Nolan to use new IMAX cameras on next film

[Stephen Perera]

According to articles....

https://www.worldofreel.com/blog/2024/10/31/christopher-nolan-to-shoot-next-film-on-never-before-used-imax-equipment

 

Imax CEO Richard Gelfond is revealing that Christopher Nolan will be using new IMAX technology for his next film

I’m pleased to share that Chris will be utilizing new IMAX technology in the making of the film — never-before-used equipment that our teams have been developing through this past year.

Edited November 1, 2024 by Stephen Perera

[Jon O'Brien]

How absolutely cool is that.

You know how winemakers can't call their product "Champagne" any more unless it's a product of that region of France? They've got to call it "Sparkling wine" if it doesn't come from there ..

I propose that movies cannot be called "Films" if they aren't shot on film. So, movies shot on digital cameras should be called "Videos" which is what they are. I sort of speak in jest. Though it's true.

[Jon O'Brien]

For instance, Australia has a highly professional feature video industry. We don't make films any more.

[Karim D. Ghantous]

I think that they also need new lenses. Also, seeing as they scan in 8K, isn't it better to shoot vertical 8-perf 65mm for IMAX these days?

[Jon O'Brien]

2 hours ago, Karim D. Ghantous said:

I think that they also need new lenses. Also, seeing as they scan in 8K, isn't it better to shoot vertical 8-perf 65mm for IMAX these days?

They can't use Hasselblad lenses? Hmm, maybe the image circle isn't big enough.

Yes, I don't know why 15 perf is used for narrative productions, but who cares, as long as it's real film. I think vertical 5 perf is enough for any cinema - whether exhibited by digital or by film projector. But really, Nolan must know what he's doing.

[Aapo Lettinen]

2 hours ago, Jon O'Brien said:

They can't use Hasselblad lenses? Hmm, maybe the image circle isn't big enough.

Yes, I don't know why 15 perf is used for narrative productions, but who cares, as long as it's real film. I think vertical 5 perf is enough for any cinema - whether exhibited by digital or by film projector. But really, Nolan must know what he's doing.

15perf IMAX is used on narratives because it helps marketing the film, it stands out and people think it would be a extraordinary viewing experience so they will more likely watch it and are prepared to pay extra for the experience.

Nolan is just like everyone else, he does everything he can to help his films to gain attention and wide audiences. if it needs imaging technology exhibition circus on top of everything else, then so be it 🙂 

[David Mullen ASC]

Nolan prefers being able to contact print and project as much 15-perf 65mm footage as possible for theaters, he only scans the IMAX negative for VFX shots. He did try a D.I. (I believe) for "Tenet" -- but "Oppenheimer" and most of his other films like "Dunkirk" have a cut 15-perf 65mm negative for making 70mm contact prints for IMAX film theaters. 

[Gautam Valluri]

9 hours ago, Karim D. Ghantous said:

Also, seeing as they scan in 8K, isn't it better to shoot vertical 8-perf 65mm for IMAX these days?

There was also Astrovision, which was a 10-perf/70mm horizontal format, used in some science museums in Asia in the 1990s.

I suppose the cost of shooting 8/70 or 10/70 wouldn't be far off from 15/70, so why not go all out?

[Jeff Bernstein]

3 hours ago, David Mullen ASC said:

Nolan prefers being able to contact print and project as much 15-perf 65mm footage as possible for theaters, he only scans the IMAX negative for VFX shots.

Similar to how, as Nathaniel Grimwood told me, the VFX shots for Star Wars (1977) were shot in VistaVision?

[Gautam Valluri]

29 minutes ago, Jeff Bernstein said:

Similar to how, as Nathaniel Grimwood told me, the VFX shots for Star Wars (1977) were shot in VistaVision?

A lot of films used to use VistaVision for effects shots until CGI and film scanning became high quality. The idea was to counter the generational loss of optical printing by using a bigger negative. A lot of effects shots were also done on 65mm for the same reason.

[David Mullen ASC]

3 hours ago, Jeff Bernstein said:

Similar to how, as Nathaniel Grimwood told me, the VFX shots for Star Wars (1977) were shot in VistaVision?

No, Nolan is already shooting the non-VFX shots in the highest film format, 15-perf 65mm -- in the case of "Star Wars", the larger VistaVision negative was used for two reasons: (1) to offset the loss of sharpness and increase in grain from optical printer compositing using dupe elements; (2) to avoid using anamorphic lenses to shoot miniatures, matte paintings, and animation elements.

[Jon O'Brien]

John Dykstra is a genius. Was it he who came up with the idea of using VistaVision for optical vfx for "Star Wars?" Or was this an already established practice?

