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russcine1
Reviews
Planet Ocean (1974)
Planet Ocean behind the scenes
I was involved in the outfitting of the main cinema and other display and audio systems at the site. The preparation took two years with equipment built, redesigned, rebuilt in California and Tampa,Florida. I was involved in the film and had Graphic Films change to 2.35/1 anamorphic from the 1.33/1 they had plan to provide. While at my visits to Graphic I met John Dykstra who later went on to do the Star Wars films. The film won an Academy Award Nomination.
The main theatre was 35mm film with multi-channel sound. The film was in an endless loop cabinet and the custom automation could run up to three shows and hour and variations during the day. There was a panic button to allow the user to slow down the start due to crowds. Ballentyne projector (which Disney used for Disneyworld). Special experimental film sprockets supplied by Lavezzi evolved to the VKF series. Other movie displays where done with Horston 16mm cinema projectors. One room was designed with sub-woofers to shake the room.
Road of Death (1973)
It could be worse.....
I worked on this epic...shot in five days with two days of pick up shots to help editing. Carol Conners was fresh off the "Deep Throat" feature and was the major part of the budget. She cussed like a prima donna sailor between takes. The film made back the production cost 30 days after release with 35 prints including the "answer print" that was missing two minutes of sound track. If you watch the van explosion you will note that the van changed from a Ford to a Chevrolet during the blast. A famous award winning cinematographer did the "B" camera work as a favor to the director. My input was 25% of the location sound, stills, trailer editing, radio spot and 35mm print distribution...I ended being the best paid crew on the project. The producer, Joe Fink, died shortly after the release due to brain cancer and the Re-mart company folded....they had four more drive-in epics planned.