Kodak 65mm Black and White Film

[Max Jacoby]

Does Kodak manufacture 65mm Black and White Negative Film?

[John Holland]

Does Kodak manufacture 65mm Black and White Negative Film?

No i am pretty sure they dont . john holland .

[David Mullen ASC]

I'm sure they do, but as a special order item probably. I once saw some b&w IMAX footage years ago, for example.

 

David Lean originally planned on shooting "Dr. Zhivago" in 65mm b&w.

 

Stanley Kubrick shot the first week of "Full Metal Jacket" in 65mm b&w before changing his mind and switching to 35mm color neg.

 

65mm b&w stocks would have been necessary back when Douglas Trumbull was shooting his efx work and doing optical printer composites in 65mm (for hi-con hold-out mattes.)

[Stephen Williams]

65mm b&w stocks would have been necessary back when Douglas Trumbull was shooting his efx work and doing optical printer composites in 65mm (for hi-con hold-out mattes.)

 

Hi,

 

Many people were using Gev 553 for Hi Con work in the 1970's/80's

 

Stephen

[John Holland]

Yes , i have used that stock , but not 65mm, 35 and 16 mm , just dont think Kodak , have any camera neg ,in 65mm , unless a very special order , millions of rolls of stock [ ok a slight overkill] . But i am sure thats the only way . john holland , london.

[Leo Anthony Vale]

I'm sure they do, but as a special order item probably. I once saw some b&w IMAX footage years ago, for example.

 

David Lean originally planned on shooting "Dr. Zhivago" in 65mm b&w.

 

Stanley Kubrick shot the first week of "Full Metal Jacket" in 65mm b&w before changing his mind and switching to 35mm color neg.

 

65mm b&w stocks would have been necessary back when Douglas Trumbull was shooting his efx work and doing optical printer composites in 65mm (for hi-con hold-out mattes.)

 

---All of the dupe work in '2001' used 65mm YCM positives. Some of the work being done in bipack cameras, rather than optical printing.

See the American Cinematographer '2001' issue.

 

Ages ago when I was at SFState, one of the film school instuctors had studied at the soviet film school under Lev Kuleshov. He had hanging in his office a 70mm B/W clip from a Soviet movie.

It was a deep focus close up with the sea in the backgroud.

 

---LV

[David Mullen ASC]

Whereas I think 65mm b&w would be a special run, Kodak sells 65mm versions of most of their color negative stock (it's listed in their catalog), mainly for IMAX productions -- as far as I know, it doesn't have to be a special order run, unlike Fuji 65mm color negative (which was used for the 3D IMAX film "Wings of Courage".)

[Christian Appelt]

Eastman black&white stocks should be available in 65mm by FTO (finish-to-order)/special order. Couldn't find the minimum amount on www.kodak.com, but I remember it was about 12.000 meters of 35mm, so it should be roughly half in 65mm format. John P. will know more on this when you need it...

 

Recently I watched the Russian WW2 epic (7.5 hrs) LIBERATION which has many scenes shot in 65mm b&w, which was quite interesting to watch. They used b&w for scenes where the dialogue was based on historic protocols (like Stalin or Hitler planning strategic moves), and color for the rest of the film. Fascinating movie, with much better acting and direction than the recent German movie...

Edited November 20, 2005 by Christian Appelt

[Max Jacoby]

Stanley Kubrick shot the first week of "Full Metal Jacket" in 65mm b&w before changing his mind and switching to 35mm color neg.

 

Very interesting. I didn't know about that.

 

Kubrick also considered shooting 'Eyes Wide Shut' in 65mm at first. A steadicam operator I've worked with got asked if he wanted to do the shoot, but he turned the job down, because he didn't want to do 50 takes with a 765 on his rig...

 

In both cases Kubrick went in a different direction, for a much grittier, grainier look.

[John Pytlak RIP]

5231 and 5222 are not catalog listed in 65mm. Not sure many labs offer 65mm B&W D-96 processing either. If you have a project in mind, talk to your Kodak representative to explore whether a Special Order could be considered. Of course, an entire wide roll would need to be slit to 65mm, so the minimum quantity is likely to be high.

[Max Jacoby]

Arri Lab in Munich process 65mm film.

 

I do want to make a film in 65mm one day, but of course it depends on the right project. No point shooting 65mm if it's all interiors. The Zeiss lenses that Arri has for their 765 have very impressive close-focus, even better than anamorphic lenses. The only drawback is the weight and size of the 765 itself, not sure if steadicam is possible.

[Mitch Gross]

If Larry MaConkey was able to fly an Imax camera then there has to be a 65mm camera that is Steadicam compatible! Brad, didn't you once fly the Russian 65mm Starcam from Slow-Motion?

