not only traces the history of rides, past and present but details how the development of the motion simulator ride has become one of the most exciting innovations in recent film history.
  
  Release Date: -0/01/1997
  Running Time: 39
  
  Rating: G - General Audiences
  
  http://www.theatres.sre.sony.com/imax/thrillride/index.html
  
• Cast:
  Harry Shearer, Paul Harper, Cassandra Peterson
  
  Crew:
  Director - Ben Stassen, Writer - Kurt Frey, Writer - Ben Stassen, Producer - Charlotte Huggins, Original Music - Michael Stearns, Cinematographer - Sean MacLeod Phillips, Production Designer - Raymond Spencer, Cinematographer - Kommer Kleijn, Clay Animation - Guionne Leroy
  
  Production Companies:
  nWave Pictures
  
  Distributors:
  Sony Pictures Classics
  
  Notes:
  -These notes are provided by Sony Pictures Classics- SYNOPSIS Sony Pictures Classics release of THRILL RIDE-THE SCIENCE OF FUN is a white-knuckle adventure that takes full advantage of the power of large format films. Filmed in the 70mm, 15-perforation format developed by the Imax Corporation, and projected on a screen more than six stories tall, the film puts every member of the audience in the front seat of some of the wildest rides ever created. The ultimate ride film, "THRILL RIDE" not only traces the history of rides, past and present but details how the development of the motion simulator ride has become one of the most exciting innovations in recent film history. Directed by Ben Stassen and produced by Charlotte Huggins in conjunction with New Wave International, "THRILL RIDE" takes the audience on rides that some viewers would never dare to attempt, including trips on Big Shot at the Stratosphere, Las Vegas and the rollercoasters Kumba and Montu, located at Busch Gardens, Tampa, Florida. New Wave International was founded by Stassen who is also a renown expert in the field of computer graphics imagery (CGI). The film shows that the possibilities for thrill-making are endless and only limited by the imagination or the capabilities of a computer workstation. "THRILL RIDE-THE SCIENCE OF FUN" shows how ride film animators use CGI by first "constructing" a wire frame or skeleton version of the ride on a computer screen. Higher resolution textures and colors are added to the environment along with lighting and other atmospheric effects to heighten the illusion of reality. Horror film personality Elvira, "Mistress of the Dark," makes a guest appearance to explain the technological challenges of adding "real people" to a computer generated environment. After shooting live-action footage of Elvira in front of a large green screen, her image is digitally transmitted into a computer where animators create a hyper-environment around her. THRILL RIDE-THE SCIENCE OF FUN also shows how technology for motion-simulators originally developed by the military and NASA as a flight training device evolved into the ride simulators of today. The ride film designers ultimate challenge is to combine this technology with the excitement of the rollercoaster and the latest in computer graphics imaging and filmmaking. Using footage from some of the most popular ride films ever created, including "The Devil's Mine Ride," "Asteroid Adventure," and "Secrets of the Lost Temple," THRILL RIDE shows the capability of large format films to completely immerse an audience into the action on screen while producing one of the most exciting experiences on film. PRODUCTION NOTES For centuries, people have been seeking thrills. As science and technology have increased, so has the state-of-the-art of thrill seeking. SONY PICTURES CLASSICS release of the large format film "THRILL RIDE-THE SCIENCE OF FUN" traces the evolution of thrill rides from 17th century ice slides to realistic ride simulators of today. Shot in the 15-perforation, 70 mm film format invented by the Imax Corporation, THRILL RIDE-THE SCIENCE OF FUN, takes advantage of the large Imax format screen by not only presenting breath-taking visuals but taking the audience along for the ride as well. THRILL RIDE-THE SCIENCE OF FUN takes a fun and scientific look at the history of thrill rides. One of the most popular rides in amusement parks, today's technologically advanced rollercoasters have their roots in 17th century Russia. In 1750, a Russian showman constructed wood-framed ice slides for sledding in St. Petersburg. This primitive ride, later became the inspiration for the creation of the rollercoaster. A Frenchman who was intrigued by the popularity of the wooden ice-slides that he saw in Russia created the world's first rollercoaster upon his return to Paris in 1804. Inspired to create an ice slide more receptive to the weather in Paris, he built a large wooden hill with tracks instead of ice and designed a vehicle with wheels rather than sled runners to roll down the incline. In honor of the first Russian ice slides, this first version of the rollercoaster was dubbed "The Russian Mountains." In fact, in other languages and across Europe, rollercoasters are known as Russian Mountains to this day. Rollercoasters in the United States have their beginnings in coal mines. An inclined railway used to haul coal down a mountain in Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania was converted in 1870 to carry people to the top of Mt. Pisgah and then drop them at a mild rate of speed. Once again, an entrepreneur saw a unique money-making opportunity. In 1884, LaMarcus A.Thompson built the first rollercoaster in the United States at Coney Island. Thompson's rollercoaster, called the Switchback Gravity Pleasure Railway, was only 450 feet long and featured cars that traveled 6 miles per hour over small hills. Over the past 100 years science and technology have become more advanced and so has the art of thrill making. Rollercoasters have developed from simple, mild rides to high-tech thrill machines. THRILL RIDE-THE SCIENCE OF FUN contains rare footage of vintage thrill rides from the turn-of-the-century to