by Mike Smith
Daily Lobo
First, there were movies - silent movies.
A noiseless, black and white locomotive would hurtle toward the audience, and people would leap from their chairs to go running for the exits.
Then came sound. Actors and actresses would break into singing and dancing, as world wars or economic depressions happened outside.
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Color came next, transporting people from the most bleak suburban neighborhoods to white-sand beaches along blue-tinted oceans.
Now, something else has come along, and it's at UNM - dome films. Dome films are motion pictures projected onto a curved, dome-shaped screen on almost every side of the viewer - in front, on the sides, above and behind.
The medium is gaining popularity with many showings in planetariums nationwide, incorporation into a Las Vegas theme park ride, and now as part of the world's first and only college course on how to make dome films. The course, Fulldome Production, was added as an offering in the spring to UNM's fine arts, media arts and computer science departments.
"It is like learning a new language. Or, I should say it is like being part of inventing a new language," said Hue Walker, the Fulldome Production course instructor.
Program Coordinator Eric Whitmore said the class intrigued him from the start.
"The difference - creating a truly immersive environment - is what's really exciting to me," Whitmore said. "No other medium can really put you inside a whole world with other people."
Walker said making dome films forces students to learn new technology and ask themselves entirely new questions - What do I do with the back of the screen? How will people watch this? How can I use this to do something I couldn't do otherwise?
How the students and other dome filmmakers have answered these questions can be seen in a viewing Saturday, July 29, at UNM's LodeStar Astronomy Center in the Museum of Natural History. It will be part of the larger Duke City Shootout film festival. The show will feature a 45-minute selection of dome films made by UNM students and by winners of DomeFest, the medium's annual film festival.
Erin Loader, a student in the Fulldome Production class, said learning the medium has its difficulties. Loader said many computers can't hold the large amount of data needed to make a minute-long film, and the programs needed to make dome films are sometimes challenging to learn. However, Loader said the class has been worth it.
"I would love to see anyone involved in this class," Loader said. "I would love to see not just filmmakers, but anyone - photographers, architects, artists, anyone - try a hand at this, because this really is modern art, and anything is possible here."
Whitmore said dome films are another step in the evolution of bringing people together to watch or look at something.
"I like to draw a line from caves, where our ancestors would draw pictures on the walls, to where we are now," Whitmore said. "There's almost an innate understanding that these kinds of environments have a special power to bring people together and teach lessons. To me, it's something like what movie audiences must have first experienced. Getting people together in the dark to share something has, I think, great possibilities."
