Superior Camera technology for a new dimension of theatre | Read more at in70mm.com The 70mm Newsletter |
| Written by: Jochen Thieser. First appeared in The 70mm Newsletter, Issue 19, 1992 | Date: 17.04.2025 |
 "..a production which unites 70mm film and live theatre..". Still from "Jesus was his name". Found on eBay
To maintain these quality standards and to achieve perfect luminosity during projection, a new system of back-projection was created. Without disturbing either the actors on stage or the audience, a specially designed 10.000 watt projector and a new lens ensure a definition and contrast, seldom seen on such a large screen before. To reduce risks during the show as much as possible, two identical projectors each with a 70mm copy of the film run simultaneously throughout the show. If the film breaks in one projector, the second immediately cuts in. Any accident will remain undetected on the screen. The digital sound is mixed in situ- in the actual theatre then added as a backup to the prints of the film on a special 8-track Dolby SR magnetic sound track, and broadcast over a 25.000 watt multi-dimensional sound system. Soundtracks are recorded in every language. 62 actors and 34 technicians will tour worldwide for three years in theatres with 6000 seats. Easy to understand that every decision involving the technology used in the show was based on criteria of reliability and autonomy. But first, the production required the construction of the biggest studio now existing in Europe: 4300 square meters of surface area and 25 meters of ground clearance. The only one which was high enough for the stage-set. Then, there was the decision for the appropriate technology... | More in 70mm reading: French 65mm production which unites 70mm film and live theatre Arriflex's ARRI 765 Camera System Interview With Otto Blaschek - The Making of ARRI 765 A Visit to ARRI in München in70mm.com News Peripheral Vision, Scopes, Dimensions and Panoramas in70mm.com's Library Presented on the big screen in 7OMM 7OMM and Cinema Across the World Now showing in 70mm in a theatre near you! 70mm Retro - Festivals and Screenings |
| PROFESSIONAL PRODUCTION: You did extensive tests before shooting? Luc Heripret: We have done about 10.000 meters of different tests. The first test was in February 1990 before the end of the stage-play, at the Palais des Sports. We went there to shoot a one minute sequence of the stage play in three different formats: Full frame 35, Scope and 65mm. Two weeks later, we screened these tests in the Palais des Sports in real life size with the actors playing in front of the screen. This was simply to see the effect on the screen and to decide whether we go on with the project or not. But second it was our first film format test, on which I insisted in that early stage. We got 70mm prints of all the Negs. This way, we also decided about the size of the screen, the ratio of the frame - 1:3 - and a lot of other thing. It was rather interesting. The next test was in June. We constructed a small set with rocks. This time we shot on 30 fps for new comparisons. Before we were on 24 fps. Again 35mm full frame format, VistaVision and 65mm was used. Inter negatives were made of everything to see what happens after one generation. The screening was done again in 70mm. At that time the 65mm difference became really obvious. VistaVision was not bad, but still could not compare. This test was not only a film-format test, but also a small light test as well. In September we felt insecure again. Everybody was still afraid to go on 65mm because of the costs, the labs, the camera, the aperture of the lenses ... Sure the screening in June convinced us of the 65mm's quality, but as the months went by, still everybody was discussing 35mm for practical reasons. So we did some new tests in a Super 35. But these were definitely not sharp enough. Finally we ended up testing the ARRIFLEX 765 against the Panaflex 65 for a whole week, beginning of December 1990. This was also supervised by Bob and Thierry. They are with the project from October 1990 on. It was very difficult to bring both systems together for the testing. We called Panavision France; and because their system was so brand-new, it was hard to bring it over from the US. They preferred us, to do our test in their new building. So I called ARRI and finally they agreed that we do the tests at Panavision's place in France. The test itself was really a suspense. The Panavision came fully equipped: Studio-camera, hand held camera from the 1960ties, zoom ... Initially there was no zoom available for the ARRIFLEX, by that time. They were working hard on it, to satisfy our needs, and in the middle of our test week they called from ARRI to tell us that their brand-new zoom was going to be send immediately. The challenge was tight. So we were really curious about the ARRIFLEX Zoom. Part of the negatives was then sent to ARRI Lab in Munich and part of the negatives to Technicolor in Los Angeles on Panavision's request. A week later Bob, Thierry and I looked with microscopes at, all the negatives. Finally we made a list of all the advantages and disadvantages of the different cameras, reliability, weight, steadiness ... and we finally decided on the ARRIFLEX 765. Propably the Panavision was too new, and almost two more years of practical experience helped the ARRIFLEX a lot. At that time we were not sure if the ARRIFLEX can go on a remote head, because of their weight. So we checked that at the same time to be sure. Now its working really fabulous. The 765 is mounted to a remote "Hot Head" that was attached to our crane upside down. PROFESSIONAL PRODUCTION: You are using a crane with a very long extension. What is the reason for this kind of setup? Luc Heripret: This set was constructed by stage play people. They didn't construct it for movie. You can't move anything on this set. It is the complete opposite of Hitchcock's style, where anything can go. Nothing can move here. Therefore the camera had to be as flexible as possible. If you want to do a closeup for instance of Jesus standing on top of the hill, there arc two ways: You leave the camera on the crane, or you construct a platform. That takes you one and a half days of working. So, obviously it makes a lot of sense to use a crane. PROFESSIONAL PRODUCTION: What about the very long extension? Luc Heripret: A 15 meter arm is very difficult for the grip men to use. Full length the crane is 3 tons in weight. And the