If You Think IMAX Is Impressive | The Odyssey of Early 70mm

[00:00:00]And a three, two, one, action.

[00:00:05]>> This is the first film to be shot entirely with IMAX film cameras.

[00:00:09]>> I'm Lupita Nyong'o.

[00:00:10]>> Hey there, I'm Matt Damon.

[00:00:11]>> Hello, I'm Zendaya.

[00:00:12]>> I'm Anne Hathaway.

[00:00:13]>> I am Robert Pattinson.

[00:00:14]>> It's Tom Holland here.

[00:00:15]>> And I'm here to talk about seeing Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey.

[00:00:19]>> Experience The Odyssey in IMAX 70 mm.

[00:00:21]>> Experience The Odyssey in IMAX.

[00:00:24]>> The Odyssey was shot entirely on film.

[00:00:25]>> Presented on film. See The Odyssey in Dolby Cinema.

[00:00:29]>> If you want to feel the movie, see The Odyssey in 4DX or D-Box. Your seat doesn't just sit there. When we're moving, you're moving with us. It's going to be a great time.

[00:00:42]>> Bringing it all.

[00:00:44]>> It feels [music] like more and more films are being released in exclusive formats that can only be viewed in select locations, [music] and people are rightfully getting frustrated. Many feel like with cute little interactive videos like these, they're getting a tiny glimpse into a viewing experience, [music] a version of the film that they may never be able to see.

[00:01:02]With more and more films being released in exclusive formats [music] that can only be viewed in select locations, people are starting to feel left out.

[00:01:09]With IMAX's [music] proprietary 1.43 aspect ratio being reserved for a very small portion of the theater-going public, many may never see these films in this premium format at all. But this problem of premium showings and format discrepancies isn't actually new at all, and it goes back quite a bit further than the varied release models of such films today.

[00:01:33]When discussing the history of large widescreen formats, a lot of people start here.

[00:01:38]>> [music] >> This motion picture was photographed in the grandeur of CinemaScope, [music] and pardon me.

[00:01:58]>> Sure, maybe they'll drop in a quick mention of this [music] before promptly moving on to more recent examples such as this, this, and of course this.

[00:02:11]But in reality, [music] these expansive formats go back quite a bit further.

[00:02:15]If you think the myriad formats available to filmmakers today is confusing, [music] just go back to the '90s.

[00:02:21]No, not those '90s, these '90s.

[00:02:26]>> In 1896, the first moving pictures projected on public screens were plotless incidents, but a minute long, [music] that amazed and scandalized their audiences.

[00:02:36]>> At a time when there was no standard film [music] format, size, frame rate, camera, or projector, when the medium itself was viewed as a novelty, [music] a fad, and one that would surely pass, experimentation with larger negatives [music] was actually quite common. From the impressive 68-mm Mutoscope shorts from the Biograph [music] Company to Paramount's experimentation with Magnascope's expansive aspect ratios, all long before IMAX. It seemed to purely [music] coincidental then that Thomas Edison in the US and the Lumières in France would, [music] as cinematographer Karl Gregory put it, select film widths that were so nearly the same that they were practically interchangeable. [music] Well, as coincidental as one can expect considering these two firms also happen to be the most commercially powerful [music] in their respective countries.

[00:03:22]Nevertheless, the perfect standard, the 35-mm standard, [music] was born. But as it turns out, this format wasn't so perfect after all. As cinematographer William Stoll remarked a year after Gregory, the standard was arrived [music] at in consideration solely of its use in Edison's peep show kinetoscope and with no thought of it ever being used [music] for screen projection.

[00:03:42]>> Back in 1887 when I was born, the movies were hardly a flicker in people's mind.

[00:03:49]>> Many of the industry's largest theaters came with equally impressive screen sizes. Why not fill these [music] screens with an image much wider than this current standard? Why not free it from, as I still put it, the dead black border around [music] the screen? But who would win this widescreen race?

[00:04:04]Well, attempts at larger formats were plentiful, but so were the potential drawbacks.

[00:04:08]>> And then in 1927, pictures found their voice.

[00:04:13]>> Considering the industry [music] had just sunk an enormous sum of money into sound equipment, a change in format size would require radically [music] updating everything yet again. From the celluloid itself to the cameras, magazines, and projectors through which it would run.

