Tyler Purcell

I was reading an article about the making of Dunkirk and how they did everything for real. The film is broken into three sections: Air, Water, Ground. Some of the tricks they used for the air shots are really cool, like shooting the spitfire chase scene close up's on top of a hill overlooking the water. Nolan would run the gimbal which was just a cutaway of the airplane. The actual airplane maneuvers in the sky were done for real though. They had spitfires flying in formation with actors in the cockpit doing realistic maneuvers in the air over Dunkirk. Anything that was related to shooting down an airplane, were huge half scale replicas of the planes. They used physical explosions on the air planes that were shot, so it seemed more realistic as well. For the boat scenes, they had over 60 boats in the water at some moments. Nolan focused his attention on the pleasure boat, piloted by Mark Rylance. But evidently there are huge boat scenes which were shot on sound stages after the beach scenes. All of them were done in-camera, including the sinking of a hospital boat. For the scenes on the beach, Nolan had the Imax camera boxed up in a splash housing and put into the pounding waves, to get very gritty scenes of people wading out into the ocean, knowing they'd be killed either way. The beach was a terrifying place to be because the only way out was in the water and they were constantly being attacked. So there are some huge stunts with over 1000 extras on the beach. Interestingly enough, Nolan doesn't like ADR and he will do anything to NOT loop a scene. So the 72 page script has very little dialog, this is why they can use the IMAX cameras for most of the movie. Most of the dialog scenes are 5/65 which Nolan proudly exclaims are much better then his previous movies which had dialog scenes shot in anamorphic 35mm. Nolan keeps the 2.20:1 aspect ratio of the 5 perf material on the IMAX prints. Nolan said they did some conform trickery after the movie was finished editing. So I assume that means some IMAX material will have bars on the top and bottom to conform to 5/65 and maybe some 5/65 material will be blown up. Knowing that Nolan loves a photochemical finish, I assume a lot of that work was done in the lab, rather then digitally. It will be interesting to read the liner notes about the post production when more information comes out.

The bolex just puts the camera body vertical instead of horizontal. So it's still a pretty decent sized camera, especially with the 400ft magazine. I shoot a lot with my Bolex EBM and where it IS a battery camera, so it's heavier then a wind up H16, they're all pretty difficult to hand held and get a nice stable shot due to the weight. The silent 400ft magazine cameras, are generally really easy to hand held. I'd go as far as to say my XTR with no film, weighs close to my Bolex EBM. Obviously once you add 400ft roll of film, it weighs any camera down substantially. The Aaton XTR is the way to roll in my opinion, not just because I've owned two, but because I've also owned the competition. Aaton did something magical with the XTR, it's just the best operating S16 camera I've ever seen. Now I updated mine to run of NP1 Lithium batteries, so that helps as well. I also have a few added Aaton accessories that generally don't come with cameras on ebay like an extension viewfinder, rail system, Aaton grip, better video tap, etc... but you can get that stuff if you're patient and only buy a complete package. Of course, its then down to price and it's going up exponentially. Right now, XTR's are going for $3500 - $5000 depending on accessories. Where Bolex cameras with 400ft magazines are less then $1000 USD. So that's something to think about for sure, but you want a quiet sync sound camera for dialog work, if you want a lightweight modern package that takes standard cinema glass, if you want something that will just work every time and uses standard accessories... XTR man, look no further.

Maybe I'm wrong, but this does sound pretty darn stupid. I hope it doesn't bring the company down, that would suck.

I'll be seeing it at the Cinerama Dome first and then at the AMC Universal City. I wanna see it two theaters like I did with Interstellar. I hung out in the projection room of the Summerville theater today here in MA, with the projectionist. They're one of the theaters getting a print and it was awesome seeing the time and care they put into that new projection room. I really enjoyed my time talking shop and it was awesome to see people who really care about presenting a movie properly on film in this digital age. I'm upset I'll be headed back to CA before Dunkirk releases, but at least I know they exist and I can come out anytime to check out 70mm releases on the east coast. I wanna do everything I can in CA to get MORE prints made on 70mm for these little theaters to present and have special screenings for the future.

Ohh, I didn't know Thomas posted that. Good to know! cheers!

Warner is rolling out film projectors for this release. The list above is all 70mm film projection, some 15/70 and some 5/70. Unfortunately, there isn't a list that separates the two formats. There are going to be 125 prints made of various 70mm formats.

Hard to find technical drawings... I've never seen any outside of service manuals and many are very cryptic. Is there anything specifically you're wanting this info for? Because I have thousands of stills and dozens of videos, so I can probably get the exact piece your looking for.

