There's a misconception that movies shot
with digital cameras [music] and those
shot with film cameras work in contrast
with one another. That one process
[music] negates the other. Like you're a
film person or a digital person. But a
movie shot digitally [music] can be
printed and projected on film. And a
movie shot on film will very likely at
some point go through a scanning process
[music]
for at least digital effects and
editing. And with IMAX, both ends of
that equation, the scanning and the
recording of large format 70 mm film
require purpose-built equipment and an
experienced [music]
technician to operate those machines. I
visited the 70 mm film scanning and
recording labs [music] at IMAX
headquarters to watch these machines in
action, including one of the most
beautiful bespoke machines I've ever
[music] seen, this film scanner that has
scanned almost every single IMAX film.
Hey, Fred. Hello. Such a pleasure.
Likewise, thank you. Um okay, so this is
the old scanner, and that's the new
scanner. I have so many questions about
this, but I want to just start with like
how long have you been working for IMAX?
I've been working for IMAX I'm in my
15th year now.
>> 15th year? Have you been scanning for
them the entire time?
>> Scanning and film recording. Amazing.
>> So, if you have a piece of IMAX film and
it needs to be a digital image, that's
me.
>> That's you. And if it's a digital image
and you need a piece of IMAX film,
that's also me.
>> Amazing. Okay, so I I we're going to
talk about the process
uh that film goes through in your room
here. But I right off the bat, I walk in
and I see a machine with a marble
countertop and these space-saving holes
and chrome polish, and then I touch it
and I'm like, wait a minute. Cuz cuz
Greg said outside that this was one of
This is serial number one of this
machine.
>> This is number one. This is the only 65
mm
scanner that that this company built.
Well, dude, whoever made this
>> 35 mm scanners afterwards, and they made
like, I don't know, pile of them. But
this is the only one for 65.
>> Okay, but whoever made this is an
important artist. Yes. Okay, you agree.
This is a masterpiece.
>> Yes. Yes, sir.
>> Oh my gosh. And then when you were
calibrating, I watched this whole thing
move or there's all these servos inside
here. Yep, motors and belts and you
can't lift the hood because it's
granite. And it's made granite so that
it's super stable so that it's
measurements are the same. OH MY GOD,
IT'S NOT even just aesthetic. It Yes.
It is
temperature. Uh because a few degrees in
temperature can change you know, metal
will change a little bit and that'll
throw this whole thing out of alignment.
So they built it on granite, polished
granite. Because you're scanning pixels
and you can't have any variance
whatsoever. We are scanning a frame this
big.
>> Yeah.
And how many pixels is that total?
>> And we are scanning it at a over 8,000
pixels across.
>> Crazy.
The way this machine was set up is it
only does a vertical line of pixels at a
time. Okay.
>> So it's slicing the image 8,424
times per image. That must
That must take a while.
>> put 12 and 1/2 seconds.
>> 12 and 1/2 seconds per frame?
>> Per frame. So every IMAX that's ever
been scanned went through this scanner
until Until VERY RECENTLY. YES.
>> WOW. THAT IS A
That you kind of have to work backwards
from deadlines and deliveries just to
ACCOMMODATE THIS.
>> YES.
WOW.
>> YEAH. Is this machine was semi-retired
at this point? Is it emeritus? I'm
sorry, it is very
>> [laughter]
>> very much semi-retired. I do test it,
you know, weekly to make sure that it's
still running because this is our
backup.
>> Right. If this goes out, this This is
it. Now, the nice thing is we haven't
had to use it. Right.
>> This has only seen me testing it for
a year now. Or a year? All right.
>> So it's not actually been in production.
It's such a
>> is capable of being being that 25 years
after it was made. For a machine. I
mean, there's a way in which I can tell
that the people that put this together
love machines and also love products.
Yes.
>> Like they weren't just making a one-off,
they were making it a beautiful product.
>> Yes. This is inspired by I feel like
German manufacturing from mid-century,
from Scandinavian. I mean, it's like
there's so much. Wow. Yeah. Okay, now
let's talk ABOUT THIS PROCESS.
>> [laughter]
>> LET ME PUT A PIECE OF FILM ON. OKAY, NO
MIND. SO,
take a piece of film and we thread it
up, starting this side.
It starts Make sure it doesn't want to
walk away on us.
>> Fair.
Make sure we take a few up, a few rolls
laps up on the on the roll.
And then
I like to pull a little bit extra and
thread it through here. So threading up
the gate first so that it sets correctly
and then with the sprockets,
make sure it locks in place.
So I just want to highlight here for a
second like, you know, film is all about
the fast shuttling and with precision.
Yes.
>> That's got to be an exponentially harder
problem at this size and scale,
especially for tiny variances of
sprockets, which I would imagine you
guys have reduced as close to zero as is
humanly possible.
