# Beyond All Boundaries - 4D Film at US WWII Museum



## Rifleman62 (8 Nov 2009)

Tom Hanks-produced '4-D' film comes to WWII Museum
By STACEY PLAISANCE (AP) – 4 Nov 09

NEW ORLEANS — Actor Tom Hanks says viewers are in for a realistic "wartime experience" when the new film he produced, "Beyond All Boundaries," opens at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans on Friday.

The film will be shown exclusively at the museum's new Victory Theater, which includes "4-D" elements such as props, simulated winds and shaking seats. Images from Pearl Harbor to the wintry Battle of the Bulge — the final major German offensive against the Allies — are shown on a 120-foot (36-meter)-wide screen.

The film incorporates vintage film footage, animation and sensory effects so audiences can feel the rumbling of tank treads and booming of anti-aircraft fire.

"This is not just a widescreen movie," said Hanks, who narrates the 35-minute film, as well as an introductory video that will be shown as viewers wait to enter the theater. "There's actual things that pop up, actual elements that come into it that put you in the environment."

Victory Theater has been a highly anticipated attraction at the museum. The theater was built specifically for "Beyond All Boundaries" as part of a $300 million museum expansion that is expected to continue through 2015. Federal and state funds, along with private donations, have so far generated about $90 million for the project.

Two other additions — a canteen that will showcase musical revues inspired by USO-style productions and a restaurant called The American Sector that will be overseen by chef John Besh — are also opening Friday.

"We think of it as a World War II museum history park with a variety of things to engage visitors," said Gordon "Nick" Mueller, the museum's president and chief executive officer. "It's going to be very special."

Hanks, the star of "Saving Private Ryan" and an executive producer on the World War II miniseries "Band of Brothers" and the upcoming follow-up called "The Pacific," said the planning and making of "Beyond All Boundaries" took about five years. He said one of the toughest aspects of the project was trying to decide what elements of World War II would be represented in such a short film.

What had to be captured, "without question," Hanks said, were the economic and human costs and the war's roots in the civil rights and women's rights movements.

"We had a Jim Crow society when all that happened," Hanks said. "We still had segregated armed forces ... We asked guys to go off and risk their lives and come back home and ride in the back of the bus. There was no way that brand of injustice could continue in our country after that war."

Hanks said there was an enormous sense of pride among those affiliated with the project, including the film's creative director, Phil Hettema.

"We all kind of understood from the beginning that this is an important story to tell," Hettema said. "It's a seminal moment in our country's history and who we are today. Our notion of who we are as Americans was forged by World War II."

Hettema said keeping the film experience authentic was important. He even incorporated authentic props, such as a 1940s radio for the broadcasting of the news of Pearl Harbor in the film. He also based a prop of a concentration camp guard tower on the design of actual towers at Buchenwald and Auschwitz.

Hanks and others affiliated with the film are slated to walk a red carpet Thursday for a private screening. On Friday there will be a military flyover and red carpet procession of World War II veterans, and entertainer Mickey Rooney is scheduled to perform with his band.

The celebration will continue through the weekend with a Victory Stomp block party Saturday and a retrospective honoring the museum's founder, the late Stephen Ambrose, on Sunday.

Hanks said Ambrose's idea to put the museum in New Orleans was "an absolute home run" for both the city and the rest of the country.

Hanks has helped raise money for the museum from its start in the 1990s. It opened in 2000 as the National D-Day Museum and later was designated by Congress as the country's official World War II museum.

"I feel like I've been lucky to be a part of the building blocks of something that, in a perfect world, will last forever," he said.


On the Net:
■National World War II Museum: http://www.nationalww2museum.org

Trailer: http://www.nationalww2museum.org/victory-theater/index2.html

Adam Beach, formally of Winnipeg, and Law and Order SVU,  does two of the narratives, including Ira Hayes


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## PMedMoe (8 Nov 2009)

Sounds interesting and would be great to see.  I've been to the National WW2 Museum in New Orleans.  It's a fantastic place, well laid out with loads of exhibits.  I'd love to go again after the expansion.

http://www.nationalww2museum.org/


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## Rifleman62 (21 Feb 2011)

I was fortunate to visit New Orleans to view the US National WWII Museum (formally the National D-Day Museum). http://www.nationalww2museum.org/

Interestingly the National Museum of the Pacific War is located in Fredericksburg, Texas which is Admiral Nimitz’s birth place. Excellent museum which includes a PT Boat, a Japanese midget sub from the Pearl Harbour attack. http://www.pacificwarmuseum.org/Index.asp

Attached photo states why the WWII Museum is in New Orleans.

The Museum, of course, tells the American story of WWII, and touches a bit on the Allies. The attached photo of the Gold Sector of Juno Beach display quotes Rfn Bennett of The Royal Winnipeg Rifles experiences as recounted in Stephen Ambrose’s book.

The main galleries: Origins and Homefront, Pacific D-Days, Normandy D-Day, and the main floor (some photos attached). Fees are for the Museum, the Stage Door Canteen and the 4-D film are: Military in uniform, $8; Military with ID, $12; Adults $23. Like other places in the US, family members accompanying the military member gets the same rate.

