American Cinematographer - February 1984 - 75

Daniel

Fiebiger

Special Effects
Disney's Miniature Effects Rig
A

journey into the future is provided by

Horizons, the latest addition to Future
World at Disney's epcot Center in Flor¬
ida. The Horizons pavilion, which is

VW

presented by General Electric, opened
October 1, 1983
one year to the day
after the official opening of epcot itself.
-

Visitors

to

Horizons enter the

three-acre

pavilion and board a continu¬
ously moving train of suspended vehi¬
cles which carry them on a 15 minute
journey through four major sections at
one and one-half feet per second.
The myriad of production ele¬
ments which made Horizons possible is
enormous, embracing the latest in film
and electronic techniques. Omnisphere,
an Omnimax 70mm projection system
focusing its huge images on twin hemi¬
spherical screens 80 feet in diameter is
utilized in the presentation of the first
successful filming of a single atom in
the large format. Systems utilizing
35mm rear projection, video rear projec¬
tion, and Disney Audio-Animatronics all
combine to guide the viewer through the
pavilion.
The third section, "Tomor¬
row's Windows,"

Cite,"
a

displays "Nova

an

urban setting; "Mesa Verde,"

desert

farming complex; "Sea Cas¬

tle," a floating city, and "Brava Centauri," an impressive space station with
a

rotating center section.

Both interior and exterior
views of the space station are shown.
Each view was shot on 65mm and

projected in two separate 70mm loops,
lasting one minute and five sec¬
onds, creating a continuous flow of
movement. The viewer car passes suffi¬
ciently near the screens that the

ing out a window at the wonders of
aquatic world. This was filmed in

their

35mm VistaVision, then transferred to
35mm 4-perf format with anamorphic
squeeze. The final image as seen at
Horizons is a videodisk presented via a
g.e. model 5055 rear projection system.
In the other underwater shot,
the viewer car passes by a series of

windows, beyond which can be seen an
underwater

resort.

duced and is

rear

This

scene was

pro¬

projected in 35mm

with the space station images.
The Disney crew also created
two static views of the "Sea Castle"

20 by 16-foot screen
behind the windows.
The most remarkable produc¬
tion techniques were used in creating
the fourth and final section, "Choose
Your Tomorrow."
Visitors are asked to vote for
one
of three high-speed jour¬

floating city. In

neys

-

space

-

each

viewer's entire field of vision is filled

one shot, children in an
underwater classroom are shown look-

flat format

on

a

desert, underwater or
that they would like to take

February 1984

before exiting the pavilion. A computer
tallies the vote and plays back the se¬
lected journey on a six-foot wide, fivefoot

high,

projected video screen.
(In case of a tie vote, a selection is
made at random.) Each journey is at
least 43 seconds long, starting with a
rear

static shot, 31 seconds of movement,
and ending with another static shot
which can be extended if there are any

delays in the exiting of the vehicle due
to the loading or unloading of handi¬
capped or elderly guests, or should the
system be halted to facilitate recovery
of an item dropped on the floor.
Linking the Disney Studio
production staff with the Disney WED

organization

was

The desert miniaturi
set was

32 feet

wide and 86 feet

tong. The ELMER
Gantry can be seen
above and at the
sides. In the

background are
Model Makers Rick

Thompson and Len
Larson. Production

Supervisor Dave
Jones and Model

Coordinator Bob

Sturgis are in the
foreground.

Dave Jones, produc¬

tion

supervisor of all seven film pro¬
jects. WED pavilion developed the
concepts needed for production of Hori¬
zons. Once the concepts were locked

American

Cinematographer

73
American Cinematographer - February 1984

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