Cinemas are always fighting piracy. They do a great job with sight and sound but this can be replicated well enough at home. This is especially true now screens are getting ever bigger and better with sound to match.
It's time to get the 4D experience really going in cinemas.
If you aren't aware of 4D films, they address the senses of smell of
touch.
3D is seen to increase user experience (and a sort of quick fix for piracy)
but 4D is the real deal. The sensual power of smell alone is immense and it’s a fact that
different scents can shape our emotions.
Using air flow technology, scents and temperature can be quickly changed to suit different scenes. Placing this is cinemas creates a new world of sensory emotions for consumers to experience adding greater meaning and value to the movie. This is 4D at it’s best.
Imagine a supernatural style film where the temperature
drops and you suddenly feel a cold chill in the air or a warm beach scene where you can smell the sea
air. How about a car chase with the smell of burning rubber – wind flowing through your
hair (the moment the window is turned down!) - fantastic! Not to mention traditional romantic
scenes in a restaurant with the smell of food or wine as the glass sits purposely under the nose.
What do different cities, even planets smell like? Are they hot or cold? What does it smell like on the bridge of the USS Enterprise in Star Trek? What does Angelina Jolie's perfume or Brand Pitts' aftershave smell like as the character they are playing in the scene of that movie?
The list is endless.
What do different cities, even planets smell like? Are they hot or cold? What does it smell like on the bridge of the USS Enterprise in Star Trek? What does Angelina Jolie's perfume or Brand Pitts' aftershave smell like as the character they are playing in the scene of that movie?
The list is endless.
And it’s personal: Imagine
being able to fragrance your home or car with your favourite smell from your
favourite movie. I know people who would want there car to smell like Star
Trek’s Enterprise!
The licencing and copyright options for different smells are massive. Alone, they would have huge commercial value for brands.
The licencing and copyright options for different smells are massive. Alone, they would have huge commercial value for brands.
You get the picture.
Intertwine airflow with scents and temperature with sight and sound and it helps deliver
experiences that add an extra dimension of mystery, sensuality and intimacy to
everything. This leaves one sense left untouched but I think the enjoyment of
cola and popcorn could well fill this gap – it’s the movies after all!
By working together, movie companies and cinemas could introduce this
technology to the mainstream quite rapidly. This would create a new world of
experience for the cinema goer in the most dramatic way, giving new life and
adding huge value to a industry that needs to find a new ways of interacting
with the everyday consumer.
The thought of being able to work in new dimensions must be hugely
appealing to film directors too.
If the film industry is serious about delivering an unforgettable
experience for consumers that far exceeds where where things currently sit today
(and create new premiums), they really need to look no further than getting the
4D up to a commercially viable level quickly and adding to our sensual
experience.
The technology is available but are the business people ready to deliver
for the consumer at a commercial level yet?
The consumer is in charge. When he or she demands, business
inevitably supplies. Is the consumer ready to experience this? I think so but
for now we’ll have to wait and see.
Personally I think 4D is very exciting and I’m really looking forward to seeing the impact it has sooner rather than later for everyone.
Personally I think 4D is very exciting and I’m really looking forward to seeing the impact it has sooner rather than later for everyone.
Simon Bell