The displays do not pull any punches, which is great in this history revisionist, PC world. School groups, and Junior ROTC get the real meal deal. Some of the photos are very graphic, and not just German and Japanese. Lots of short personal recollections of Veterans, some very graphic. Interesting artefacts i.e. dented helmet and the Japanese sword that made the dent.

For me, the best part of the visit was the approximately 50 minute “Beyond All Boundaries” film, narrated by Tom Hanks, shown in the 250 seat Solomon Victory Theatre as noted in the original post. A six-minute "preshow" video sets the stage. Also narrated by Hanks, it provides a peek at life in prewar America.  The preshow and the film also do not pull any punches. More facts about the theatre are below as Behind the Scenes.

The film is spectacular and moving. High tech is mixed with war footage and photographs. 4-D (some cut/paste here): rumbling seats, simulated pyrotechnics, smoke, the multi-planed screens that create a unique (and glasses-less) 3-D effect, the stage props - a 1940s'-style radio that interrupts the ball game with the actual announcement of Pearl Harbour, a 75% scale B-17 nose that attaches to the front of a B-17E in the film, a concentration-camp guard tower - that rise from the floor on cue. Jungle scenes look real. Some other effects are the snow that falls from the ceiling during the Battle of the Bulge, the smoke and smoke smell of the fire bombing of Japan sequence (when I got back to the hotel, I was accused by my wife of cigar smoking on the walk back!).

Of special note:

- To clearly indicate a world war, when the film moves from each location to each location, you are zoomed up in space (curvature of the earth, stars), then down to the location: North America to Great Britain or Normandy or Germany/North America. The island hopping campaign is clearing presented in this format.

- the film progresses to Aug 45, the screen goes blank, the theater is dark, a pause, then this startling blinding bright flash/explosion that lights up the theatre, then a black pause. Very quick. I have seen lots of the films of nuclear explosions, but nothing as extraordinary as this.

 The film commences with black silhouettes of civilians moving from left to right across the 120 foot screen. When the silhouettes get almost 75% across they are transformed to black silhouettes of soldiers with slung rifles.

The final sequence of the film (see photo), about 24 of the voices heard during the film appear as figures on a raised stage facing the audience. The figures appear in colour, wearing different uniforms (Navy, aviators, Marine in camo, tankers, infantryman, etc). Then about half move down several stairs, transforming into civilian attire, then age to present day. Pause, these old men turn around and salute the young guys up on the stage. The guys who are still young, never grew up to adulthood, never came back. Very, very moving.

The use of black silhouettes at the beginning to symbolize the millions, civilian to service person. Using colour at the end as we know something of these people from the narration/reading of their letters. The transition to civilian again, the aging of the survivors and their saluting of their comrades who died representing “They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old”. Extremely well done. At first I thought it was real people on stage.

Trailer:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i11Wd3uTRdw

Photos will be out of sequence and in two posts.

Behind the Scenes:  Facts at a Glance

•          Tom Hanks is the executive producer and narrator of the film.

•          True stories of 44 individuals are voiced by 30 well-known actors, including Kevin Bacon, Patricia Clarkson, James Cromwell, Blythe Danner, Viola Davis, Jennifer Garner, John Goodman, Neil Patrick Harris, Tobey Maguire, Chris Pine, Brad Pitt and Gary Sinise, among others.

•          Immersing the audience in the full cinematic experience, the Solomon Victory Theater screen is 120-feet wide, dwarfing large screens in most traditional theaters.

•          9 Digital Cinema DLP Projectors (a regular theater has only one projector).

•          Full surround custom audio system features 27 speakers:  11 in the front of the theater, 4 surround speakers on the side walls, 4 surround speakers on the back wall, 4 overhead speakers and 4 subwoofers.

•          250 special effects theater seats are equipped with full range oscillating vibration. (The seats shake, e.g., when tanks are rolling.)

•          A B-17 aircraft nose lowers from overhead rigging above the audience in less than 12 seconds. 

•          A 25-foot guard tower rises ominously before the audience from a deep pit below the stage.

•          An anti-aircraft gun rises, rotates and appears to fire above the audience.  

•          Six full-sized “Dragons Teeth” tank traps (large steel construction used to stop or disable tanks) appear in the D-Day beach sequence.  

•          Special effect snow falls on the audience (actually, soap bubbles).

•          305 archival photographs are shown.

•          Approximately 517 film clips of archival footage are shown.

•          More than 6,000:  Number of hours spent researching archival footage and stills.

•          75 images of original CGI art appear on screen.

As a side note, if you get a chance visit New Orleans, go.  Party city extraordinaire. Bring cash also besides your credit card. Not Mardi Gras yet, but busy.

French Quarter, Bourbon Street. I do not think the bars close. Open plastic containers allowed. Many take out places on the street: take out beer, hand grenades (ever clear?), hurricanes, etc. Drink prices are excellent, $2.50 to $3.00 per beer; cocktails $5.00+. Good food prices, tasty, plentiful. Ten bucks get you an excellent meal. Also high end if you need it.

Streets got busier and busier as the week progressed. All age groups. Polite, friendly people.


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## Rifleman62 (21 Feb 2011)

Aircraft carrier from the film. The other three photos from the main floor, representing some of the displays.


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