Dream Big: Engineering Our World (2017)
A documentary highlighting engineering feats and the young engineers behind them, from skyscrapers to disaster relief structures.
Overview
The film profiles engineers working on projects ranging from towering skyscrapers to earthquake-resistant housing and disaster relief structures, framed around encouraging students toward engineering careers.
Native Stereoscopic Technique
Native IMAX 3D cameras were used at active construction sites and engineering facilities, capturing large-scale structures and machinery with the depth needed to convey their true physical scale on a giant screen.
Because Dream Big: Engineering Our World was captured with a genuine dual-camera or beam-splitter rig rather than converted from 2D footage after the fact, its sense of depth is derived from real parallax recorded on set — the same principle behind human binocular vision, where two slightly offset viewpoints are reconciled by the brain into a single three-dimensional image. The IMAX 3D Camera setup used here reflects the state of stereoscopic camera engineering available at the time of production, a factor that shaped everything from shot length to how close the camera could get to the action.
Legacy & Reception
It became a widely distributed educational giant-screen title, using native stereo cinematography to make engineering concepts and scale tangible for young audiences.
Quick Facts
- Year: 2017
- Type: Documentary (Science Doc)
- Stereoscopic system: IMAX 3D Camera
- Director: Greg MacGillivray
- Studio: MacGillivray Freeman Films
- Conversion: None — native stereo capture