[00:00] [music]
[00:05] >> When a movie is filmed for and projected
[00:07] in IMAX, the large format that you're
[00:09] watching isn't just about the size of
[00:11] the theater screen. It's also about the
[00:13] size of the image on the screen print.
[00:16] This is a single frame of IMAX 70 mm
[00:19] film. It runs horizontally through the
[00:21] projector and it's called 15 perf
[00:23] because there [music] are 15
[00:24] perforations on the film for every
[00:26] frame. This picture is almost 10 times
[00:29] the size [music]
[00:30] of that stored on a standard 35 mm frame
[00:34] which has the same [music] size
[00:35] perforations on the smaller film and has
[00:36] to share real estate with the soundtrack
[00:38] on the right. That's a difference in
[00:40] detail that I [music] can see with my
[00:42] naked eye both on the frame and when
[00:44] it's projected on a 90-ft tall film
[00:46] screen. Tested went to IMAX's LA
[00:48] headquarters to tour their vault of film
[00:50] prints and bed [music] with technicians
[00:52] splicing together reels heavier than me
[00:54] and larger than this table and visit the
[00:57] projection booth of their in-house
[00:58] theater [music]
[00:59] where some of the world's greatest
[01:00] directors come daily to review and sign
[01:03] off on their vision printed in film's
[01:05] largest [music] format.
[01:07] Greg, you you told me this is about 2
[01:09] and 1/2 minutes of film give or take?
[01:11] >> right. Um
[01:13] I was a projectionist in my youth and
[01:15] I'm just trying to wrap my head around
[01:17] the volume and weight. How do you guys
[01:19] handle something as simple as like
[01:21] dailies or or post-production?
[01:23] >> Well, we have a team that does that and
[01:25] which you'll meet in a second. And so we
[01:27] take this large roll film. This actually
[01:30] is not as big as some.
[01:31] They go up to 1,000 even bigger than
[01:33] that. They all get assembled onto the
[01:36] rewind on on a larger reel through the
[01:38] rewind bench and they get spliced and
[01:41] and we wheel them out there which you'll
[01:43] see as well. Yeah.
[01:43] >> Okay, let's let's let's walk through
[01:45] this process. Okay.
[01:48] All right Adam, so this is print
[01:49] assembly. All right, so this is where
[01:50] heavy things get assembled into heavier
[01:52] things
[01:53] >> [laughter]
[01:53] >> and then eventually they leave.
[01:55] >> Yes. God, the the volume of it is just
[01:58] staggering.
[01:59] >> Yeah, yeah, we have a lot of stations
[02:00] here, a lot of work gets done. Irving
[02:02] has a group of two so three all together
[02:04] in print assembly. How many platters are
[02:05] you processing out of this room in a
[02:07] day?
[02:07] >> It It really depends. I mean generally
[02:09] they're working on one at a time. It
[02:10] really depends if we have multiple
[02:12] titles happening at the same time. In
[02:13] this case we have one film that that is
[02:16] getting plattered up for a screening
[02:17] this afternoon and it's basically a
[02:19] bunch of film out reels that are are
[02:21] processed and printed at FotoKem and
[02:23] we're going to show them here at our
[02:24] theater. It's amazing. I mean I remember
[02:26] my rewind table at the theater was like
[02:28] the size of a thing. This is the size of
[02:29] my first apartment in New York.
[02:31] >> Yes, these are custom. There's one of
[02:33] one and they're very old but they work.
[02:35] Amazing. Hey Irving. How are you? Good
[02:38] to see you. So you have been here for 33
[02:41] years?
[02:42] >> Yes, I am. Is it safe to say that you
[02:43] have touched almost every print that's
[02:46] come out of here? I would say yes. Okay,
[02:48] so walk me through walk me through what
[02:50] happens here. Usually when they start a
[02:52] production they go with making dailies
[02:55] and every daily that is made we
[02:59] come to this place then it's get to be a
[03:01] screen review, make sure that there is
[03:03] no scratches, that physically look okay.
[03:06] Because scratches can happen in the
[03:08] camera and the negatives or it can
[03:10] happen in printing in the lab. So you
[03:12] want to make sure that everything is
[03:14] okay. Also everything that we had a
[03:17] screen we keep a record. So we had like
[03:20] records in 1980s.
[03:24] Yeah. We keep all those records. Every
[03:26] single roll that have been
[03:27] screened they keep a record and we keep
[03:30] it on So every last thing that's come
[03:32] through here is chronicled. Yes.
[03:33] >> Okay. And right now we're working in a
[03:37] project a demo and I'm going to pull um
[03:42] There is different play different
[03:44] pictures they're making from different
[03:47] parts of the movies Yeah. and right now
[03:49] we are trying trying to put a
[03:52] a portion of that movie and put it
[03:54] together like a puzzle and then that's
[03:57] what we're going to do right now. I'm
[03:58] looking for a specific scene.
