Barco has become a founding member of the International 3D & Advanced Imaging Society. By joining the society, Barco wishes to underscore its commitment to the entertainment business and help shape the cinema of the future, together with some of the world’s leading entertainment companies and opinion leaders, such as Walt Disney Studios, DreamWorks Animation, Paramount Studios, Dolby Labs and others. Wim Buyens, Barco’s senior vice president entertainment, becomes a member of the 3D Society’s Executive Committee and Board of Governors.
In Barco’s eyes, the cinema of the future can be a true multimedia entertainment, business and educational center, and an important local cultural hub. CinemaBarco combines a rich array of entertainment concepts to help exhibitors and storytellers create a true value-added moviegoing experience, before, during as well as after the show. In addition to interactive content leveraging technologies such as Audience Entertainment, CinemaBarco embraces the Escape wraparound screen system. Designed to fit into existing multiplex, Escape adds additional screens on either side of the theater. Besides ensuring a bigger, more intense, more encompassing canvas, the Escape system aims to turn pre-show advertising into something audiences will engage with, rather than something to be ignored while they play with their phones. Moreover, Barco’s new 4K laser-illuminated projectors, which also premièred earlier this year, fit perfectly into the CinemaBarco concept too: by offering audiences premium image quality and ultimate brightness, they help revolutionize the cinema experience.
“CinemaBarco proves how Barco has evolved from an equipment supplier – the number one in cinema projectors – into a thought leader that is constantly looking for new ways to redefine the concept of cinema. As a visualization expert active in cinema but also in virtual reality solutions, in digital signage, etc. we have all the in-house expertise needed to extend the cinema experience into new areas. Our objective is always twofold: enhance the cinema-going experience for the audience, while also giving exhibitors the ability to generate premium revenues by delivering these value-added experiences,” says Buyens. “We are proud that the 3D Society has spotted our commitment and is happy to get us on board to create a new roadmap for today’s entertainment industry.”
Mike DeValue of the Walt Disney Studios, chairman of the International 3D & Advanced Imaging Society says, “These are exciting, yet also challenging times for our industry. The 3D Society wants to be a valuable tool to advance the success of exhibitors, studios and everyone involved in the entertainment industry. To achieve that aim, we assemble the world’s key industry players and opinion leaders to discuss new trends, exchange ideas and know-how and learn how we can meet the ever-growing appetite for premium entertainment experiences. Barco’s technology and, more recently, its vision for the cinema of the future and its CinemaBarco concept are testimony to its dedication to our industry. We are therefore confident that Wim Buyens and his team will provide very valuable insights and opinions.”
Barco’s 4K laser-illuminated projector has been nominated for a Lumière Award – one of the prestigious International 3D & Advanced Imaging Society Awards that honor superb technologies that drive the industry forward. The Awards will be presented during a gala session on 24 September at Paramount Pictures Studios in Hollywood, California. Barco’s Wim Buyens, who has become a member of the 3D Society Executive Committee and Board of Governors, will join Mike DeValue in a discussion on ‘the Future of Content’ during the event’s opening session.
The International 3D & Advanced Imaging Society was founded by some of the film industry's creative stakeholders, including The Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, DreamWorks Animation, Sony, Paramount, IMAX, Dolby, Panasonic, MasterImage3D and others to advance the creative arts and sciences of stereoscopic 3D and 4K. With chapters in the U.S., China, Japan, Canada, the E.U. and the U.K., the organization has more than 1,800 professional members in over 20 countries active in improving the arts and technologies of International 3D & Advanced Imaging, including High Dynamic Range, 4K/Ultra High Def and more. The organization hosts professional education seminars and awards throughout the world.