Emil Radok
Emil Radok (22 May 1918 – 7 January 1994) was a Czech film director. He was co-inventor of the multi-media show Laterna Magika, , which was a star attraction at the Czechoslovakia pavilion at Expo 67. In 1968 he left to exile to Canada and died there.
Probably Radok's most monumental project was the "kinetic mosaic" which he designed for the Universe of Energy Pavilion at Walt Disney World's EPCOT theme park, opening in 1982. Working with WED (Walt Disney Imagineering), Radok created a pre-show film projected on a 90-foot wide screen. The projection surface was composed of some 100 triangular revolving modules arrayed in four horizontal rows, 25 modules in each row. Each module had two white projection surfaces and one black surface, each 3 ½ feet square. Each module was revolved by its own interior servo-motor. Computerized, the modules could create one large flat screen, but were also programmed to revolve in a variety of displays, combining into patterns of triangular wedges, flat panels, and black panels, precisely coordinated with the changing film images. The rippling movement of the units gave a unique "third dimension" to the projection surface. The theater accommodated 580 spectators.
Due to mechanical complications, the revolving screens were not revealed to the public until 1984, two years after the park's opening, and the display, requiring constant mechanical maintenance, was eventually replaced with a conventional film projected on five screens by five linked 35-mm projectors.
In 1987, Radok received the Canadian Special Achievement Genie Award for the film Taming of the Demons, which played primarily at Vancouver's Expo '86.
His older brother and collaborator was Alfréd Radok (1914–1976).
External links
|