This weekend, DreamWorks will release the live-action version of “How to Train Your Dragon.” A few weeks later, “F1: the Movie” opens, followed by “Superman.”
All three films have one thing in common: they were filmed for Imax. But what exactly does that mean? And is it really worth it for moviegoers to spend a few more dollars to watch a movie in Imax?
The key differences between the two phrases used to promote the large-screen format? “Filmed for Imax” is a program for filmmakers shooting on digital that allows them to maximize each aspect of Imax’s technology offerings throughout the production process to deliver a movie that is meant to be seen in Imax.
“Shot with Imax,” on the other hand, refers to movies that are shot on celluloid film with a special Imax camera before being converted to digital for projection.
Bruce Markoe, senior vice president, head of post production at Imax, delves into the “Filmed for Imax” process and explains the key differences between a non-Imax film, “Filmed for Imax” and “Shot with Imax.”
What exactly does ‘Filmed for Imax’ mean?
Every movie that Imax releases is actually still a unique version, meaning that the filmmaker has the opportunity to optimize the movie visually and sonically with a sound for our format.
“Filmed for Imax” takes it to a whole other level. These are movies where the filmmakers are far more involved from the very beginning of pre-production, production and post-production with us. They’re doing things that enable them to shoot the movie with a unique version explicitly for Imax theaters and exclusively for Imax. The “Filmed for Imax” program has a lot of both requirements and recommendations that filmmakers follow to create this unique version of the movie for our theaters and audiences. That’s the differentiator between normal movies that are still optimized for Imax.
There’s also ‘Shot with Imax,’ another line we’ve been seeing. What does that mean?
Those movies that were shot with our film cameras receive that kind of nomenclature. Those are different than the Filmed for Imax movies, which are all shot with digital cameras. However, a lot of the same kind of process takes place in the making of the movie when they’re shooting with our film cameras. Those movies still do a lot of testing and reviews, and filmmakers work very closely with us throughout the entire production, since it’s our camera on set, whereas the “Filmed for Imax” program is using certified digital cameras that are not necessarily unique to us.
Are there any other differences audiences need to be aware of?
Movies in the “Filmed for Imax” program have an exclusive expanded aspect ratio – 1:90:1 – that’s only available to see in our theaters. Movies shot with our film cameras also have that exclusive expanded aspect ratio, because that’s inherent to our film camera. But with the digital camera, they actually have to make creative decisions to shoot for the taller aspect ratio in Imax, since our screens have a taller aspect ratio. The idea is we want filmmakers to actually create a movie that’s going to be more immersive by filling our entire screen, which is how Imax was designed many years ago, to have these wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling screens.
We want the filmmakers to shoot and capture these dual aspect ratios, so we get the taller aspect ratio exclusively for our cinemas. The key is that they have to shoot the movie creatively for our taller aspect ratio, and it’s a technical thing they have to do on set.
One of the things we do with filmmakers is, if it’s a movie that’s being considered to be a film for Imax, we do demonstrations for the director, the DP, the producers and some of the key people on the production team, and they come in and they look at what other filmmakers have done with expanded aspect ratio and how movies kind of play in our Imax environment, because they may not be familiar with it. By seeing these demonstrations, they’re now asking technical questions. “How do I achieve the dual aspect ratio? How do I shoot the movie to be specifically for Imax while still protecting for the non-Imax version? So we start answering all these questions with them. They then go off and shoot camera tests and lens tests, and that’s probably one of the most important parts of the program, the testing and reviews. What this does is it enables them to make really important creative decisions about what lenses they’re using, how they’re planning to shoot and light, and how it’s playing back in a more immersive Imax screen.
There’s a growing demand from audiences to see films in Imax. Currently, how many screens are there? And what is the plan for Imax to expand as audiences come out for that experience?
We are over 1800 screens worldwide, and we have a back order that we are building as fast as we can.
At every Imax theater, we build the projectors and design the sound systems. Sound is important in Imax, and our speakers are powerful. We play our movies all at reference sound level, which also makes it a more immersive experience. Some people might think our movies are too loud. We don’t turn them up. We’re actually playing them as they were intended to be heard. We are selling and building more theaters because of this recent emphasis for consumers and audiences to want to go see things on the biggest screen possible.