>> Exactly. And that's why you may notice
the film path is very precisely defined.
I'm not making loops. I'm not making
approximately the right size. I'm going
it fits right here, it fits right here,
and everything lines up exactly.
>> So this machine knows what to expect
when this piece of film is through that
sprocket hole and when it's going to get
over here and it's never wrong.
>> And it's never wrong.
So,
then
>> Oh, and now it goes through all these
things.
>> all all these things. So,
there is, I believe, a an edge code
because film comes with uh from Kodak
comes with a an edge code printed right
into the film. Oh, okay.
>> It's a latent image until obviously they
process the film. Unfortunately, this
one does not work, never has. So, it's
there. It was there with the idea of
making it work, but it never did.
>> Copy.
>> So we go around there. These two
basically are controlling the tension.
How much tension do do we take up?
>> I see.
>> And And watch when I spin it up, see how
that Mhm.
>> And it'll find a balance. And as the
film is transported, it'll make sure
that this thing's pulling at the right
amount, even if the roll's really big or
really small.
>> So that it's never winding it too tight
or too loose, it's always at a specific
>> Oh, exactly. Wow, of course it has to
be. Because too loose and your film goes
on the ground.
Too tight and you risk snapping the film
or
pulling the film past the the sprockets
and creating problems that way.
>> I cuz if film is surprisingly brittle.
Yes. I remember as a projectionist, I
remember having one smacking around and
creating a lot of celluloid confetti.
Yes.
>> [laughter]
>> When we get into film recording, I'll
tell you about chewed-up film.
>> Okay.
>> Cuz those machines like to chew film
occasionally. So do you only do tension
on the take-up side?
>> let me do this side as well. It's the
same thing just in reverse.
Or this.
Go around this way. This way and then
pull tight.
And that lets it find its level.
>> gate closes when I DO THAT.
>> OH, WOW.
>> It automatically knows, oh, I got
tension on both sides. That means I can
try to close the gate. That's some
really nice user experience right there.
>> When the gate tries to close, if it
can't pin that one Yep. and that one
>> Yep.
>> Those pins actually go through the film
from the other side to hold it in
position. Yep. If they go if if
everything's not lined up correctly,
they will try to pin through the film.
Very gently, they'll do it and they'll
stop.
>> won't poke through it.
>> And they'll go, nope, there's something
there. Nope, you know what? Forget it,
I'm not doing this. So it's not going to
punch a hole in your film. That's
beautiful.
>> 25 years ago,
somebody made this brilliant decision
that has saved so many rolls of film.
>> If any of the people that worked on this
is watching this video, reach out to us
in the comments cuz I want to talk to
you about this thing. Do you even This
this beautiful. These these circles and
lights here.
>> It's almost a face. It Oh, there there
is. It's almost a little like a droid.
Yeah.
Okay, so now the film is loaded up. So
once it's loaded up, I try to make sure
I I will advance a frame, a couple
frames just to make sure that it is
actually going to transport correctly.
Like that.
>> So that was one frame.
>> Those This is one frame.
Gotcha. That's moving 15 perfs.
>> It's moving 15 perfs at a go. Okay. And
as you can see, very smoothly. Yep. Yep,
through custom etched and machine
buttons that didn't get bought in a
catalog. Right?
Yes.
>> [laughter]
>> Then I'll wind down to the beginning of
the roll because this is leader for
handling purposes. That way I don't have
to handle people's film.
And if we look through here,
>> Oh, yeah, see the color test.
>> see the We can see the picture and I can
actually make adjustments to
Oh, I can go one perf at a time so that
I'm in frame. Gotcha. So that's the one
perf jog.
>> Yes. Amazing. Which is stop plus
forward. I can also, of course, do stop
plus backward to go the opposite
direction if I need to.
And we are almost ready to scan a frame,
but before I do, make sure I take the
calibration strip.
Oh.
>> scan like that, but it will not look
very good. So What does the calibration
strip do? It's a color calibration?
>> It's It's a color calibration and it
basically emulates the unexposed film
that is processed.
We call it the film base. Gotcha.
>> So it is
just a piece of clear Right, that is
sort of the neutral of film. Yes. And
yes, it's a little scuffed up. It's been
used many years.
>> [laughter]
>> The fact that it's here and not here
throws it so far out of focus, you don't
the blemishes or what have you.
>> the blemishes don't matter. Speaking of
which, one of the things that we do in
this room is we have to control the
temperature and humidity very tightly. I
would imagine the humidity could affect
image quality, right? Humidity will
cause the film to warp.
The IMAX frame is so big that it
actually can warp as it goes into the
gate and still feed through the machine.
Is it because the celluloid is slightly
hygroscopic, it absorbs a little water?
EXACTLY.
>> WOW.
>> EXACTLY.