Cameras work very much the same as 8mm/16mm film projectors. The sprockets control the amount of film in the movement area and the pull down claw controls when the film moves through the gate. The shutter really only controls when the light hits the frame. So if you've ever run an old school film projector like my 16mm Kodak Pageant, that is pretty much how a camera works. The big differences between a camera and a projector is that projectors break the light more then once per frame, where camera's don't. This is to help reduce flicker, where cameras shutters only break the light once per frame. Cameras also need to be smaller then projectors, so the movement needs to be made in a compact way, which is why they look totally different then projectors. The first 35mm Bolex camera was also a projector by the way. Outside of the movement, the magazines are usually use a clutch assembly for takeup. I assume this is so the speed of the motor doesn't have to be perfect, as a direct drive system could easily snap the film. Now... with that said, some cameras have sprockets in the magazines, some cameras have ONE sprocket that you load upper and lower. So there are different designs for sure. The American Cinematographer bible has most of the cameras thread patterns in the back, which is a cool reference. One of the biggest differences between 16 and 35 cameras is the quick-load coaxial magazine design. With 16mm, most of the modern cameras are threaded in the magazine and all you do is push the magazine onto the back of the camera body and keep shooting. This keeps the down time to a minimal on set between re-loads. Most 35mm cameras need to be loaded and most importantly cleaned between each roll of film. There are a FEW quick-load 35mm cameras, the Aaton 35III is what I own and it works just like a 16mm camera, only a bit more clunky and shorter loads of course. So for most 35mm shows, the down time between loads can be up to a few minutes, which maybe OK for some shoots, but for others, it's nice to throw a mag on and keep shooting. If you need/want pictures of the cameras, let me know cuz I got lots of video and pictures of movements in motion. :)

Just nab some old stock on ebay.

I think it's smart of him to try, why not? I've always said, if you know what you want and you're experienced, all you really need is a good gaffing team and camera team, the 'DP' is more of a creative role at that point. I think it's going to look just like every other PT Anderson movie.

ALBERTA Scotiabank Chinook 16 IMAX (Calgary) Scotiabank IMAX (Edmonton) ALABAMA IMAX Dome Theater (Birmingham) US Space Center IMAX (Huntsville) ARIZONA AMC Westgate (Glendale) Grand Canyon IMAX (Grand Canyon Village) Harkins Tempe Marketplace (Tempe) Loft (Tuscon) BRITISH COLUMBIA Cineplex Colossus IMAX (Langley) Cineplex Park (Vancouver) CALIFORNIA AMC Burbank 16 (Burbank) Century Daly City (Daly City) Regal Hacienda 20 IMAX (Dublin) ArcLight Hollywood (Hollywood) Regal Irvine Spectrum IMAX (Irvine) ArcLight 14 (La Jolla) Grossmont Center 10 (La Messa) Regal Long Beach Stadium (Long Beach) Cinemark 18 (Los Angeles) Landmark 12 (Los Angeles) Regal Ontario Palace 22 IMAX (Ontario) Sagewood Camelot (Palm Springs) Esquire IMAX (Sacramento) Tower Theatre (Sacramento) AMC Mission Valley (San Diego) AMC Metreon IMAX (San Francisco) Cinemark San Francisco Center (San Francisco) Century Oakridge (San Jose) Hackworth IMAX (San Jose) AMC Mercado (Santa Clara) ArcLight Sherman Oaks (Sherman Oaks) AMC Del Amo 18 (Torrance) Cinemark Union City 25 (Union City) AMC Citywalk IMAX (Universal City) COLORADO Regal Contiental (Westminster) AMC Westminster 24 (Vancouver) WASHINGTON D.C. Regal Gallery Palace Stadium 24 (D.C.) FLORIDA Cinemark Palace (Boca Raton) Coral Gables Art Cinema 1 (Coral Gables) AMC Disney Springs 24 (Lake Buena Vista) AMC Aventura (Miami) Regal Waterford Lakes (Orlando) AMC Veterans (Tampa) AMC Parisian (West Palm Beach) GEORGIA Regal Atlantic Station (Atlanta) Regal Mall of Georgia 20 (Buford) IOWA Sci Dome IMAX (Des Moines) ILLINOIS River East 21 (Chicago) Keresotes Showplace Icon (Chicago) Music Box (Chicago) Cinemark Evanston (Evanston) INDIANA White River IMAX (Indianapolis) KANSAS AMC Town Center (Leawood) LOUISIANA AMC Elmwood Palace (New Orleans) MASSACHUSETTS AMC Boston Common (Boston) Coolidge Corner 2 (Brookline) Somerville 5 (Somerville) MARYLAND AFI Silver 3 Theatre (Silver Springs) AMC White Marsh (Baltimore) Cinemark Egyptian (Baltimore) Maryland Science Center IMAX (Baltimore) MICHIGAN AMC Livonia (Livonia) AMC Forum 30 (Sterling Heights) MISSOURI OMNIMAX (St. Louis) Marcus Ronnies (St. Louis) NORTH CAROLINA Discovery Place IMAX (Charlotte) Regal Stonecrest (Charlotte) AMC Southpoint (Durham) NEW JERSEY AMC Cherry Hill (Cherry Hill) AMC Hamilton 24 (Hamilton) AMC Garden State (Peramus) NEW MEXICO Cinemark Rio 24 (Albuquerque) NEVADA AMC Town Sqaure (Las Vegas) NEW YORK Alamo Drafthouse Downtown Brooklyn (Brooklyn) Farmingdale 14 (Farmingdale) Regal New Roc City (New Rochelle) AMC Lincoln Square IMAX (New York) City Cinemas East 86th St. (New York) Cinema 1,2,3 (New York) Village East 7 (New York) Regal E-Walk Stadim (New York) OHIO Gateway Film Center 7 (Columbus) Cinemark Valley View (Valley View) ONTARIO Cineplex Coliseum IMAX (Mississauga) Cineplex Varsity 12 (Toronto) Cineplex Colossus IMAX (Woodbridge) OREGON Hollywood 3 (Portland) Regal Bridgeport (Tigard) PENNSYLVANIA AMC Neshaminy 24 (Bensalem) Regal King of Prussia 15 IMAX (King of Prussia) Tuttleman IMAX (Philadelphia) AMC Waterfront (West Homestead) NEWFOUNDLAND Cineplex Banque Scotia 12 (Montreal) RHODE ISLAND Providence Place IMAX (Providence) SASKATCHEWAN Regina IMAX (Las Vegas) TENNESSEE AMC Thoroughbred (Franklin) Regal Pinnacle Stadium (Knoxville) Regal Opry Mills 20 IMAX (Nashville) TEXAS Studio Movie Grill 9 (Arlington) Alamo Drafthouse Ritz (Austin) AMC Northpark 15 (Dallas) Look 11 (Dallas) Studio Movie Grill Royal Lane 9 Cinemark 17 IMAX (Dallas) OmniaMAX Fort Worth (Fort Worth) AMC Gulf Pointe (Houston) Regal Edwards Freenway Grand Palace (Houston) Cinemark Tinseltown (Pflugerville) Cinemark West Plano (Plano) Santikos Palladium 19 (San Antonio) VIRGINA AMC Hoffman Center (Alexandria) AMC Tyson’s Corner (McLean) WASHINTON AMC Pacific Place 11 (Seattle) Cinerama (Seattle) WISCONSIN Marcus Majestic Cinema of Brookfield (Waukesha)