[00:04:25]An enormous cost indeed. And while sure there were some notable attempts at widescreen [music] on 35 mm film long before the likes of Vistavision, the format that ultimately [music] appeared to have the greatest sticking power was the Fox Film Company's new Grandeur film. And perhaps is there no greater film to showcase it than Raoul Walsh's epic western The Big Trail.

[00:04:48]>> Pulled the wagons up and down [music] cliffs. Goddamn dangerous. Countless mountains, rivers, and [music] valleys.

[00:04:55]>> Epic is perhaps an understatement here because cinematographer Arthur Edeson was not only tasked with shooting this film on Fox's new 70 mm format, but also simultaneously filming on the standard 35 mm negative. That's no small feat when one also takes into account the film's cast of 93 feature players. This would be John Wayne's first starring role. As a trail I followed for over 3,000 miles now, and I'm heading back to pick it up again and follow it to the end. 20,000 extras, 1,800 cattle, 1,400 horses, 500 buffalo, and an assortment of some 700 dogs, pigs, and chickens. And if you think modern IMAX cameras are cumbersome, well just consider The Big Trail's production log from Hal [music] Evarts. Here he describes a tracking shot in which a two-tiered camera sled supporting three 70 mm Grandeur cameras and [music] three standard 35 mm Mitchell cameras is being pulled by 20 mules.

[00:05:48]>> Looking for anyone in particular?

[00:05:50]>> Oh, and this film [music] was a talkie, so he also notes the 50 or so crew members tasked with hauling dozens [music] of cables stretched between this sled and a sound truck. Imagine flubbing a line or throwing a shot out of focus in this setup. Now, post-audio dubbing [music] certainly wasn't a thing in 1930, so in addition to shooting two different formats of The Big Trail, Edison also had to film five different versions with five different casts.

[00:06:13]There would be an English, Spanish, Italian, French, and German version of this film. So, why go through all this trouble for this widescreen format? A format that itself would require Kodak to develop a new film stock, Mitchell to make custom cameras, the International Projector Corporation to refit theaters with new 70-mm Super Simplex projectors, and that would require both director and cinematographer to acquaint themselves with a completely new framing composition. Well, because as Edison put it himself, all these so-called disadvantages pale in comparison to the very great [music] advantages which 70-mm cinematography offers in all other respects. The one thing I found so interesting while researching these early large formats >> [music] >> is the way they were often discussed. It actually mirrors the way we talk about large formats like [music] IMAX today.

[00:07:01]Many remarked on how these wider formats filled the screen, allowing the edges of the frame to fall into the periphery of our view, an image that more accurately [music] matched our own vision, and was no longer bounded by those dead black borders noted by Stoll earlier.

[00:07:16]Like Stoll, [music] Edison too recognized the medium's ability for immersion, or what he called its pseudo-stereoscopic effect. Of critical importance to accomplishing this effect though was achieving an extremely deep [music] focus on the 70-mm format's wider field of view. Going back to our prior video on the subject, we know that format size [music] is not the sole factor responsible for the look of a film. And so too did many of the articles written on the medium [music] from this period. Take Stoll's piece, where he does address how this new standard will [music] have a different field of view, but he attributes those changes to the lenses themselves, noting "Naturally, the angular field of view of the various [music] familiar lenses are different for the new standard." His chart here demonstrates how one [music] would need to use a longer focal length lens on a 70 mm Grandeur camera to match the image of the 35 mm film standard.

[00:08:04]Edison echoes [music] this, noting that 70 mm cinematography is much the same as ordinary 35 mm [music] cinematography.

[00:08:12]It is in the lenses that the chief technical difference is found. For any given lens, will embrace a considerably wider [music] angle of view on the 70 mm film format. His task, then, was [music] exactly the conundrum facing many large format films today. To construct framing compositions that complemented the film's two formats. The challenges Edison faced seem incredibly [music] relevant considering today's large format obsession. But, it is his suggestion [music] at the end of his article that feels the most topical to Nolan's today. While passionately [music] endorsing the new 70 mm format, he also acknowledged the need for a 35 mm version to continue to exist. However, rather than continue the arduous, not to mention costly, practice of shooting on two separate formats, [music] he offers a novel solution. Originate on the larger Grandeur negative with its advantages [music] in both image and sound quality, and then create a 35 mm reduction print for wider [music] theatrical distribution, taking care to compose for an image that is complementary to these two separate formats. Sound familiar?