And we've had
we've experienced it where it's like we
scan something then when we scanned it a
couple days later it's like, wait, why
is it a different focus? Wow, that's
amazing.
>> Let's We really jumped on it, made sure
that everything was
properly set up and So then temperature
and humidity control is part of the
calibration process of this room. Yes,
and that's why you hear air running
continuously
>> in this room. So you got a lot of
hoodies and fleeces. You make sure
you're buttoned down warm and you
[laughter] take care of the all of that
you make sure that that's good. Um and
this is the business end of the scanner
coming through this way. Uh so the light
column is here, the light is underneath.
Gotcha. Goes up and I think they use a
prism or a mirror and deflect it into
the camera which is here. Gotcha. Um And
it is a linear array so it's not taking
the entire picture at the same time.
It's taking
one set of pixels vertically up to 6,144
[laughter]
pixels vertically. So the scanner is
just basically one pixel wide and film
frame tall. Uh ish
>> Yes. ish Exactly, yeah.
12 and 1/2 seconds.
>> 12 and 1/2 seconds.
>> I I'll be frank, knowing what it's
trying to do that sounds fast.
But it also sounds slow.
>> Incredibly slow. [laughter] When we look
at the other machine you'll be like,
that is very very slow. Um can we just
able to actually just witness a scanning
sequence? Um yes, let give me a moment
to set that up.
Oh, one other thing you you hear the
hear the hiss? Yeah. That's actually we
actually have air knives on it.
Partly to blow off the dust, partly to
keep the film, you know, moving in it
smoothly. Right, right. Where are the
air knives? Are they here?
>> They are actually in this. Right, right.
Okay.
>> So with if there was no film in the gate
I could show you you could stick your
put your hand in the gate and see
actually feel them. Gotcha. Uh but the
whole goal is when it's here no dust has
been able to get anywhere near it.
Exactly. Uh I really appreciate you
walking me through this. This is it's
it's amazing. Let's talk about this
brand new one. Yes.
So what's the biggest difference between
the new machine and the old machine? Is
it just speed? Part of it speed, part of
it is the process that it takes the the
image. Mhm. Um the old machine took it a
single vertical line of pixels at a
time. This actually will scan an entire
frame except of course a gigantic frame
like an IMAX frame because an IMAX frame
is so big. So it actually scans the IMAX
frame in thirds. Oh, so it does 1/3,
middle third, other third. Yes. And it
does its own stitching of them? Um no,
we actually do that on a separate
machine. Oh, amazing.
>> We could do it on the separate on the
same machine but it is a separate
process.
>> Gotcha.
That allows us to do a little bit of
extra work if we need to do some
processing or something like that in
between. Okay. And this one you may
notice threads up the opposite direction
from the the other machine. Goes right
to left.
>> It goes right to left.
Apparently if we went left to right this
whole apparatus would be have to be
upside down and this whole big thing
would have to stick up in the air. So
>> Yes. That's so funny.
>> Because I was I was freaked out that
it's horrible when you have to scan on
both machines at the same time.
>> Oh cuz you're going back and
uh yeah.
>> and forth and you're like, which one is
wound the right way? Sometimes you just
have to stop and just yeah, I can
imagine. This is where being on the
computer helps because on the computer
forward is always forward, backward is
always backward. [laughter]
Okay.
>> So the setup is actually similar here as
you do a rough setup and then you do the
spool winding. Exactly, yes. Then fill
in the details as it were.
That's
There we go. And this one also has
tension arms. Gotcha.
Some things don't change. You always
need tension arms to make sure that the
motors on the
on the rolls of film aren't taking up
too tightly or too loosely. And your
goal is that each tension arm is
vertical. Roughly. It they au-
automatically will you know, they'll
stop if at a certain point. I go mostly
go approximately the right place,
sometimes a little past and then they
stop cuz that's where they need to be.
It's called reader. We can read the key
codes that are that Kodak puts on the
film
and that way the editorial people can
tell us scan these exact set of frames
and we can say
okay, wherever it is on the roll find
it, scan this.
>> Well that makes that process much
faster.
>> makes it much faster and very accurate.
Okay.
>> So instead of having to take those
numbers and go, okay, what's the number
at the beginning of the roll, do these
calculations, how far down do I have to
go?
>> And then go ahead and pick. Exactly,
just find it.
So that's kind of what we have for the
setup on that. And again notice it is a
vertical operation rather than a
horizontal one. Uh hence the glass doors
and the dust mitigation. But it's
effectively the same machine just more
than an order of magnitude faster. Yes.
Dude, I
already just in the last 10 minutes here
my mind has been blown like three or
four times and it's all about the scale.
The scale of this frame of film is is is
diabolical in terms of all your
processes with it. Yeah. This is
scanning. You guys also do a lot of
recording. What's the other part of this
process? Can we walk through that?
