in70mm.com Mission: • To record the history of the large format movies and the 70mm cinemas as remembered by the people who worked with the films. Both during making and during running the films in projection rooms and as the audience, looking at the curved screen. • in70mm.com, a unique internet based magazine, with articles about 70mm cinemas, 70mm people, 70mm films, 70mm sound, 70mm film credits, 70mm history and 70mm technology. Readers and fans of 70mm are always welcome to contribute.
The Passing of Bill Shaw William C. Shaw, one of the founders of IMAX Corporation, died on Saturday, August 31 at age 73. Shaw died in a Toronto hospital after suffering complications from a heart attack. Shaw joined Graeme Ferguson, Roman Kroitor and Robert Kerr in 1968 to design and develop the IMAX projection system.
The Birth of IMAX By Diane Disse The brainchild of three gutsy people with a great idea but no office space, Imax Corporation built a whole new industry that today sits poised on the threshold of fast and explosive changes.
The Basics of The Rolling Loop IMAX Projector By Rene Sørensen IMAX and IMAX Dome projectors are the most advanced, highest precision and most powerful projectors ever built. The key to their superior performance and reliability is the unique Rolling Loop film movement system, used in no other projector. The Rolling Loop was invented by Ron Jones from Australia.
The worlds first Imax theatre By Krys Jawlosewicz Cinesphere's original Imax projector serial #001, which is still used today, was the prototype used at Expo '70. The projector was rebuilt in 1986 and upgraded to Imax HD, 48 frames per second (fps) capability in 1990.
Imax Sound System By Rene Sørensen Most newer IMAX films are now using the IMAX digital sound DDP designed by Sonics. DDP is short for Digital Disc Playback. Sonics uses compact disc technology to create the highest quality sound delivery possible today. A frequency response of 20 – 20.000 Hz is maintained over the entire audio spectrum of ten octaves.
An Interview with Ron Fricke By The Big Frame Working in the 35mm format, I was feeling that there was something lacking. Once I saw the IMAX theater and saw the film, I realized this is how it should be done.
"Sacred Site", A short film in 65mm Omnimax By The Big Frame The film focuses on the 1986 apparition of Halley's Comet over central Australia. Set near the majestic Milky Way of the southern night sky and contrasted by the spectacle of a total lunar eclipse.
The Lion King: The IMAX Experience An Interview with Don Hahn By Bill Kallay My favorite sequence in IMAX is when Mufasa's ghost shows up, Simba goes to the reflecting pool, sees his reflection, and then all of the sudden, the clouds form and Mufasa shows up. That's a stunning scene in IMAX. To see a six-story tall apparition coming at you is very moving.
An Interview With Roy Conli, Producer of "Treasure Planet" By Bill Kallay I came to Disney in 1993 and worked on the development of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" and was co-producer on that film. I went to France to run the French unit, and then ended up staying for three years running the French studio, where I worked on the production of "Hercules" (1997) and "Tarzan" (1999). And then I came back here five years ago to produce this film. And previous to that, I was in the theatre.
An Interview With Jim Ward, V.P. of Marketing, Lucasfilm, Ltd. By Bill Kallay Jedi Knights, Imperial Storm troopers and Tusken Raiders rejoiced this past summer of 2002, when it was announced that "Star Wars: Episode II-Attack of the Clones", would be released in the IMAX format. For how many years have fans of the original trilogy, and now prequels, wished upon the stars above Skywalker Ranch for the films to be shown on the giant IMAX screen?
Filming of "Lewis and Clarke" in IMAX By Kurtis Burr One of the biggest challenges in doing an IMAX film about "Lewis and Clark" is trying to capture the incredible scenery they would have experienced almost 200 years ago.
Smithsonian Shouldn't Destroy the Natural History Museum's IMAX Theater By James Hyder The Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC, is planning to close its 18-year-old Samuel C. Johnson IMAX Theater on Sept. 30. The plan had not been announced publicly and only came to light in mid-July, when a group of distinguished giant-screen film producers, led by Jonathan Barker of SK Films and Taran Davies of Cosmic Picture, published an open letter calling for the decision to be delayed or reversed.
Superior Quartz Products Xenon Lamps for Large Format Projection By Dennis Losco Jr Our family owned and operated company is passionate about what we do, hence the 60th anniversary and because we share this enthusiasm with our staff, they tend to stay! We understand the importance of reliability, nobody wants lost shows due to lamp failures and we offer 1200 hours warranty for the theatres peace of mind. Theatres who use our lamps enjoy these benefits. We realize large format theatres are unique, so we have made it possible to arrange payment plans to spread the costs.
Nolan's "Dunkirk" will feature over 100 minutes of IMAX material By Tyler Purcell Nolan's Dunkirk will feature over 100 minutes of IMAX material, according to sources close to the production. So far almost all of the still and video images coming from set are of the IMAX camera, with only a few brief moments with the 5/70 Panavision cameras. So far the production has been shooting on location in France, close to where the actual rescue happened.
Goodbye 70mm IMAX Projector By Vaughan, McGregor and van der Post When IMAX opened at the NMeM in 1983, a little over 10 years after the IMAX technology premiered in Japan, it was the first ever IMAX cinema in Europe and contained Britain’s largest cinema screen. This summer we say goodbye to the good old 70mm IMAX projector at Picturehouse at National Media Museum, as it will be converted to digital and the cinema will be refurbished.
“Interstellar” at the BFI IMAX in London By Ulrich Rostek The IMAX sequences – grainless, razor sharp, and amazingly detailed, backed up by that marvelous almost SENSURROUND -like sound – really gave me that hyper realistic first person experience which I not even sensed with our beloved Cinerama. This visual impression soon dragged me into the movie – not leaving much brain capacity to think about the one or the other logical disruption of the plot and the somewhat overloaded storyline.
