The cinema opened last June, but I got involved with Sheridan, the company which owns the IMAX theatre here, a bit earlier than that, helping them get set up and that kind of thing. IMAX is a Canadian company which developed a new format for film in the late 1960s. It gives crystal-clear images which are projected on to a huge screen. The effect is very powerful, you watch something like an avalanche coming up behind someone and it's as if you're there yourself. It's pretty stomach-churning!
The screen here is 62 feet high and 80 feet wide. The combination of clarity, size and sound is amazing. At the moment we are showing three documentaries. First, The Living Sea, about the sea, obviously, which gives audiences a tremendous sense of the power of the ocean - you surf thundering waves in Hawaii and head down through the ocean depths to see strange creatures which live where sunlight never penetrates. Then there's Everest, which takes the audience up the tallest mountain in the world. It's full of stuff about how the mountain was formed and continues to evolve, and how Sherpa culture permeates the mountain. You go over creaking ice falls, across quaking chasms, and up dangerous cliffs into what's described as `the mystical danger zone', where oxygen is extremely thin. The third one is Thrill Ride. Some people who come have complained that their seats don't actually move up and down. It's a cinematic experience of rollercoasters and motion simulators, and it's a pretty realistic one - but no, the cinema doesn't actually turn into a roller coaster! Another IMAX film was shot from outer space and shows the earth from an amazing perspective.
Each is about 40 to 50 minutes long. They're all pretty spectacular, and they each have some educational dimension too.
In the new year we'll be getting 3D films in. We'll have dinosaurs leaping out on to people and stuff. IMAX is a format which has been very much in the developmental stage for years. The stuff they did in the 1970s was very experimental. It has really just come together in the last five or six years and by the end of next year we'll have a Bond film and a Star Trek - which should be pretty incredible.
There are between 160 and 170 IMAX theatres open world wide. They're mostly in America and Asia at the moment, but it's one of those big growth areas. There'll be 75 opening next year, and Sheridan are hoping to open one in Belfast soon enough.
If I'm on a day shift I have to be in at 8.30 a.m. I don't start until 3 p.m. when I'm on the later shift, but then I wouldn't finish until midnight. Each day is pretty different to the next. Usually I'd come in, check the diary, have a look at the post, check the roster and delegate jobs. I've to check on the cleaning and sort out the stock. There's a lot of computer work, especially in relation to the stock. You have to be multi-skilled in this sort of job - you've to be prepared to go from the box office to the theatre itself, from selling merchandise to making the popcorn. I jump in wherever I'm needed. In fact, you never get bored here because you've to move around so much.
But mostly my job involves dealing with the public. Before the film I'd welcome the audience and introduce them to the format. At the end of the show I bring them up to the gallery to see the IMAX system and answer any questions. The schedule each day is very tight - you rarely get a break, but adrenalin keeps you going.
It's the first job I've been in that makes me feel I really want to be here. When I'm not in, I feel like I'm missing something.
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