which fills the audiences' peripheral vision, immersing them into the film. The NMNH proposed a panoramic, curved IMAX screen at the NMNH's rotunda, but the idea was later discarded. In 1974, after hearing the Smithsonian Institution was to open a new building of the NASM at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. as part of the US Bicentennial, filmmaker and IMAX Corporation founder Graeme Ferguson proposed an IMAX theater to the museum's director, astronaut Michael Collins. While Ferguson believed an IMAX screen would be a big contribution to the museum, Collins had not seen an IMAX film and initially rejected the proposal. When he visited Expo '74, an IMAX representative convinced him to attend the event's own IMAX theater and see Man Belongs to the Earth, a 23-minute environmentalist documentary film. Collins became convinced that an IMAX theater at the NASM—the first museum to have one—would provide a sense of realism to visitors. The proposal was supported by then-deputy director Melvin B. Zisfein, who later wrote two film treatments. While neither treatment was ultimately used, they had major influences on the final product. Pre-production On July 1, 1974 giant-screen filmmaker Francis Thompson proposed a film about the history of flight to play as part of the Bicentennial and as the NASM theater's premiere film. With a US$750,000 investment from Conoco Inc., they set the project's deadline for 1976. Conoco helped fund the project "as a Bicentennial gift" to the NASM. After writing a third treatment with production and consultation company Francis Thompson, Inc., the Smithsonian commissioned filmmakers Greg MacGillivray and James "Jim" Freeman to make the film. Collins told MacGillivray and Freeman he did not want the film to be too history-oriented and more fun-oriented. MacGillivray praised Collins for giving him full creative freedom. Collins and Zisfein gave around 30 suggestions, over 20 of which were incorporated into the film. MacGillivray and Freeman thought the treatment was imperfect and expanded it into "a chronological story that contained humor, comical fictitious characters, and [...] a little bit of flight history". They took inspiration from their earlier surf films and experience with aerial filmmaking. They analyzed other IMAX films for inspiration and reference, including Man Belongs to the Earth, whose opening aerial shot of the Grand Canyon enthused them. They wrote To Fly! as a mix of genres to give audiences a compact definition of IMAX. The opening scene is humorous so