longer the crane on the camera-side is, the smaller is the movement you can do on the other side. The crane was modified too. We have asked to build that big middle-piece to avoid using several little pieces. Two rings on each side were added to put cables on for stabilization You naturally don't do very fast movements with this kind of setup. But combining the zoom and the crane we achieved some really tricky things. In the beginning Robert didn't trust us When he asked us for some movements said, "you'll never succeed". Then we started with a close-up, travelled about 50 meter back with the crane, and in the end you see the whole set floating in a starlight sky. We used 800 meters of black silk, with reflecting Scotchlite-tape on it and a ring of lamps around the lens to create the sparkling sky effect and it became a tremendous vision. During the movement we had to takeaway all the tracks and the ramp very quickly. PROFESSIONAL PRODUCTION: How many people worked on this shot? Luc Heripret: I think there were 25 people working. We only had 30 seconds time to take almost 30 meters away. And the shot was perfect. The camera didn't move. It was really ok. I also insisted that we have to do long shots to avoid cutting because of the stage play aesthetic. Too much cutting looks more like a film, not like a stage play. All motions are very slow and smooth. The camera just follows the actor. We wanted to avoid having a stage play on one side and a film on the other. Some of our shots were lasting for 6 minutes - another reason, why we urgently needed a reliable and service-free camera-system. PROFESSIONAL PRODUCTION: You are shooting at 30 fps, what was the reason for this filming speed? Luc Heripret: CST (Comm. Technique Superieure du Cinema) - a group of French movie technicians called me and invited me to their meeting. They first suspected us going for an American standard that fits their 60 Hz currency. Also the Japanese are using 30 fps for HDTV. But first our project is not a film. It will never go into the cinemas. And second, we have a very precise reason for doing 30 fps. I have checked curves of SMPTE four years ago about flicker impression and speed, and it really decreases a lot between 24 and 30 fps. In fact this filming speed was one of the very first things I've set up because of the back projection I intended, and the amount of light. 24 fps would have had flicker on the screen. And 30 fps - why not 32 or 28? 30 fps is standard for the projectors. With the first Todd-AO films in 65mm made in the 1950s the standard film rate was 30 frames. So 70mm projectors are conceived to run on that speed. The Todd-AO system was incredible. "Around the World in 80 Days", one of the first Todd-AO films, was shot at 30 fps and in 6 [tracks] because that was the Todd-AO standard. And as long as you shoot at 30 frames, you can never achieve a 24 frame reduction negative. It is impossible. So they made two 65 negatives, one at 30 fps and one at 24 fps for reduction purposes. You always find someone with more complicated solutions than your own. | |
Bob Paynter, Director of Photography | |
| I had worked with other 65mm systems before. But the ARRIFLEX is really easy to handle. Not too heavy and not too big. It operates almost like a 35mm camera. On this project we used it with a zoom lens, T 6.3 at f stop 8. Since we didn't do any sync sound recording the good sound level was not important for us. Lighting this stage is different, because it was built by theatre craftsmen, not by film architects. You could not take a single part away. This is where most of the lighting difficulties come from. It is a different style of lighting. Naturally, we had to use more light for the bigger negative, the f-stop etc.. Currently we use about 500 Fresnels. The difference between 24 fps and 30 fps adds only some 2-3 percent on top. But my philosophy is to set as little light as possible and as much as necessary. I used to say: 80 percent of my job is let other people do their job. This means, to make things possible. And it worked very well here. Bob Paynter was Director of Photography for productions like: Little Shop of Horrors (Director Frank Oz), Spies like us, Into the Night, Thriller (Michael Jackson Promo) (Director John Landis), Superman II and III (Director Richard Lester), An American Werewolf in London (Director John Landis), Saturn III (Director Stanley Donen) and about 8 films for director Michael Winner. | |
Thierry Tronchet, Focus Puller | |
 Diagram of wiring, Thierry Tronchet, 1990The ARRIFLEX 765 was mounted on a hot head onto the crane and we bad to control focus, iris and zoom remotely. Therefore we had to create a complete remote control for all camera functions for this project. The readout of the actual settings was done with two separate video cameras that were attached to the camera's rods. We used two b/w control video-cameras and a color-video for the regular video-adaption. The scales on the zoom were illuminated by little work-lights. Connected via almost 70 meters of cable, we achieved a real control center: There is one big monitor for Robert Hossein, to see the camera's video adaption on the screen. We cropped that to our actual aspect ratio 1:3. On another monitor I was able to see my actual settings from the video readout, and had instant control. Another tricky point was to measure the distances for exact focus. As long as the camera is high up on the crane, a tape-focus was too difficult, and too insecure. That's why we mounted a little ultrasonic measuring-device to the camera body in the place, where the filmplane is marked. A receiver held close to the actor gave us a precise readout of the distance to set. Still this left us with the problem of correct markings. So we also mounted a little Laser to the camera, facing straight downward. Precise little spots could then be marked on the floor. A camera assistant watched the Laser-spot and was able to give clear instructions via Walkie-Talkie for the gripmen who operated the crane. The whole setup worked that good, that we were able to shoot only one f-stop down from the initial aperture' opening of the zoom. F-stop 8 was used almost throughout the film. We really loved that camera - no problems, easy loading and handling. Its better than any 35mm. Hard for us to imagine working with another one after. | |
 • Go to Superior Camera technology for a new dimension of theatre | |
| Go: back - top - back issues - news index Updated 17-04-25 |