[Max Jacoby]

What kind of shots did he do?

 

The 765 is quite heavy (it's sync camera after all) and getting up stairs would be a must.

[Leo Anthony Vale]

What kind of shots did he do?

 

The 765 is quite heavy (it's sync camera after all) and getting up stairs would be a must.

 

The 765 is not the only 65mm camera.

 

The Panavision 65mm handhed, which iis about the size of a 35BL, was used on a steadicam extesively in 'Brainstorm'. Often with a 19mm Kowa 66 fisheye.

 

Here are some pictures of the russian 70mm hand held camera, though with stereo lenses:

 

http://stereokino.ru/camen3.htm

 

Bonderchuk's 'War and Peace' has some amazing handheld work using this basic model.

 

---LV

 

 

I'm sure they do, but as a special order item probably. I once saw some b&w IMAX footage years ago, for example.

 

David Lean originally planned on shooting "Dr. Zhivago" in 65mm b&w.

 

Stanley Kubrick shot the first week of "Full Metal Jacket" in 65mm b&w before changing his mind and switching to 35mm color neg.

 

65mm b&w stocks would have been necessary back when Douglas Trumbull was shooting his efx work and doing optical printer composites in 65mm (for hi-con hold-out mattes.)

 

---Don't know how I forgot it.

Much of 'Tron' was shot on 65mm Double-X.

The live action 'animation' was shhot on 65mm, printed on to kodalith animation cels, which were rephotographed masked and through color filters onto Vistavision.

 

---LV

[Max Jacoby]

But the 765 is the best 65mm camera.

 

The 65mm Panavision camera you mention is MOS as far as I'm aware.

[David Mullen ASC]

Panavision created a new 65mm Panaflex around the same time as the 765.

[Mitch Gross]

"Far & Away" was primarily shot using the newer Panavision 65mm camera that David mentioned. In the Land-Rush sequence where many cameras were needed (I think a dozen or so) they emptied the shelves of 65mm gear, employing old Panavision gear, 765s and some Mitchells pulled from the mothballs. There still weren't enough so for a couple of cameras buried in the ground anamorphic 35 setups were used.

 

I believe Storaro used Panavision for the 65mm sequences in "Little Budda."

 

I'm sure the 765 is an excellent camera, but it was designed as a sync-sound general prodution camera yet most of them only found used shooting highspeed f/x plates. I've been told they have to be serviced fairly regularly because they are used so much in a way other than what they were designed for. Or at least they were when people still shot a lot of f/x plates in 65mm.

[Max Jacoby]

The 65mm sequences of 'Little Budda' were shot on the 765. There was an article in AC about it.

[Ignacio Aguilar]

Here are some pictures of the russian 70mm hand held camera, though with stereo lenses:

 

http://stereokino.ru/camen3.htm

 

Bonderchuk's 'War and Peace' has some amazing handheld work using this basic model.

 

Here are some more shots of that camera while shooting War and Peace:

 

 

 

 

The camera and handheld work is gorgeous. At first, I couldn't believe that a 70mm stock camera could do that 16mm-like shots. The film itself is really beautiful and features large-scale battles with THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS of extras. A real must to see, in my opinion.

[John Holland]

I agree , must be seen in 70 mm , shot on a stock called Sovcolor , which in fact was Agfa-Gaevert , only about 25 asa , but might be wrong there about speed i mean . john holland london.

[John Pytlak RIP]

I recall that many of the Russian large format productions actually used a 70mm wide film in the camera, not 65mm.

 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063794/technical

[John Holland]

Yes you are correct , they did use 70mm stock , not 65mm . john holland , london .

[David Mullen ASC]

The 65mm sequences of 'Little Budda' were shot on the 765. There was an article in AC about it.

 

Yes, that's correct. But "Hamlet" was shot with two 65mm Panaflexes, with the Arri 765 acting as a replacement when one went down for four days. The point is that the Arri 765 isn't the only modern 65mm sound camera -- Panavision, Arriflex, and Cinema Products all introduced a modern sync-sound 65mm reflex camera in the early 1990's within a few years of each other.

[Max Jacoby]

What mount does the Starcam have? PL or some sort of Russian mount?

[Ignacio Aguilar]

I agree , must be seen in 70 mm , shot on a stock called Sovcolor , which in fact was Agfa-Gaevert , only about 25 asa , but might be wrong there about speed i mean . john holland london.

 

There's a long interview with the DP on the DVD and he says that he had problems shooting indoors because the film stock was very slow indeed. If I recall correctly, they had to shoot the big ballroom secuences on a soundstage (instead of a real location) because of the huge amounts of light needed to get an exposure with that film stock.