CRITERIA B

IMAX theatres’ astonishing quality is achieved by using film shots that are about 10 times larger than the regular 35 mm film stocks. These are square when shot and hence are not in the same proportion of the sides of the screen - they need to be compressed. The 75 mm ones give about double the resolution and are in the proportion of the screen sides. IMAX film shots are 70 mm high and 15 perforations wide (perforations are holes in the film stock that keep it steady)(howstuffworks.com, 29/01/09). Their projectors are different to the regular ones in several ways:
• The film in their projectors moves through horizontally rather than vertically.
• The shutter in these projectors opens for a longer time (rather than for a second) so more light in shone through.
• Bulbs in general theatre projectors are about 150- 200Watts while the IMAX lamps are 15, 000 Watts.
• The IMAX projectors weight approximately 2 tonnes
These projectors project the movie to a large dome which is approximately 30 metres wide – large enough to fill one’s field of vision.














Layout of an IMAX dome
http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/imax1.htm

IMAX also uses a six channel surround system for its sound technology. This, in a typical home theatre system consists of 6 speakers – three front speakers (right, left and centre), a left and right surround speaker and a rear speaker – and a subwoofer (it is usually referred to as a 6.1 surround system due to the addition of the subwoofer) (howstuffworks.com, 31/01/09).
Also, IMAX uses 3D technology to enhance their films. LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) shutter technology, combined with polarized lenses (here, two synchronised projectors, with two different polarisations air the movie on the screen) makes IMAX movies very different to the others (howstuffworks.com, 31/01/09).

ITGS PORTFOLIO - ENTERTAINMET AND LEISURE criteria A

The art of movie making has evolved significantly over the decades – especially when it comes to 3-D production. From “Creature from the Black Lagoon” to “cars” and Ice Age” with the slow extinction of the stiff cardboard glasses and violent camera movements, 3-D movies seem to have gotten much more technical as time has passed by. The image and sound has improved considerably due to the increase in demand of such movies, IMAX Theatres raised the status of 3D film making since they first arrived in San Diego in 1973 (imaxmelbourne.com.au, 18/01/09). Hollywood now creates several 3D movies each year – perhaps too many. Walt Disney itself owns about 15 3D movie theatres while Twentieth Century Fox has over 30 3D movies on the way(Barnes, Brooks, 11/01/2009).
One of the major concerns with the number of 3D movies being produced is that US theatres cannot seem to cope with it. With the increase in income of 3D movies, movie studios seem to have started making many more 3D movies than earlier...and there aren’t enough number of 3D movie theatres to air the movies (Barnes, Brooks, 11/01/2009).
Apart from the regular theatre technology and projectors, the IMAX branches of theatres involve some very advanced IT systems such as dome technology, 3D technology, advanced sound systems and a forty-eight-frames-per-second video quality (howstuffwokrs.com, 18/01/09).
Only 1300 of North America’s 40,000 theatres have three dimensional technology. Financing the rest would take about $100,000 per upgrade (Barnes, Brooks, 11/01/2009). Bringing in more 3D theatre equipment would be too expensive. So, is it worth the IMAX experience?

ITGS PORTFOLIO - ENTERTAINMET AND LEISURE

ART AND LEISURE ARTICLE

http://www.theage.com.au/news/digital-life/smart-phone/iphone-games-put-the-heat-on-sony-nintendo/2008/11/24/1227491429903.html

CRITERIA E

Bibliography
• GCSE bitesize, 18th October 2008, http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/ict/measurecontrol/0computercontrolrev3.shtml
• ITGSQA, 9th October 2008, http://itgsqa.qataracademy.wikispaces.net/11+Ethical+Issues
• LaMonica, Martin, September 18 2008, http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10044239-54.html
• Makower, Joel, 24th October 2008 http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/003671.html
• Petterson, Gary, 24th October 2008, http://ezinearticles.com/?Are-Smart-Grids-the-Wave-of-the-Future?&id=1419720
• Shiels, Maggie, 18th September 2008, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7622347.stm
• Smalltimes.com, 15th October 2008, http://www.smalltimes.com/Articles/Article_Display.cfm?ARTICLE_ID=269575&p=109
• U.S. Department of energy, 24th October 2008, http://www.oe.energy.gov/smartgrid.htm
• Wikipedia, 2008, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_grid
• Wikipedia, 2008, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_grid#Technology

CRITERIA D

Perhaps of all the issues mentioned above, the one which will impact society most is the price of the grid. As stated before, the price is higher than that of its predecessor –this could be disadvantageous not only to potential customers, but also to the business itself. Since the grid is an environment-friendly product that both businesses intend to expand the use of in the near future, it is not a luxury product and hence the target customer group is the middle class society (people with an average income). But if this price is low, the business might not benefit due to low income and the product manufacturing could be shut down completely. The price, therefore, should be at a competitive level (at least to start with) and then the tactic of promotional pricing could be used –this is when the price is slowly raised as the sales of the product increase with time. Psychological pricing is another effective method of pricing where the price of the product seems less than it actually is. (E.g.: $499, $999.99 –these prices don’t seem as high as $500 and $1000 when, in fact they are almost the same!) Google and GE should conduct market research and perhaps find out the price that most people would agree to buy the smart grid for (they could compare the price of their competitors’ and their product and evaluate the results to find out the perfect price for the grid-which would attain high sales at a reasonable price).The promotion, advertising and marketing of the grid should also be appropriate, to make the public aware of the product.

CRITERIA C

Criteria C
The main stakeholders of the grid system would perhaps be Google, GE, the potential consumers, the technicians that have worked to create it and electric companies that provide electricity to homes in the community. (http://www.oe.energy.gov/smartgrid.htm)
The introduction of the grid would affect the society to a great extent. While on one hand the introduction of several new features gives the consumer a wider choice and more desirable results, on the other hand, it perhaps widens the gap between man and machine as it is very hard to keep up with the pace of technology. This could lead to loss of trust in technology. There is also another major issue brought up here. Is this gadget as reliable as its predecessor? Will a common man who has an average knowledge of gadgetry be able to ‘communicate’ with the grid or will it just be too complicated? It can be argued that with these new features, the new grid is in fact more reliable as it gives several more options to chose from and is safer but it could also be too complex to be understood by the public. In 2003, the grid was described by some as a bit ‘too smart’ as just its automation caused several nuclear stations to shut down. (http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/003671.html) Also, the price of the grid is much higher than that of its forerunner. This not only means that the businesses are perhaps putting in too much money into this project and this money could be used for other more important issues, but the selling price might make the grid out of reach of an average person, hence bringing in the issue of equality of access. (http://ezinearticles.com/?Are-Smart-Grids-the-Wave-of-the-Future?&id=1419720)