cej@ll1.UUCP (Chuck Jones MMOCS) (03/02/84)
[] I just read in the Chicago Sun-Times a day ago that on the rest shuttle flights this year the are going to be filming interior and exterior sequences with a special 70mm camera. They said that most of the shots would be planned out in advance, along the lines of a script, but they would also shoot "other objects of opportunity". Some time next year NASA plans to release the film to theaters, but the only ones that will be able to show it are those equipped with one of those concave wide screens. They didn't say how long it would be, or if any of the exterior shots would be taken while on EVA with the backpack. (Of course we can all hope for a long movie, with lots of shots of, and from the the EVA unit.) Chuck Jones AT&T Communications ...we13!ll1!cej
ron@brl-vgr.ARPA (Ron Natalie <ron>) (03/03/84)
I heard it was going to be IMAX (that's 70mm sideways), which is the largest cine format in use. Should be interesting at the next Dave Yost IMAX festival. -Ron
chip@t4test.UUCP (Chip Rosenthal) (03/06/84)
> I just read in the Chicago Sun-Times a day ago that on the > rest shuttle flights this year the are going to be filming interior > and exterior sequences with a special 70mm camera. Some time next > year NASA plans to release the film to theaters, but the only ones > that will be able to show it are those equipped with one of those > concave wide screens. What is special about the camera is that it has an extremely wide field of view. The film is intended for release to planetariums. I hope the folks in Rochester, NY keep an eye out for this. You people have the most fantastic planetarium I have ever seen. But given the nature of the city (e.g. R.I.T., Kodak, etc.), that's no surprise.
ron@brl-vgr.ARPA (Ron Natalie <ron>) (03/08/84)
The reason the field is wider is because the actual area of film per frame greater. This is accomplished by making the recorded image 70mm (less sprocket holes) high. This appears to be sideways from most film formats who use the 70mm dimension as the width of the image. Conventional 70mm also has space allocated for soundtrack. IMAX uses a separate piece of 35mm magnetic coated film (tape?) for sound. There is no squeezing of the picture (like cinemascope or panavision). There are two modes of operation. Conventional IMAX is for showing on flat screens. These are typically 70' by 50'. OMNIMAX uses a different lens that gives a fishbowl effect for showing on round surfaces (like the inside of a planetarium dome). I'm not overly fond of OMNIMAX. Anyone know if they are going to shoot only IMAX, only OMNIMAX or a combination? -Ron