There is little to no comparison between a first generation 4k Production camera and a Dragon or Alexa. The Production camera is a real toy, the 2.5k version had a decent imager which was it's only saving grace. The 4k imager is REALLY BAD and I've done back to back tests of them. My advice, stay away from "low cost" cameras like the Production cameras.

Aye, I'm making a basic intro video for; Moviecam, Arricam, Aaton 35III, Aaton LTR/XTR and Bolex. I've already done half, but I'm going to do the other half when I get back from vacation this summer. :)

Exactly, the idea is to maintain a taller upper loop during the magazine placement process. This way, when the pull down finally engages, the upper loop won't disappear. It's funny, my XTR version 1 always needed this to create a proper upper loop. My 4th generation XTR Prod, doesn't need this as much. I've slammed magazines on it, without the push up technique.

I've found that 12 - 14 sprockets is OK, anything more or less and you'll hear the pulldown mechanism, which isn't good. I load the top sprocket and lock it in place. I pull the film down through the gate and back into the mag, but NOT through the bottom sprocket. I put the film directly onto the core and wrap it a few times. I use the method of bending the edge of the film and pushing it through the hole on the core. Then I put two fingers between the pressure plate and the film. I then pull the film around the bottom sprocket and lock it in place. 9 times out of 10, this works flawlessly the first time around. If adjustment is needed, simply unlock the bottom sprocket and make the adjustment. I find the bottom sprocket to be the best one to work with, just lock the top one in place and use the bottom for any adjustment. Just make sure the tension between the take up and the sprocket is tight. Any loose tension there and you'll be in trouble. I always push up on the film with my finger when I put the magazine on the back of the camera. I found it helps with the engagement of the pulldown system. This is a good trick if when you push the mag on, it makes noise right away. You need to cycle the camera using the single frame "pulse" switch, which is the opposite direction of the "run" position. I do this cycle twice. Once you'll hear a click as the magazine lock is engaged. If you cycle twice and hear nothing else, then you're in good shape. I always then run the camera for a second to make sure there are no noises. The camera should be virtually silent with a slight "shh" sound as the film is dragged through the gate and a "brrrr" sound which is the spinning mirror hitting air. So with no film and with film only adds the "shh" sound. No other sounds should be heard, but that doesn't mean other sounds "may" be heard. Film can rub on the inside of the magazine doors, so you COULD hear that. I made a video about this,... but I need to edit and get it out there.

