The film industry has continued to develop new advanced technologies to create an experience more realistic, passing through 35mm film to digital projection or from 2D to 3D projection.
Developed in South Korea, 4DX technology revolutionizes the cinema and offers to us, spectators, to live a new experience using our 5 senses. Totally free from visual and auditory limitations, we can discover a cinema off the screen and a unique immersive cinematic experience, interactive and unusual. Immersed in the heart of the movie, all the senses are stimulated.
Even more successful than 3D, 4DX plays on sensations since it integrates smells, effects and chairs moving, giving the impression of being in a simulator. The 4DX room is equipped with high-tech equipment offering seat movements and special environmental effects, such as wind, water, fog, bubbles, perfume and lightning. For example we can be wet with water jets, when it rains in the movie, or jets of air can blow us cold and hot depending on the scene in the movie or feel the effects of tingling at the level of the legs. Finally odor effects are also present in some movies, diffusing up to 10 different smells. These big chairs vibrate, move and toggle in perfect synchronization with the actions on the screen. Each 4DX seat is able to create fluid and dynamic movements closer to the actions of the movie thanks to the effects of vibration and tickling but also thanks to the combinations to varying degrees of three basic movements as the swing to the right and left, as lifting up and down, and finally as the toggling forward and backward. In summary, these different effects provide a significant bonus: people are immersed in the heart of the movie by following the movements of the characters and of the camera. The sensations are there.
However, this new technology can be further improved. Indeed, it meets limits: the technology is not recommended for pregnant women, the elderly and people under one meter. But it also meets limits, like, the lack of choice in terms of odors; like, sudden movements that can make you feeling sick or bored or like noises accompanying technology that can disconnect people from the atmosphere of the movie. Finally it encounters limits in price: this technology comes with a fairly important one. The 4DX sessions have a price that varies from 39 to 43 PLN for a normal rate in Warsaw, which leaves the opportunity for only few people to enjoy it.
Nevertheless, I think we should live at least once this new experience of total immersion. The 4DX still need to make great progress in the near future by improving all its components but to me this seems to already be an interesting new technology in the field of cinema. Finally you can already try this new technology since it is already present in several cinemas in Warsaw.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4DX
https://www.cineworld.co.uk/4dx#/
https://www.cinema-city.pl/4dx#/
http://www.expressilustrowany.pl/lodz/a/sala-kinowa-4dx-w-cinema-city-w-manufakturze-juz-dziala-jak-sprawdzilismy-i-robi-wrazenie,11612274/
Hi! Nice article!
That whole new technology sounds great, but of course not for every single movie! It might be a perfect solution for action movies or even horrors, but.. Having watched all these moving chairs and smoke coming out straight to the audience, one question arises: how would you go to a restroom in the middle of such a massive action ? 😀
Hi, this article is very interesting! It seems like a brilliant idea if done properly! The risk in my opinion is just that if it is not realized in the best way, it risks to become boring and sometimes annoying! Surely there are films that are more suitable than others for such an evolution but I’m sure that for movie lovers it could be a great experience!