[04:01] Can I help? Uh you can try it if you
[04:04] feel comfortable.
[04:05] >> [laughter]
[04:07] >> But we just going to roll it. This was
[04:09] built like a
[04:11] a month ago. Okay. And probably it was
[04:14] made with a
[04:17] It was make a
[04:22] You have probably a hundred scenes
[04:23] inside this. Okay, so this is our daily
[04:25] reel with like a hundred scenes in it.
[04:27] Yes and then we're going to look for the
[04:29] specific one that they need right now.
[04:31] But they they just give us we need this
[04:34] and we have to find it in all of this.
[04:36] You have to go through this and figure
[04:38] out where it is. Okay. And usually
[04:39] that's why we are trying to keep this
[04:41] kind of list so they will give me an
[04:43] idea where they are.
[04:45] >> Amazing.
[04:45] >> Cuz otherwise you will be impossible to
[04:47] find it. And after that the piece that
[04:50] we're going to find there is going to go
[04:51] into this little roll and from that roll
[04:54] we're going to take a portion of the
[04:56] same material and go into the demo that
[04:59] they need to screen tomorrow actually.
[05:17] And this is like an
[05:18] old tape machine. Remember when you push
[05:21] the cassette tape and you play move this
[05:23] way or move that way? Yeah, yeah.
[05:25] Oh, that's what it is. Okay. So this one
[05:27] will if I want to push over there, move
[05:29] over there just press this one or if I
[05:31] want to go the other way, go that way
[05:33] and stop and
[05:35] and it's very simple. And this are only
[05:37] tension you know because you need it's a
[05:39] lot of you need tension and these are
[05:41] the speed control which is how one here
[05:43] one here is the same one the same
[05:45] control. And
[05:47] I've been here for more than
[05:49] 35 years so
[05:50] >> These have been here longer than you.
[05:51] >> Yes. Okay.
[05:55] But this one is say that start from
[05:57] chapter 78 to 101 which is
[06:01] what we got here. Okay, so now you go
[06:03] find that.
[06:03] >> 78 cuz it start 78 and then I'm going to
[06:06] go all the way. It start from one but
[06:09] But that means that all of these have
[06:10] already been left in file.
[06:11] >> a different platters.
[06:12] >> Got you.
[06:14] Cuz
[06:15] you cannot this platters only can hold
[06:17] like a one hour platter and sometime we
[06:19] had a screening of two hours plus so we
[06:22] need to build into small platters like
[06:23] this and then take it to whatever we
[06:26] need to screen. That's the small
[06:28] platter. Uh this is the regular platter
[06:31] 45 inch platter. Okay. The this is the
[06:33] standard for most of the films.
[06:35] >> Got you. But a big movie two hours and a
[06:37] half movie will go in three of this.
[06:41] And then you build it into one platter
[06:43] in whatever theater you go. Yes.
[07:01] I find myself wondering if there's a
[07:03] machine shop somewhere in the world that
[07:05] just makes these. I mean maybe there's
[07:07] more than one but I mean it's got to be
[07:09] a pretty bespoke business.
[07:12] Look at that.
[07:15] Wow.
[07:24] So here we are putting tension on this
[07:26] side so it will not wind loose to this.
[07:29] So we're
[07:30] and then you have clutches that so it
[07:32] can allow the engine to engage to the
[07:35] platter and it can rotate.
[07:37] So this one we're going to go that way
[07:39] which is ready there.
[07:44] I just help a little bit.
[07:49] And because you cannot go see [snorts]
[07:50] it doesn't have no number no nothing we
[07:52] just You just scroll and then you go
[07:54] hunt for it.
[07:55] >> Yes. But you know that it's probably
[07:57] right around
[07:58] >> Somewhere there. Yeah, cuz this is This
[08:00] have 100 shots
[08:03] but it's starting from shot 78 so
[08:05] probably somewhere in here.
[08:06] Holy cow.
[08:19] It really is sort of blowing my mind
[08:21] just the sheer weight, the sheer volume
[08:25] of plastic and aluminum required to move
[08:29] these pieces and prints around. Um this
[08:32] is less than an hour of film
[08:35] but at such a resolution that it weighs,
[08:37] you know, dozens and dozens of pounds.
[08:39] It's amazing. It's like it's like the
[08:41] single heaviest component of flying an
[08:43] airplane is its fuel. Like you don't
[08:45] really think about that but it really is
[08:47] like most of managing an airplane's
[08:49] weight is about managing the weight of
[08:50] its fuel. And for some reason that seems
[08:53] to me to have some parity to like if you
[08:56] want the best the most the sharpest film
[08:58] format, well it's it's going to get
[09:00] heavy. It's going to get heavy in a
[09:01] hurry.