some of the wildest rides in existence today. From the multiple vertical loops of Kumba and Montu at Busch Gardens in Tampa, Florida, to the thrust of being shot up into space aboard The Big Shot (located over one thousand feet in the air atop the Stratosphere Hotel in Las Vegas) the film literally takes the audience for many such rides. Despite advances in technology over time, the one thing that has remained the same for centuries is what makes thrill rides produce their greatest thrills. What makes rollercoasters work is the result of Sir Isaac Newton's research, GRAVITY! A popular subject for many science classrooms, rollercoasters are very simple gravity machines and offer a fun study in physics. Even Albert Einstein recognized "the science of fun" in his 1961 work "Evolution of Physics." He noted how the rollercoaster is a perfect example of energy conservation in a mechanical system. From the potential energy that exist at the top of the first hill to its conversion into kinetic energy as it plunges down the big drop, rollercoasters use only gravity and momentum to perform their feats of terror. Besides gravity, there are other tricks that a rollercoaster designer can use to heighten the sense of danger. Much of thrill-making involves the sense of illusion and the psychology of fear. Many of the same tricks that are used to make rollercoasters thrilling are the same that a good storyteller uses to make a movie plot scary or exciting. One problem that plagues thrill ride designers is that once a rollercoaster drops down its first big hill, the ride continues to lose momentum until its final finish. Just as a writer can make plot turns thicker to keep a movie audience on the edge of their seats, a rollercoaster designer can enhance the illusion of speed at the end of the ride by making the turns tighter. For years, filmmakers have been trying to capture the excitement of thrill rides on the big screen. To realistically simulate breath-taking experiences onto film, filmmakers had to create a format that would literally immerse the audience into the film itself. The standard size of feature film stock is 35 millimeters wide (about the size of a postage stamp). However, a better image on screen can be had by using a bigger stock of film. Filmmakers soon came up with a variety of new ideas, including Vista-Vision that was an 8-perforation version of 35 mm film. With the notion that bigger is better, even more larger formats began to appear such as Wide-Screen 5-perforation 70mm and 8-perforation 70mm. But moviemakers still were not satisfied. They wondered what if the image was placed sideways so that the size of the image would quadruple. The result of which is the15-perforation, 70mm film format created more than twenty-five years ago by the Imax Corporation. This film format is the standard used for most large format films, including THRILL RIDE-THE SCIENCE OF FUN. Other companies using this system today include IWERKS and Showscan. The larger film format allows the filmmaker to surround the audience's peripheral vision and make it feel as though it is a part of the experience. Projected onto a screen more than 60 feet high, large format films give an all new dimension to the term "The Big Screen!" Some thrills such as a rollercoaster are created simply for fun or entertainment, but some thrill rides do serve a practical purpose as well. The military recreates or simulates several thrilling sensations as a way to test and train pilots to become accustomed to flying an airplane. Unlike learning to drive a car, it is more practical to teach a new pilot how to fly a plane in a flight simulator than to risk crashing an airplane in mid-air. Designed like a cockpit, the flight simulator can rise, tilt, rotate and fall just like a real airplane or helicopter. "THRILL RIDE" shows how commercial airline pilots in training can learn how to fly without risk to anyone, simply by monitoring the video screens of their cockpit windows which recreate every detail of the airport and its surroundings. Using a virtual reality version of the San Diego Airport, everything from the width of the runway to the height of nearby buildings and location of telephone poles, has been recreated and is exactly where they would be if the pilot were flying a real plane into the airport. NASA uses a motion simulator to train astronauts for the Space Shuttle missions. The device resembles a giant metal spider and offers invaluable experience to would be astronauts. A capsule pitched atop several metal legs is able to rock back and forth, perform roll maneuvers, and shake violently as trainees are put to the test to prepare for an actual launch. NASA also uses a spinning machine called a centrifuge to test astronauts to extreme forces of gravity. Located on top of a gigantic motor, the centrifuge is simply a large, spinning metal arm with a cabin suspended at one end. As the arm spins, the astronauts inside the cabin are subjected to immense g-forces. As science has helped thrill-rides to become more technologically advanced, thrill ride makers have combined the simulated thrills of flight simulators with the pure excitement of the rollercoaster and the art of moviemaking into ride films or ride simulators. THRILL RIDE-THE SCIENCE OF FUN was created by a team of some of the leading experts in the field of ride films. New Wave International is one of the leaders in the large format and simulator ride film industry. In one year alone, New Wave International has released more films than all of its competitors combined. New Wave International was founded by Ben Stassen, a world renowned expert in Computer Graphics Imagery (CGI) who produced the highly successful and precedent-setting ride film "Devil's Mine Ride." Rollercoaster designers are limited by what is only physically possible, however, ride film moviemakers like Stassen have discovered that they are only limited by their own imagination. Charlotte Huggins, producer of THRILL