Interstellaring in London By Mark Lyndon And yet, 70mm projection cannot be taken for granted. Even as "Interstellar" is smashing a box office records and Hollywood film directors are committing to 70mm principal photography and prints; there are cinema chains that are removing, yes removing 70mm projection from their houses. Who advises them, the captain of the Titanic?
"Interstellar" Goes IMAX 70MM ...a page in progress This is a page in progress with stories about Christopher Nolan's new film "Intersellar", which is being released in IMAX 70mm by November 2014. The idea is to update the page regularly with information about IMAX cinemas showing the film in 70mm, bits and pieces, links and stills as they become available. You - the reader - is invited to contribute with information, reviews, adverts etc - anything you see fit to share.
3D IMAX 70mm heute Von Gerhard Witte In dem IMAX-Kino wurde der Film "Avatar - Aufbruch nach Pandora" in einer deutschen Version in klassischer 3D mit 2 x 15/70mm Doppelprojektion im Polarisationsverfahren vorgeführt.
A review of "The Dark Knight" in IMAX By Ramon Lamarca Marques Film contains several sequences shot in IMAX which hasn’t got any competitor who even approaches its quality.
Low Tech IMAX? By Gord Harris We are working on a research basis on digital image processing techniques that would indeed "enhance" 35mm films that are scanned, manipulated to decrease grain, sharpened, etc and then recorded back out onto a large 15/65 negative using film recorders. The biggest advantage of this approach is that the large 15/70 print made from such a digitally-produced negative has a large image area through which we can pump 10X the light, and is also much steadier then simply blowing up a 35mm print bigger in a projector.
LARGE FORMAT CINEMA ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE
LFCA 2005 By Bill Kallay “Large Format: Strategize and Thrive” was 2005’s theme. Several times during the course of the three-day conference, panels and sessions are held at different times of the day. LFCA 2004 By Bill Kallay There were a number of discussions about cinematography in large format, funding and marketing at the conference. It was felt by some, as in other LFCA Conferences, that the large format industry still has its work cut out for itself in getting films into the public's eye.
LFCA 2003 By Bill Kallay “Re-purposing Film for Large Format Presentation,” IMAX’s re-mastering efforts have given the large format industry a small imprint on the commercial side of the movie business. DMR is a computer program that can digitally blow-up 35mm or HD footage into the 15/70. Grain is significantly reduced and the overall picture quality is quite good.
2002 LFCA By Bill Kallay Universal Studios, Imagine Entertainment and IMAX recently unveiled their plans to re-release the 1995 film, "Apollo 13", in IMAX later this summer, re-titled as Apollo 13-The IMAX Experience. The film went through IMAX's proprietary software process, DMR, to enlarge and de-grain the Super 35mm images for presentation on the IMAX screen. In addition, the 2.40:1 aspect ratio has been re-worked into 1.66:1.
LFCA 2001 By Bill Kallay Outside of "Fantasia 2000", a number of both commercial and documentary large format films have not done well at the box office. At night, especially on weekends where attendance is at its peak, the large format auditoriums have remained fairly empty. As a result, many exhibitors have used the auditoriums to show 35mm prints on the massive screens.
LFCA 2000 Despite the success of "Everest" and Disney's "Fantasia 2000", some members of the Large Format Cinema Association (LFCA) expressed varied opinions over the direction of the large format industry. Was it better to aim in the direction of the commercialization of large format films, or in the direction of tried and true documentaries for the giant screen?
LFCA 1999 By Dan Sherlock In addition, the new emulsion/printing tests in 15/70 were shown. Last year, it was possible to compare the same types of shots photographed with the different kinds of emulsions from Kodak, including variations such as pushing development by a stop. These tests had been made directly from the camera negative in 15/70 to make it easier to see the differences between emulsions.
ISTC 1996 By Rene Sørensen The International Space Theatre Consortium recently held its 18th meeting in Barcelona, Spain. The 18th International Space Theatre Consortiums conference was hosted by IMAX Port Well. The 440 seat IMAX Port Well Theatre is the first theatre in the world which is able to show both IMAX Dome, IMAX, IMAX 3D and IMAX HD.
Euromax 1996 By Rene Sørensen The fifth annual Euromax meeting was held this year at the magnificent Kinepolis cinema in the heart of Belgium. The Large Format Filmmakers Symposium is arranged by the European association, Euromax, to promote the issues surrounding large format film production and distribution of IMAX and IMAX Dome films.
Euromax 2000 By Janet Wilson Euromax, the European association of the 15 perf/70mm film industry is proud to announce that the 7th European Large Format Filmmakers Symposium will take place at Futuroscope, Poitiers in France from 4-7 March. Aimed at newcomers to the world of large format as well as those with much experience, the Symposium will be devoted to issues surrounding large format film production and distribution.
IMAX DMR
Batman vs. Superman in 15/70 IMAX 70mm By Andrew Kotwicki The IMAX sequences themselves maintained Snyder's grainy aesthetic but were significantly sharper and brighter than the rest of the movie and the opening and closing sequences were stunning to behold. The biggest reason fans should go out of their way to see this is for the titular fight between Batman and Superman, which was shot and exhibited entirely in 70mm
The First 70MM IMAX Cinema in England By Thomas Hauerslev I went up to Bradford to see National Museum of Photography, Film & Television on a 1-day return trip by train during a visit to London. I had read about this new museum in Screen International some years before and it came highly recommended. I was especially interested to see the IMAX cinema.