[David Mullen ASC]

Using VistaVision for "Star Wars" might have been a suggestion by Richard Edlund to John Dykstra or something they came up with together, I don't know. Trumbull was working with 65mm for visual effects around the same time.

Using a larger negative for optically printed effects and reducing it down to 35mm wasn't common before "Star Wars" and "Close Encounters" but there are probably scattered uses of this approach by this point. For example, Albert Whitlock around this time sometimes painted and shot matte paintings with a VistaVision camera tilted 90 degrees so he could take the finished composited effect of a vertical image and then use the optical printer to zoom into it and add a tilt down or up. Kubrick shot all of "2001" in 65mm so there wasn't really a larger format to use for VFX except that he used an 8x10 still camera to shoot plates for the front-projection scenes.

[Geffen Avraham]

On 11/1/2024 at 8:54 PM, Karim D. Ghantous said:

I think that they also need new lenses. Also, seeing as they scan in 8K, isn't it better to shoot vertical 8-perf 65mm for IMAX these days?

It would be nice to have a quiet sync-sound 8-perf camera out there, so the whole film could be shot in a unified aspect ratio.

No one's ever made one as far as I know, and it's not easy... Arri techs tell me that even getting a 765 quiet at 5-perf is hard...

[Mark Dunn]

2 minutes ago, Geffen Avraham said:

It would be nice to have a quiet sync-sound 8-perf camera out there, so the whole film could be shot in a unified aspect ratio.

No one's ever made one as far as I know, and it's not easy... Arri techs tell me that even getting a 765 quiet at 5-perf is hard...

Well, most if not all dialogue is looped, so it's probably not essential. As long as the talent can actually hear themselves lol.

Edited December 21, 2024 by Mark Dunn

[Tyler Purcell]

7 hours ago, Geffen Avraham said:

It would be nice to have a quiet sync-sound 8-perf camera out there, so the whole film could be shot in a unified aspect ratio.

There is one available for rent if you want it. My friend Ben owns it. 

These new IMAX cameras are 15P and not dead quiet, according to inside sources. They are just A LOT quieter than the older cameras. 

[Scott Shepley]

3 minutes ago, Tyler Purcell said:

There is one available for rent if you want it. My friend Ben owns it. 

These new IMAX cameras are 15P and not dead quiet, according to inside sources. They are just A LOT quieter than the older cameras. 

8P/65mm sound camera? Please share

[Tyler Purcell]

Just now, Scott Shepley said:

8P/65mm sound camera? Please share

8P VistaVision 

[Joerg Polzfusz]

But wasn’t Vistavision 35mm?

[Mark Dunn]

14 hours ago, Joerg Polzfusz said:

But wasn’t Vistavision 35mm?

Yes, 8 perf horizontal, a similar size to the 35mm. still frame. In fact a lot of stop-motion used to be shot on Nikons with a long-roll film back. Temple of Doom is a famous one. It was  then extracted to ordinary 35mm. of course.

Presumably this is one reason a lot of VV cameras ended up with Nikkor mounts.

 

 

Edited December 22, 2024 by Mark Dunn

[Gautam Valluri]

Wasn't there the Iwerks 8/70mm camera back in the day? Did it shoot sync sound?

[Ben Brahem Ziryab]

The Iwerks 8/70mm does not shoot sync sound.

However there's a sync sound 8-perf 35mm VistaVision camera out there called the Wilcam W11. It was used on two high-profile movies that are coming out next year.

[Jeff Bernstein]

On 12/21/2024 at 6:36 PM, Tyler Purcell said:

These new IMAX cameras are . . . not dead quiet

A fun fact? Considering that Oppenheimer, for example, employed an old Hollywood storytelling ethic, and in those old times the early sound cameras were boxed due to their noise?

The Magic Circle! / "Some things never change." "I wouldn't bet on it."

[Geffen Avraham]

On 12/21/2024 at 1:41 PM, Tyler Purcell said:

8P VistaVision 

also whatever happened to the Rotavision cameras, weren't they quiet Vistas?

Logmar started cutting metal for Adelie, a quiet 15/70 camera, earlier this year, but wiped the project from their site days before a big announcement was scheduled.

[Gautam Valluri]

On 12/24/2024 at 12:28 AM, Ben Brahem Ziryab said:

The Iwerks 8/70mm does not shoot sync sound.

However there's a sync sound 8-perf 35mm VistaVision camera out there called the Wilcam W11. It was used on two high-profile movies that are coming out next year.

I'm guessing The Brutalist and PTA's The Battle of Baktan Cross?