IMAX movie brings The Show on the road

Nestled in the five-trailer platform that comprises the “We Are Baseball” traveling Hall of Fame tour is a mobile theater that shows an 11-minute IMAX movie, spotlighting the best of what the game provides today, and offering glimpses of where it is headed in the future.

Baseball, steeped deeply in tradition, will always connect generations and harken back to its past. But Major League Baseball has taken a deliberate and giant step forward, shifting its focus to a younger generation of fans stimulated more by what is in front of them than by what has already happened.

The IMAX presentation of “We Are Baseball” is one of many platforms being implemented to carry this new message.

The opening scene, shot from Cooperstown, has a regal and soothing feel, as does the voice of narrator Aaron Paul, best known for his role on AMC’s “Breaking Bad.”

“The National Baseball Hall of Fame stands as both shrine and sanctuary,” Paul says. “The timeless essence of this beautiful game is simple: hit a speeding ball with a length of wood.”

But almost as quickly as it starts, the tone changes. Over the next 10 minutes, “We Are Baseball” turns into a fast-paced audio and visual bonanza that takes the viewer directly into the middle of the action, whether it’s David Ortiz being covered in rosin after logging a game-winning hit, or Andrew McCutchen jumping 10 feet in the air at the wall to rob an opponent of a home run, or Bryce Harper taking a curtain call after yet another monster homer.

“IMAX takes you somewhere you dream about going to, but probably will never get to,” IMAX CEO Greg Foster said. “In this case, you are literally with Mike Trout, with David Ortiz. You are on the field. You are between the lines.”

A logical partnership

That’s why IMAX, with its superior audio and visual digital capabilities and giant screens, is such a natural partner for this type of baseball experience. Fans want to be as close up to the action as possible, but in most spaces, whether it’s in person at a ballpark or watching on television at home, access can be limited.

“We Are Baseball” pummels those boundaries.

“One of the greatest attributes of many of the most powerful IMAX films is how we deliver scale and scope,” said Lorne Orleans, SVP and executive in charge of production at IMAX. “There are moments when you’re on the field and it’s a wide shot and you are seeing an entire stadium on screen. Then there’s a slow-motion shot of the pitcher winding up, where you’re literally on top of him. You see the texture of his hat. There’s …

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