Visiting the Science Museum's new IMAX presentation Space Station, for the press preview, was a real chance to mix all the disciplines that The Widescreen Centre is known for.
Talking to the film's Producer/Director Toni Myers was a thrill. Here was a lady who, for a living, plays with movie cameras that shoot the world's largest format for moving images - IMAX! The stars of her pictures are astronauts working on the construction of the International Space Station. But not only that, the cameras shoot in genuine 3D. Toni has worked on previous IMAX movies but this was a first. Not only for her, but for NASA.
Space Station has been shot to document the building of the largest space structure ever. An artificial satellite that any of us can see in our evening skies with the unaided eye. With backing from Lockheed Martin, NASA's hardware manufacturer, new equipment was developed so that the normally large IMAX cameras could be taken into space, and used handheld.
An IMAX screen fills the field of view of the audience and the feeling of flying with the astronauts is incredibly realistic. Shots taken from the top of the station looking down the side onto the docked shuttle with Earth floating by in the background are awe-inspiring. The new cameras have correctly spaced lenses using 65mm as the 3D base. This produces real images that do not display over-emphasised three dimensional effects nor that cardboard cut-out look so often seen in other 3-D presentations. The small cameras (by IMAX standards) are used in the station by the crew hand-held. As they float through the Space Station the audience can get a real experience of being there. Science articles and equipment used by the astronauts float by together with personal touches from the crew. Small soft toys seem popular and a touch of humour with inflatable aliens.
The IMAX 3D cameras shoot 70mm wide film horizontally. The pairs of images that go together to produce a 3D image are shot alternatively on the same piece of film. A typical 30 second shot uses 336 feet of film, with a single camera load of film lasting just three scenes. Once the film has returned to Earth it is processed and the alternating images separated, optically, onto separate films to be projected in the IMAX cinemas. The crews that shoot the sequences do not see their rushes for about three weeks after returning. Their previews are at a local IMAX cinema, a normal preview theatre not really having the necessary requirements. Only then do they see how well they have done and to find out if the director is happy.
And how does it look? The film has a documentary type approach without any storyline as such. This is a relief as 3D films in the past have usually had very thin scripts and just gone for the illusions. Though the film is directed by Toni Myers she is not an astronaut. All the space scenes are taken by the crews themselves with initial instructions given by Toni. The mission plan gives an indication of what shots will be possible, and a list is drawn up. During the actual flight scenes are dropped or included as the conditions allow. One camera in particular is fixed inside the cargo bay of the shuttle with its direction fixed pre-launch. Though the lenses can be changed to alter the field of view by remote control its direction must be worked out beforehand. This is where the Mission Plan, which is calculated to the smallest detail, is studied.
The crews have to light, direct and shoot the scenes themselves. With their crewmates as cast and the Earth as a backdrop. Their sense of humour at being in constant freefall shows. Seeing spheres of water floating towards you over the audience just before being sucked up is a particular prank. Another was seeing the crewmen shaving. The razor is left standing in space ready to be picked 'up' by the astronaut. And for anyone who has been to the top of Blackpool Tower and stood on the glass floor will appreciate the shot taken while the crew exercise. Their bike is placed over a downward looking porthole. The ground is an awful long way away! The 3D really is effective.
Simply the best shot though isn't seeing a shuttle launch which is stunning, but for pure heart stopping IMAX in 3D the Russian launch early on in the film makes you jump out of your seat. You are sitting on the launch pad under the rocket. The engines fire with a roar and clouds of smoke and debris fly passed you and into the lens of the cameras finally smashing the glass. All around you the audience check to make sure those sitting beside them are not hurt. Truly the best use of 3D ever seen.
Don't miss it. On at The Science Museum, in Exhibition Road, Kensington. Nearest station on the Underground is South Kensington.
This article appeared in the email newsletter of The Widescreen Centre (www.widescreen-centre.co.uk). The shop is a fascinating source of screens, cameras, projectors, lenses and kit for anything that stretches the bounds of normal cinema.