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A couple of years back I was reading through some notes on fulldome  
production from, I believe, Elumens. They said their research  
indicated that you could go as fast as you liked, but motion-sickness  
set in with sudden changes of motion. I could not find the article  
again.

Now to dust off some of my experiences as a movie theater  
projectionist (with a little bit if astronomy museum lingo).

The suggestion to sit near the projector sounds vaguely of a myth.  
Sitting toward the back would reduce the angular size of the screen  
and the apparent amount of motion. However, with large format  
theaters, dome video, and the trend toward stadium-style steeply  
raked auditoriums, that effect is greatly diminished compared to the  
older, traditional-styled theaters -- you just can't get back far  
enough to make the screen look small. Even then, I doubt the affect  
was that significant compared to sitting in the middle (although I  
remember sitting in the front row during Top Gun was a BAD idea).  
Anyways, the back of the theater almost never has as good sound quality.

I would suggest that visitors close their eyes if they start to feel  
uncomfortable.

I'd also instruct those who think they might get nauseated to sit on  
an aisle near the exit. While they leave, they should look down to  
the ground at the path immediately in front of their feet and an  
usher will be by to help them. Some advanced ushering tips: Keep the  
flashlight pointed to where you want the visitor to take their next  
step and, when helping someone in or out of an aisle, hold the  
flashlight low and nearly parallel to the ground so it lights up the  
feet of the other visitors and the chair legs of the row in front.


Most importantly, if you can find a vendor with (ahem) absorbent,  
odor-controlling powder in single-use pouches, that makes it easier  
to stash some in multiple places for a fast response (which I  
remember oh so vividly from my movie theater days).


- Paul Koenig


On Jun 28, 2007, at 11:49 AM, Bill Watson wrote:

> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology  
> Centers
> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related  
> institutions.
> ********************************************************************** 
> *******
>
> I don't know of any research specifically on motion sickness in  
> giant-screen
> movie theaters, but different theories about motion sickness  
> suggest that in
> "apparent motion" environments (i.e., those in which you don't  
> actually move
> but you feel like you do, like a giant-screen movie theater), two  
> factors
> (among others) associated with motion sickness are reflexive eye  
> movements
> and sensory conflict. Although I'm not an expert in this particular  
> area, my
> read of a summary of the research is that:
>
> 1) The more a person tries to move his/her eyes to "keep up" with a  
> moving
> (or virtually moving) environment, the more susceptible to motion  
> sickness
> he or she will become.
>
> 2) The greater the difference between the motion the person expects to
> experience (actually or virtually) and what the person actually  
> experiences,
> the more susceptible to motion sickness he or she will become.
>
> You might imagine in a giant-screen environment a person trying to  
> rapidly
> move his/her eyes to make sense of visual signals (i.e., what's on the
> screen) that he/she doesn't expect. In that case, both of these  
> factors
> would be operating, and a person prone to it might get pretty  
> motion sick.
>
> So what does that say about where to sit? These are just guesses,  
> but I'd
> say the conventional wisdom (and direction) to "simply close your  
> eyes and
> the sensation will go away" is pretty sound, based on this research  
> - if you
> can't see the movement, you can't try to keep up with it. Also, I  
> would
> guess that the higher up you sit in a theater, the more of the  
> whole screen
> you can see, so the less rapidly your eyes have to move to keep up  
> with the
> action (smaller visual field) and the more likely the eyes will be to
> interpret what's going on.
>
> I can send you the citation for an article if you need it or want  
> to read
> more.
>
> Bill
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Informal Science Education Network
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Fisher, Martin
> Sent: Thursday, June 28, 2007 1:57 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: giant screen movie sickness
>
>
> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology  
> Centers
> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
> institutions.
> ********************************************************************** 
> ******
> *
>
> Nauticus is getting ready to world premier a brand new giant-screen  
> movie
> "Gateway to the World" about port operations, Virginia's ports,
> shipping-land connections, and technology. Quite a bit of the movie  
> is shown
> high-speed. Just in case there are any issues with dizziness or motion
> sickness...
>
> 1. Do any of you have specific, exact, refined wording - probably from
> unfortunate experience when your visitors complained or were sick  
> in your
> theaters - that you can share warning viewers about possible motion
> sickness?
>
> 2. Do you have or know of any research, not opinion or hearsay,  
> about where
> is the best location to sit in a theater to minimize motion sickness?
>
>
> Thanks!
> Martin (not Weiss)
>
>
> Martin S. Fisher
> Director of Education & Exhibits
> Nauticus
> One Waterside Drive
> Norfolk, VA  23510
> 36°50'51"N  76°17'53"W  13 ft
> phone (757) 664-1003, mobile (757) 617-7080, fax (757) 623-1287
> [log in to unmask]
> www.nauticus.org
>
>
>
>
>
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