RIDE-THE SCIENCE OF FUN, has extensive knowledge of the large format film arena. Huggins produced the breakthrough ride film "Journey to Technopia." She also served as sequence and visual effects producer for Sony Pictures Classics "Wings of Courage" and several other notable large format films including "Honey, I Shrunk the Theatre" for Disney and "Special Effects" for WGBH/NOVA. The white-knuckle action of THRILL RIDE owes its look to production designer Ray Spencer. Spencer is noted for his experience in designing dozens of thrilling ride films. He is responsible for the popular ride films "The Devil's Mine Ride," "Cosmic Pinball," "Asteroid Adventure," and "Secrets of the Lost Temple." Ride simulators not only feature a ride film but also take advantage of technology used by the military in creating flight simulators and other types of simulators. There are several different versions of ride simulators. Unlike a ride film in which the audience members in a theater remain motionless in a stationary theater, the ride simulator theater or the seat themselves are actually designed to rock, rattle, and roll in complete sync with the action that is taking place on screen. As with many Hollywood blockbuster action films, the computer has taken studios from the backlot to the desktop. For a filmmaker working at a computer graphics workstation, the sound stage, set construction workshop, art department, wardrobe, camera and lighting departments are simply a mouse click away. With Computer Graphics Imagery (CGI), filmmakers can take audiences to places never before deemed possible. THRILL RIDE shows in depth how CGI is used with painstakingly concern for detail to achieve an incredible sense of realism. A five-minute computer generated ride film could take years to create. The entire process begins with a map that serves as a guide for the action that will take place on screen and how the audience will react with the environment. The animator first begins to "construct" the computerized set by drawing a wire frame or skeleton version of the ride on a computer screen. The skeleton drawings are then covered with a "skin" known as fast-rendering textures, which give the objects shape and shadow. Higher resolution colors are added to the environment along with lighting and other atmospheric effects to heighten the illusion of reality with the ultimate goal of giving the audience a sense of "hyper-reality." The combination of live-action with computer graphics makes CGI even more credible. THRILL RIDE features a guest appearance by horror film personality Elvira, "Mistress of the Dark," in an excerpt from the ride film "Superstition" to explain the technological challenges of adding the "human touch" to a computer generated environment. Live-action footage with Elvira is filmed in front of a large green screen, her image is then photographed and digitally transmitted into a computer. Animators are then able to construct a hyper-environment around her. In one incredibly realistic CGI scene, the filmmakers devised a plot in which the film appears to have come abruptly to a halt. The work lights seem to come on from behind the screen and the miner from the ride film "Devil's Mine Ride" comes out on a catwalk, however, the entire backstage area in view is computer generated. Interacting with himself on an imaginary set, the actor playing the miner also portrays the miner's twin brother simultaneously. With the sole exception of the miners, the entire set is computer generated and an extraordinary example of the possibilitites of CGI computer graphics. With so much technology available for the creation of more breath-taking thrill rides, one question still remains. Why has such an effort been made to make thrills more challenging than ever before? Thrill rides serve no real purpose in life other than to entertain. What has attracted people to thrill-seeking for centuries? Psychologists note that the motivation for thrill seeking is based on a person's need for physiological arousal and the act of taking risks provides the necessary physical or mental stimulation. Psychologist Frank Farley has made a career out of studying thrill-seeking personalities. He calls this personality TYPE-T; these people take risks and seek thrills while at the same time try to avoid them. Analyzing a risk-taking behavior involves studying one's tendendency for thrill-seeking on a scale from risk-taking to risk-avoidance. If you are a person who likes to try new experiences on a regular basis, you can think of yourself as a Big-T. If you are a person who feels more comfortable with the constants of a routine, consider yourself a Small-T. Legions of thrill-seekers have begun to unite over the past twenty years, forming clubs in which people can share their appreciation for thrill rides. Formed in 1978, The American Coaster Enthusiasts (ACE) is an organization devoted to the preservation of rollercoasters, expressing an objective viewpoint of their place in history as architectural and engineering landmarks. With over 5,000 members worldwide to date, ACE also hopes to educate the public by creating an understanding and awareness of rollercoasters. At the turn-of-the-century there were over 2,000 rollercoasters in the United States. However, the popularity of television in the 1950's made Americans less interested to seek thrills at the local amusement park than in their own living rooms. Attendance suffered at many parks. Following the economic boom of the 1950's, urban and suburban development brought the wrecking ball to many amusement parks as developers found more profitable uses for the land. The number of rollercoasters reached an all time low of approximately 180 in the 1950 s. A resurgence of interest in rollercoasters created a building boom in the 80's and 90's. Today, there are presently about 300 rollercoasters in existance in the U.S., each offering its own creation of a one-of-a-kind thrill ride made by science but created for fun.