The official theater list hasn't been released yet, so gotta wait! :(

Thanks Dom. Do you think it's something straight forward? Outside of the fuses, where would you look next? The camera does run film normally however...

Great example of what a piece of junk the 4k imager is. Notice how the sky is gone in the 4k and the 4.6k the sky is visible? Umm.. whoops.

The older 4k imager has been tossed aside because it was too noisy. Blackmagic developed their own imager and that's the 4.6k imager. It's FAR more versatile, with broader dynamic range, less noise over-all. Plus the newer electronics are a lot better. I don't know why people complain about the Ursa 4.6k imager, I've never had any issues with it.

So got an SR3 that worked fine, shipped it to a customer and now it doesn't. We're thinking something came loose in transit, but he is using a different power system then I'm using. Basically, the camera runs fine, but the display shows the image attached to this post. The Arri glow doesn't work and the 12v power output box isn't supplying power to the video tap. The best guess we have so far is that one of the fuses is blown. Any other ideas? Thanks!

I personally wouldn't buy anything but the URSA Mini Pro 4.6k. I think the older 4k imager isn't very good, it has a lot of issues. The big difference between the URSA Mini Pro 4.6k and an Alexa or even Dragon, is really the width of acceptable operational conditions. For example, the URSA likes to be at 800 ISO all the time, where you can push the Alexa and newer Red's pretty high and they look good. To me, that's the biggest difference, all of the other things can be overcome. The Xeen's are pretty darn good, I have a set of them and I'm very impressed for the price. They're soft under F2, so be aware of that right away, they ain't gonna work well all the way open. But if you can accept that, you'll be in good shape.

I assume you're referring to the tape on the outside of a full reel. If that's the case, I use paper tape and a standard dispenser. That's kind of the industry standard. A long time ago, they used a plastic tape, you can use pretty much any "magic tape" solution like scotch tape. Just cut it into little strips and it works fine. Sometimes the really good dispensers cutting tool is good enough.

What features does a 416 have that an XTR Prod doesn't? Both have S35mm viewfinders Both have really good video taps Both have timecode Both have lots of P tap's of various kinds Both have infinate speed control up to 72fps Both have variable shutter Both have changeable ground glass Both are PL mount

Yea, the prices are outrageous. I got my Aaton 35III 3 perf for about 1/3rd what they're charging for the Moviecam over at Alan Gordon. Ohh well. The 416 was pulled it looks like. Probably found a local buyer... it wasn't a good deal or anything, it was just "acceptable". May I inquire WHY a 416? You do know that film camera bodies don't really mean much. A well maintained 30 year old camera produces the same image as a brand new one. I personally went with Aaton for my cameras because they continue to have support and I like their designs. Sure, I'd love to have a 416, but mainly because it garnishes more money on rentals. To me, nothing beats the XTR Prod, which is the camera I own and use on a regular basis.

A few things to note... the differences in the videos you posted are mostly from old/bad film stock, poor film transfer and even in the case of the last video, some exposure issues. I would personally ignore much of what's on youtube unless it's an actual narrative project where the filmmakers care about what they're shooting, rather then making home movies. I find the 'camera test' films to be really god awful and irrelevant. I don't think you'll learn much from watching people's mistakes, it's far better to watch stuff that was done properly so you understand what the format can do. Also, there are dozens of factors that determine the look, just like digital; Stock, lens, exposure, processing, transfer, coloring, I mean the list goes on and on. So when you watch video's you never really know what they're doing, so much of what I post below is just a guess based on what I see. This film was shot with the camera on full automatic, so the highlights were blown out in some cases. The transfer from film to video is why the colors are subdued. It's just done with a camcorder and projector, probably one of the Elmo all-in-one transfer machines from the 80's. This "look" can be achieved in post no problem. Nothing special, those night shots are pretty much what film looks like. Not sure of what speed it is, but I doubt it's overly fast, maybe 200ISO. Colors are overly saturated in some cases, it may just be a poor transfer. The stock they used is an outdated/no longer available Fuji stock called Eterna. It's nearly impossible to find in any format these days as it was discontinued in 2013. You mean the blown out shot where there is no detail and it looks like crap? LOL :P I mean it was tri-x B&W stock, probably over exposed slightly as well. If you wanna learn MORE about shooting on film. Send me a PM and I'll gladly discuss the program I offer which is hands on with 16mm, it's a lot of fun and you'll learn a lot! :)