>> you don't have film and you need film.
Let's do that.
>> Okay, good.
All right. This is film recording. Yes.
IMAX has been around and has been
scanning for a long time. So this is
real legacy equipment back to the early
days. It is. If you remember the Silicon
Graphics machines
>> Yes, very well. Yeah, we used those to
run these machines.
>> Oh, hilarious. Good god, I remember one
year at the ILM Christmas party that was
actually the door prize for best costume
was an O2 workstation. Nice. Okay, so
what is the technology that is used to
get the image the digital image printed
onto the film?
>> So to get the digital image printed on
the film in the base here we have
obviously boards and stuff that run that
run this. But the big thing is the the
tube. The tube?
>> the We literally have a cathode ray
tube.
>> What? Like the old tube tube TVs but way
more advanced obviously. There's a CRT
at the heart of the scan of this
printer? There is. So obviously the CRT
machine gives you the precision that
you're looking for on a pixel by pixel
color fidelity by color fidelity basis.
Yes.
>> That's astounding to me.
>> Exactly, yeah. Um does it do it in a
mono color and then you use filters for
the color? We do indeed, yes. So the
tube itself is is a particular white and
then we run it through some filters. So
we have a We don't use the clear filter
but we could if we needed to. There's a
red, green and blue filter. I'm going
backwards here. That's the blue filter,
the green filter. So it's like the old
the old three strip process reversed in
order to obtain the imagery. That is so
cool that the CRT provides the precision
that you need.
>> Yes.
So
this is the tube.
And as you can see it is rather big.
God. The piece the piece here at the end
>> Yeah. is what they call the thick glass
because if dust settles on the tube
you have a problem. It sits there the
entire time and you have a speck
on your movie.
And if the camera pans, you know, the
the
>> [clears throat]
>> the speck just sits there and you can
totally see it. So they the way to do to
avoid that was that they came up with is
to put a big really thick piece of
glass. More than half the weight sits
just in this glass. Wow. And it puts the
the piece of dust if there is one way
outside the focal plane.
Oh, that's brilliant. That's so
brilliant. Yeah.
So you guys are are printing on the same
kind of reels like two, three minutes at
a time? Yes. What is the how slow is how
good I was not going to say how fast is
this. How slow is this?
>> So once upon a time we could get a lot
better speeds but with the CRTs as they
age they get dimmer and we have to
expose the image longer in order to get
the same exposure.
>> Am I correct that all the CRTs that have
ever been built for this are already
built and you're just grabbing new old
stock where it shows up?
>> And seeing if we can get them
refurbished which is a job
unto itself.
>> Oh my, can't even imagine. These are
technologies that are rapidly their
support structure is disappearing all
the time. It is, yeah. So they get
slower as they age.
>> Yeah. Currently we're running somewhere
between a minute and two and a half
minutes per frame. Oh my gosh. You
thought 12 and 1/2 seconds was slow?
A minute to a minute and a half. Um and
this is so like Christopher Nolan shoots
on film, he brings a couple of different
shots that need a an effect done to them
that is executed on these.
>> Exactly. Incredible. My joke is
I got tired of watching paint dry.
Grass grew too quickly [laughter] for me
so I went into film recording.
Hilarious. How many backup CRT tubes do
you have in stock currently?
How about the other question?
>> [laughter]
>> I have like seven machines in the room
and about four of them are working. Oh
my gosh.
>> Because of the CRTs. Um so I I would
imagine there are people working on
solving this problem currently. Yes.
>> Okay. There are various solutions by a
couple different groups trying to find
basically find replacements for the CRT.
Because this still exceeds the precision
of anything currently being built. And
reliability. You want something that's
not only precise but is reliable that
you can put a thousand feet of film, do
it a frame at a time, and 4,000 frames
later
get it processed, look at the print, and
go, "Yep, that looks good." Amazing.
>> Every time. Um I notice it's freezing
cold in this room. You're way colder
even than in the other in the scanning
room.
>> That's a little bit accidental. It's
supposed to be the same temperature and
humidity as the other [laughter] room.
Um because we used at one point we used
to have 18 of these machines. If you can
imagine 18 of them packed into this room
You needed to pump a lot of cool into
here to keep them all running optimally.
Exactly. Wow.
>> So, we've made some adjustments to the
temperature to accommodate for fewer
machines, but it's still cold. So, in
this day and age when some filmmakers
can leave critical decisions about a
shot up until days before the film's
release, they must have a rude awakening
when they come to you guys for post. I'm
sure they do. [laughter] I'm hoping that
they go, "Oh, okay, let's figure this
out. Let's make sure that this works."
Well, I mean because the deadlines are
real deadlines. Um this has been such an
eye-opener. Uh thank you so much, man.
This is
incredible.