Exclusive IMAX trailer: 'Dream Big: Engineering Our World'

Bryan Alexander

USA TODAY

On China’s coast where typhoons roar, engineers designed the Shanghai Tower with a twisting, spiral shape. The aerodynamic design drastically reduces the wind on this 2,073-foot structure, the second-tallest building in the world.

Director Greg MacGillivray has taken IMAX viewers to the top of the world’s most formidable mountain in Everest and explored the country’s stunning natural playgrounds in National Parks Adventure.

In Dream Big: Engineering Our World (in IMAX and giant screen theaters Feb. 17), MacGillivray takes on his biggest challenge — bringing the engineering world to life on the big screen.

Let's face it, engineering isn't an obvious choice for IMAX excitement.

“This is probably the most difficult film I have done for the giant screen out of nearly 40 films. How do you take 2,000 years of engineering history and make an engaging film?" says MacGillivray, who reveals the official trailer for Dream Big at usatoday.com. "But we’ve come out the other side of that journey with a success on our hands."

MacGillivray's strategy is to give viewers an unprecedented view into the engineering wonders of the world. Viewers are immersed in a helicopter ride above the Great Wall of China to explore a new mapping method and get a close-up look at the stunning glass facade on the world's second-tallest building, the Shanghai Tower, which has been designed to combat fierce wind gusts.

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Dream Big also tells inspirational stories like that of Menzer Pehlivan, who lived through a 7.6 magnitude earthquake in Turkey at age 13, and decided to devote her life to constructing safer buildings.

"Teachers tried to talk her out of it, saying women cannot be engineers," says MacGillivray. "But Menzer persevered."

Pehlivan now works as a world-renowned geotechnical engineer.

Falkirk Wheel in Scotland, the world’s only rotating boatlift, is featured in 'Dream Big.'

Dream Big highlights the work of Avery Bang, CEO of Bridges to Prosperity, a company that aids poor communities in countries like Haiti by building footbridges over dangerous rivers. The film also explores the ultimate underdog story of the Falcon Robotics Team from Phoenix's Carl Hayden High School.

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The underfunded, seemingly overmatched team of primarily Mexican immigrants took on powerhouses like MIT in 2004 to win an underwater robotics competition sponsored in part by the Office of Naval Research and NASA (the subject of the 2015 film Spare Parts).

"It’s a David vs. Goliath story that is so uplifting and emotional. The story of these kids is not boring, they did something very brave," says MacGillivray.

The world famous Millau Viaduct in southern France captured in the evening light.

Actor Jeff Bridges narrates the film, which MacGillivray hopes will inspire students to pursue a STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education and enter the profession.

More than 1,000 volunteers from the American Society of Civil Engineers will talk to students across the country at screenings of Dream Big about their own journeys. MacGillivray believes he's revealed this seemingly dry world to be artistic and compelling.

"We’ve shown that engineers and their professions are really exciting," says MacGillivray. "This is a film that will engage people and steal their hearts.”

The Great Wall of China is a great feat of ancient engineering, which relies on a mapping technique shown in 'Dream Big.' Viewers also learn that in some sections of the wall, builders used sticky rice in the mortar, which enhanced its durability.

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