4D cinema?

So, apparently the next big thing in cinema is 4D and we Glaswegian's are amongst some of the first in the UK to experience it in our very own Cineworld. The "4D Experience" is being introduced in 30 cinemas in Britain but Cineworld Glasgow, the busiest cinema in the UK,  is the very first of these to test out the special seats called "D-BOX". The general idea is that the seats replicate the movements you're seeing in the film such as a car chase, action sequence or explosions. 4D is essentially just a 3D movie with added physical effects or movements in the cinema such as vibration, sway, tilt, drop, wave motion or movement in any direction and although only 35 seats have been installed in the cinema just now, their creators think they could further develop it. The work on the 4D seats is all done post-production and separately from the film itself and every single frame and image needs to have a movement or texture to go with it, so creating the 4D experience for a film can take as long as 200 to 600 hours.

However, with 3D already expensive enough at about £8.90 a ticket, the D-BOX seats add another £5.50 to this, bringing it to £14.40... for one ticket. I, personally, am not a fan of 3D. I've seen a few movies, including Alice in Wonderland,  in 3D and for me it didn't add anything to the movie and I actually enjoyed that film more in regular 2D. The only time I've ever experienced 4D is in the Shrek ride in Universal Theme Park, Florida! You got sprayed with water when Donkey sneezed and air blew onto the back of your legs to create a spider effect and although I did really enjoy that ride and the tilting and moving chairs that came with it, it lasted for 12 minutes. I cannot imagine being thrown around for nearly 2 hours and enjoying every single minute of it. Although I will enjoy watching people in these seats attempting to grab some popcorn or a drink while being thrown from side to side.  The seats however, do have individual controls so you can turn your own movement up, down or off completely and the Cineworld staff seem keen to point out that no-one has been sick on the 4D chairs. Yet.

However, the vice president of operations at Cineworld believes 4D will be a success and says 4D is "another evolution" of cinema. But wouldn't it only work for certain films? For example, your average rom-com with Jennifer Aniston isn't exactly going to have a lot of opportunities to use a dropping, tilting motion but obviously big action movies such as the new Disney epic John Carter, which is what the D-BOX seats in Cineworld were used for, will have a fair amount of leeway for motion and movement.  One of the employees for D-BOX told The Guardian that "We are trying to reflect everything you would feel in real life without crossing that line of being like a theme park ride. "We are trying to get a mix between motion and emotion." I'm not sure if I see how you can convey emotion by vibrating chairs  and swaying your audience about but, since I've yet to try the 4D experience, I'll wait until then, and my next payday, to make up my mind.

This is the video Cineworld use on their website to promote D-BOX so we'll just need to wait and see if you really can "Live the Action".