[09:03] That's the splice, yeah?
[09:04] >> Yeah, that's the tape.
[09:05] >> have a cutter that cuts that Yes and
[09:07] this is the one that does that.
[09:09] Oh, oh so is that the difference between
[09:10] this splicer and that splicer? This one
[09:12] does the zigzag splice. This one does
[09:14] the zigzag so you can pull it apart and
[09:17] put it back like a puzzle but this one
[09:20] once you do one of those because it's
[09:21] well kind of welded
[09:23] so you cannot pull it apart. If you pull
[09:25] it apart you cannot put it back
[09:27] together. So this is for like final
[09:29] assembly?
[09:29] >> Yes. And this is for temporary assembly.
[09:31] Got you.
[09:43] Okay, so we're in part of the projection
[09:44] room here.
[09:45] >> We are. We are below it.
[09:46] >> Okay. [laughter] Yeah. Um can can I
[09:48] help? Can I help put load this? Oh,
[09:50] amazing. Okay. So now we're lifting the
[09:52] platter up onto the Mark
[09:55] reel unit.
[09:59] Okay, now we're going to lock it in. Ah,
[10:01] okay.
[10:02] >> Got to be careful like and also we have
[10:04] the screws. If you could pass me this
[10:06] one.
[10:07] >> [snorts]
[10:08] >> And I just got tight there.
[10:09] >> all right.
[10:13] Now,
[10:14] this is going up to the projector.
[10:16] And so we need a lot of free that leader
[10:20] and we're going to spool a lot of it.
[10:22] So we go cuz the projectors are in the
[10:24] second floor. So you see it's going to
[10:26] travel from here all the way up and then
[10:28] coming down. So it's not going to be the
[10:30] actual movie. It's just leader. Right,
[10:33] right, right. So this is all just blank
[10:34] film, but it's going to travel all the
[10:36] way up where that rope's going through
[10:37] the hole? Yes.
[10:38] >> Because because all the work is done
[10:40] down here and all the heavy lifting
[10:41] comes down on the first floor. There's
[10:43] there was no real way to get these into
[10:45] the booth as you'll see when we go up
[10:47] there. So the weight of this means that
[10:49] architecturally
[10:51] this is an accommodation because of how
[10:53] heavy these are.
[10:53] >> It is and it might seem crazy like why
[10:55] would you invent something like that,
[10:56] but it works. Amazing.
[10:58] >> Yeah. You guys must now have some
[10:59] intense HVAC here because I would
[11:01] imagine small amounts of dust can damage
[11:04] this print over time.
[11:05] >> Yeah, it's it's not as big a deal as it
[11:08] is with negative.
[11:08] >> Of course.
[11:09] >> And we have special rollers too that
[11:11] help make sure that that everything's
[11:12] clean before it goes into the projector.
[11:13] Incredible. Yeah.
[11:15] Okay, so that's a lot of film he just
[11:17] wound up there. Oh, look at that.
[11:21] Yeah, how many feet Irving do you have
[11:22] of of leader on the head?
[11:25] I don't know, probably like 100 ft.
[11:28] Wow.
[11:32] IMAX film is 337 ft per minute. So
[11:34] that's just over you know, 20 seconds of
[11:38] of of leader, right? Wow.
[11:41] 330 and 35 mm is like 90 ft per Yeah.
[11:45] Yeah. [laughter]
[11:47] Right, an hour is a mile in 35 mm.
[11:50] Oh my god, the cable carries the film
[11:53] up.
[12:02] Okay, now we're going to walk up Okay.
[12:04] >> and pull this so we can continue.
[12:06] >> Okay, so you go up there and pull it.
[12:08] You don't just We just go like fishing.
[12:10] We kind of
[12:11] I'm sort of I'm still wrapping my head
[12:13] around the fact that this travels 30 ft
[12:15] into the ceiling to get to the
[12:16] projector.
[12:17] >> Yeah, yeah, it does. And then it has to
[12:18] come back down.
[12:20] Oh my god, of course it does.
[12:22] >> Yes. So it travels another 30 ft back
[12:24] down to get the the take-up reel, which
[12:26] is of course it's there.
[12:29] >> That's insane. I love that that works.
[12:32] It is amazing. For 3D movies is it
[12:35] double this? It is double this. Yeah, we
[12:37] actually have a whole other Mark II
[12:39] assembly uh platter system over there.
[12:41] And if you notice there's plat there's
[12:42] there's these little pulleys that go
[12:44] over your head. And so we actually have
[12:46] two sets that can go up there for left
[12:47] eye and right eye film projector.