[00:09:17]Not unlike [music] IMAX films like The Odyssey today, one is left to wonder how such immersion could be experienced [music] across the film's multiple formats.

[00:09:25]Is it even possible for a filmmaker to construct [music] two completely separate, but equally purposeful, framings that complement two diametrically [music] opposed formats?

[00:09:33]Well, here again, history presents an enduring solution to what seems like a rather modern problem.

[00:09:39]You see, [music] the idea of contending with multiple aspect ratios, of cropping an IMAX image for various releases, or composing a shot for multiple [music] formats is nothing new. And it certainly goes back quite a bit further than the pan [music] and scan of the home video era, or the various releases of large format films today. I would argue that more than IMAX's massive [music] 143 aspect ratio, more than the company's one-of-a-kind specially branded [music] film camera, and more than their clever marketing, the reason why Nolan chooses this [music] format is the same reason Edison championed Fox's Grandeur format.

[00:10:12]>> [music] >> Because every release benefits directly from this decision. A decision that, as it turns out, isn't that unique or new after all.

[00:10:20]>> You'd extract from the larger negative the smaller negative that you'd need for your regular release. So, rather than doing different versions or whatever, you you'd have [music] one definitive version. And that's carried through in all our uh video release. The wonderful thing about a color your images [music] on the highest quality analog uh film negatives [music] is they transfer beautifully to any digital medium.

[00:10:44]>> Now, it is worth [music] noting that the Odyssey, having been shot entirely on 15-perf 70mm IMAX negative, [music] is in the unique position to grant audiences with a 143 frame for its eventual home release. The movie certainly wouldn't suffer from the problem of larger scenes shrinking [music] down instead of expanding that would have afflicted all of Nolan's prior films. However, some have complained that this 143 [music] ratio isn't Nolan's strongest composition.

[00:11:09]Some have pointed out that these frames suffer from too much headroom, too much dead space. Most of the shots appear to be center punched. It's actually the scope presentation that appears [music] to be the true intended framing of this film. But, is that not by design?

[00:11:24]>> It prompts a kind [music] of filmmaking where you're not looking at the proscenium, you're not looking at the frame. Because on that giant IMAX screen, you know, the proscenium kind of disappears. And what that means is keeping the action relatively centered and using the greater frame area more for the peripheral vision, more for the idea of being immersed in the action.

[00:11:41]And that becomes very [music] adaptable for different aspect ratios. It's a robust image, it's very, very strong negative, and so you can adapt [music] it to any different format and really get the most out of it.

[00:11:52]>> Obviously, these assertions only ring [music] true when one considers that these images were never meant to be viewed on computers or phone screens.

[00:11:59]When viewed on a massive screen, [music] and I mean truly massive, you actually want this type of headroom, dead space, and center [music] punching that many are complaining about. The real question then is, one that was conveniently [music] raised by Paul Thomas Anderson after his own IMAX 70 mm film release last year, how come we don't have more IMAX 70 mm [music] theaters? Nevertheless, for now the future growth of these premium formats remains to be seen.

[00:12:24]>> [music] >> But as for The Big Trail, the film would go on to get its grand 70 mm release, [music] but only at two locations. The costly, expensive updating their projection systems, [music] having just undergone upgrades for sound, was too much for most theaters. This, coupled with the onset of the Great Depression, meant most people saw The Big Trail in [music] its less epic aspect ratio with the inferior sound quality to match.

[00:12:48]>> The picture flopped and set me back on my ass financially.

[00:12:52]>> John Wayne would have to wait almost [music] a decade before he'd become a recognizable force in the Western genre.

[00:12:58]The Fox Film Company [music] would go into receivership, eventually merging with Darryl F. Zanuck's 20th Century Pictures [music] to create 20th Century Fox.

[00:13:06]And these widescreen formats would be shelved [music] for now. However, their resurgence in the 1950s would be largely indebted to many of the advancements made during this relatively short period of experimentation. And [music] today, our own infatuation with an ever-expanding screen owes much to this often forgotten period in film history.

[00:13:25]>> [music] [music] >> Mhm.