Christopher Nolan is currently in pre-production on his latest film project, The Odyssey. The Hollywood Reporter has now revealed that the director is going to use IMAX film cameras to shoot the entire film.
Christopher Nolan
Christopher Nolan made his breakthrough with the feature film Memento in 2000. He then went on to direct Al Pacino, Robin Williams and Hilary Swank in the psychological thriller Insomnia (2002). However, Nolan rose to fame after he directed his Dark Knight Batman trilogy starring Christian Bale. Further box office successes gave Nolan the freedom to develop his unique style with films such as Inception, Interstellar, and Tenet. After several previous nominations, Nolan finally won Best Director and Best Picture Oscars for his Oppenheimer biopic. His next film, The Odyssey, is an adaptation of the epic Ancient Greek poem by Homer.
IMAX
IMAX film cameras use 65mm wide film stock, which is printed onto 70mm film for projection. However, unlike regular cameras and projectors, the film runs horizontally rather than vertically. As a result, a frame of IMAX film has three times the theoretical horizontal resolution of a frame of 35 mm movie film. IMAX cinemas have very large screens with an aspect ratio of 1.43:1 or 1.90:1 and steep stadium-style seating. In addition to film projection, Digital Imax uses two 2K digital projectors to create the projected image. Due to the size of Imax cameras and the noise they make in operation, previously only limited sections of feature films have been shot on the format.
The Odyssey
Nolan used a mixture of IMAX cameras and regular 65mm cameras to shoot his previous film, Oppenheimer. However, subsequently the director challenged the company to make its cameras lighter and quieter. Rich Gelfond, IMAX CEO, explained, “Chris called me up and said, ‘If you can figure out how to solve the problems, I will make [The Odyssey] 100 percent in IMAX.’ And that’s what we’re doing. He forced us to rethink that side of our business, our film recorders, our film cameras.”
New cameras
The new IMAX cameras developed for The Odyssey are around 30% quieter than previous models. This means that it should be easier to record live audio on set during filming. Currently, all the new cameras are exclusively available for use by Nolan. However, IMAX will rent them to other directors once The Odyssey has wrapped. The company also had to overcome issues with the scanning and processing of the IMAX film stock. This is so that Nolan could watch the dailies more easily as he shot the film. Dailies, or rushes, are unedited versions of the footage that has been shot on a film. They are made available so the director and other crew members can review the progress of the film.
What we think
When it was first developed, IMAX was more of a novelty, designed as an entertainment experience rather than a projection format for mainstream cinema films. Since then, IMAX has become increasingly used to add a new dimension to the moviegoing experience. Christopher Nolan has long been a fan of IMAX and his challenges to the company are now taking the format even further. The development of lighter, quieter cameras removes some of the technical obstacles to a wider use of IMAX. It’s still an expensive format to work with, so we aren’t likely to see an indie IMAX film any time soon. However, cinemagoers can look forward to even more IMAX content in blockbuster movies in the years to come
Image source: Film Comment.
