Shawn Martin

Looks like I am not remembering everything right - Pecorini's website (https://www.nicolapecorini.com/features/rules-of-engagement.html) does say he shot Technovision, and the clip implies it was at least some of the embassy stuff. The documentary on the DVD (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3am96v8Itk), which I've seen before but forgot about, has Wolski (according to the slate) filming the embassy stuff, and it looks like that's Panavision too. Reshoots?

Friedkin mentions Wolski on the DVD commentary, if I remember right. It is his only anamorphic film, and if I also remember right, the majority of it is Panavision, while the big embassy shooting and the surrounding action (filmed by Pecorini) is Technovision.

There are a few '70s Nipponscope sets from Japan available out there to rent, as well as some Fujivision ones. I don't know when the latter were made. Shiga anamorphics with various spherical glass. Keslow has a set of three Canon K-35 anamorphics: https://www.keslowcamera.com/gear/lenses/anamorphic-lenses/anamorphic-primes/canon-k-35-anamorphic-primes/. (The K on them is the Keslow logo, which is kinda neat.) But from the look of them, and the K-35 base, I'm pretty sure they're rehoused Cineovisions.

CSLA in Los Angeles rents three original Panavision Auto Panatars from 1958, back when Panavision sold them before going rental-only: http://www.cslarentals.com/rental/lenses/panavision-auto-panatar-anamorphics-t2-3-2 I like the flares in their reel. Wonder if Panavision themselves would ever offer any of these.

Was curious after re-reading this Clairmont ad from 1994. It lists a 22mm T2.4 anamorphic prime: I thought the widest Clairmont anamorphic was 32mm (40mm Kowa with an adapter). Keslow doesn't list a 22mm either. Anyone know anything about it?

I was confused when I searched the Kodak article and couldn't find anything about a 14mm, so just as a heads up for anyone else, that quote is from a 2017 Indiewire article, about Phantom Thread: https://www.indiewire.com/2017/12/phantom-thread-paul-thomas-anderson-cinematography-1201909965/ It may just be another error on that author's part.

Robert Richardson used the Super High Speeds for some of "Bringing Out the Dead". Greig Fraser used them on "Let Me In", "Snow White and the Huntsman" and "Killing Them Softly" (a custom 50mm was used for that crazy shot of Brad Pitt walking through the fireworks). Gary Kibbe used them on Carpenter's "They Live" and Jack Green did on "The Rookie" for Eastwood. Pfister also used them on a couple of Nolan's non-Batman movies, and on his own "Transcendence". I've read contradictory info (some from Panavision itself) about the ATZ and AWZ2 coming out in 2004, 2006 and 2007. The AC article for "I Heart Huckabees" (2004) mentions Peter Deming using a prototype of the AWZ2, which didn't have a name at the time IIRC.

I saw it the Saturday after opening and did not notice any excessive anamorphic flares either.

That particular "bloom" from the Panavision anamorphics has always been a favorite of mine. You can see it in Die Hard, Sudden Death, The Relic, and a lot of other films I'm forgetting at the moment. The Cooke Anamorphic/i lenses can exhibit it as well (e.g. Jon Fauer's test footage from 2014).

Trailer dropped this morning. Looks like this time around, Neo is playing Keanu Reeves. Shot by John Toll (!!!) and Daniele Massaccesi on Reds. The same old shit - blown-out, blurry, smeary digital. (On-the-nose music choices are always great too) So cheap. Absolutely horrible. I can't believe it.

They were Panavision. In this behind-the-scenes featurette from the Blu-ray you can see the Gold II, the Millennium, the Millennium XL2 on steadicam, Arri 435 for highspeed, and the lenses are spherical Primos. One of the stocks was Kodak 5218 per the mag label at 1:57. American Cinematographer covered Philadelphia (1993) and Signs (2002). I don't remember if they covered any others at the moment.

Gotcha - glad the shoot is going well!

That's a ton of lenses! Thanks a lot for that info. Are there any there besides the new Technovision ones that you haven't used before?

How's the shoot going so far, Greg? Curious to hear what lenses you ended up choosing to complete your set!

Larry Smith

Tom Stern

Postel / The Bed (1998) - First to shoot with Hawk anamorphics (the first set, the C-Series). Shot in 1995.

Inseminoid aka Horror Planet (1981) - First to shoot with Joe Dunton Co. anamorphics

"Alex Cross", shot by Ricardo Della Rosa, was 2-perf as well. The grain on that one is actually pretty tight.

The lenses on this are not Panavision, but new 2x anamorphics from Arri, called ALFA - developed especially for Fraser for this movie.

I saw it on Monday in digital. Noticed that it was shown at 2.20:1 letterboxed within 1.85:1. Apparently the regular digital release of Dunkirk (which I had only seen in IMAX Laser) was shown this way as well. This movie is nuts. And beautiful. So many intense and wonderfully staged sequences, running forwards and backwards at the same time, that must have been such a bitch to shoot. One thing that stuck out near the end is a very clever shot of a collapsed (miniature) building rising from its bottom half in reverse, followed by the top half being blown up in regular time.

There's an interesting article in the December 2018 AC about this being done, on a short called "Last Taxi Dance". The DP, Chapin Hall, used Franscopes on an Alexa Mini that was rotated 90 degrees, so that he could get the 1.78 ratio that the director wanted while still shooting anamorphic and not having to crop the sides in post.

Very sorry to hear this. I didn't know Denny but had corresponded with him via email. Almost ten years ago, I used the "contact" form on the Clairmont website to ask a rather (IMO) mundane question about a film they'd recently serviced. I was so surprised to get a response from none other than Denny himself. He was very, very nice about it, and so knowledgeable too. He also mentioned some other projects of the director's that he'd worked on. I really appreciated the fact that he took the time to reply (as he said he was at home, and about to head to Europe on business), and told him so. Just a wonderful guy. RIP.