[12:49] >> Oh my god, two separate gigantic prints
[12:53] for left eye and right eye. Yes.
[12:55] Amazing. Just to give you a sense of the
[12:57] size of this. This is a roughly
[12:59] hour-long reel and loaded with film
[13:02] weighs about 300 lb.
[13:04] This is a 68-in reel holds just shy of 3
[13:07] hours, weighs almost 600 lb and this is
[13:10] not their biggest reel. This is their
[13:12] second biggest reel.
[13:15] Crazy.
[13:16] I'm only a tiny bit taller than this.
[13:19] >> [music]
[13:23] >> So here's Yvon with the film that came
[13:25] from below.
[13:27] I just love that these are bolted to the
[13:30] the engineering in me thinks this
[13:31] shouldn't be possible, but it's perfect.
[13:34] Okay, so what's the next step for this
[13:36] to get into the projector? So he's going
[13:38] to go through that hole. Okay.
[13:46] And we're going to be using that film
[13:48] projector.
[13:54] Wow.
[13:56] So this is the David Keighley theater
[13:58] booth.
[13:59] >> Got you. And we have three sets of
[14:00] projectors, one film and two digital.
[14:03] Okay, so that's a set of film
[14:06] projectors.
[14:06] >> Yes. A set of digital projectors and
[14:08] another digital projector.
[14:10] >> And they're all on a rail system that
[14:12] allows us to basically prep for a
[14:14] session. So we might have a digital
[14:15] session 10 minutes ago, it wraps and
[14:17] then we have to basically go right into
[14:19] film. So they can prep all this and load
[14:21] it all up and then slide it over in
[14:23] literally 5 minutes we're operating on
[14:25] film. Amazing. And is the reason there's
[14:27] two digital projectors is for stereo
[14:29] projection? Yes, and and also to get the
[14:32] power we need on the screen. That's our
[14:34] GT digital projection system. So you
[14:36] double it? Yeah, it's it's full 143. In
[14:39] fact, every morning we have a
[14:40] calibration system. Anytime these
[14:42] projectors move, we have an auto
[14:44] calibration system that converges the
[14:46] two projectors. Wow. And so you're
[14:49] putting one image on top of the other to
[14:50] get the maximum amount of brightness
[14:52] from the digital projector.
[14:53] >> Yes. This is the only way to achieve
[14:54] full 143 digital projection in IMAX. So
[14:57] even though he is spooling the film into
[14:59] the film projector, that projector is
[15:01] still going to move into its final
[15:02] position.
[15:03] >> And this rig can accommodate that.
[15:05] >> Absolutely. Again, the engineer in me is
[15:08] like this shouldn't really work. It
[15:10] shouldn't, but it does.
[15:13] All right, and then it's coming back.
[15:15] >> That's right. This is the return trip.
[15:17] Through the same hole. Right, cuz left
[15:19] eye, right eye.
[15:20] >> Right, right, right. Going fishing.
[15:24] Yeah, and here's the the film projector
[15:25] is going into place. You can run both
[15:27] these projectors if you're doing 3D, but
[15:30] also if you're doing a rollover. So
[15:32] basically if you're going to transfer
[15:34] over from one to the ever other. If he
[15:36] had let's say two different reels that
[15:38] we needed to go from one to the other,
[15:40] we could go into that mode.
[15:42] >> So they don't you don't have little burn
[15:43] holes in the corner of the
[15:45] >> Yeah,
[15:45] cuz the first one
[15:46] and the second one
[15:47] >> Yeah, totally. You don't do that. How do
[15:49] you know when to do the changeover?
[15:50] >> Because we're not doing it for final
[15:52] product.
[15:52] >> Okay.
[15:53] >> Yeah, so they'll basically just change
[15:54] over to the other one when we need to.
[15:56] But it's all it's all in sync. Even our
[15:58] sound. Our sound is basically a digital
[16:00] track that goes in on an optical disc
[16:03] and we we ingest it into a hard drive
[16:06] system. And it syncs up with that.
[16:07] >> It syncs up with the with the film,
[16:09] exactly.
[16:11] Similar to the DTS system. Got you. All
[16:14] right, so this is the business end of
[16:16] the process we just watched. A director
[16:18] [music] who is working on a film with
[16:20] IMAX is coming in in a few minutes to
[16:22] watch some dailies of their film. We
[16:25] can't tell you what it is, but it's now
[16:27] been spooled into this projector and
[16:29] [music] it's about to be projected. I am
[16:34] Everything about [music] this process is
[16:35] sort of gargantuan and incredible to me
[16:38] and I can only imagine how thrilling it
[16:40] is for that director [music]
[16:41] to see their footage in such a format.
[16:44] It's got to be intoxicating.
[16:47] >> [music]
[16:55] [music]
[17:09] [music]