Smell-o-vision is the name given to a type of film where the viewer can 'smell' what is happening in the movie. The technique was created in 1960 by Mike Todd, Jr., son of film producer Mike Todd. The process injected 30 different smells into a movie theatre's seats when triggered by the film's soundtrack.
It goes on to say that ...
Problems propagating scents in sync with the film and flushing the scents out between each showing led to Smell-o-vision's early demise.
Wow, I never knew about this! Recently though, it looks like technology may have revived the idea of smell-o-vision. See this article I came across recently:
Japan moviegoers get whiff of smellovision...
When there are romantic scenes, audiences will smell a floral fragrance; a mix of peppermint and rosemary will accompany the heartrending moments; an orange and grapefruit citrus scent symbolizes joy; and an herbal-blend with a tang of tea tree and eucalyptus will accent anger.
The scents will circulate through the theatre via machines filled with fragrant liquids located under the back row seats.
I have a few concerns regarding smell-o-vision...For one thing, I wouldn’t want to go to a movie with much toilet humour in it! Could you imagine the toilet scene in Dumb and Dumber? Instead of laughing when someone farted in a movie, with the raunchy smell being pumped into the theatre, there would no doubt be tons of groaning from the audience. Would farts in movies cease to be funny if you smelt one every time someone dealt one? I think so.
Would watching “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” result in a hotbox theatre?
And finally, perfect images of men on screen being all romantic already drives us women crazy… to pump the smell of axe body spray into the theatre would probably result in riots!
1 comment:
Oh dear.... I smell a potential terrorist attack waiting to happen. Or better yet, could you imagine someone breaking into the theatre to put a stink bomb into the system... I would hate to be the movie goer in that instance...
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