IMAX Boasts 26% More James Bond ‘Skyfall’

http://www.deadline.com/hollywood/

The IMAX blog today details the latest James Bond film Skyfall and its special formatting to show 1/4 more image throughout the entire pic. The 23rd installment of the 007 franchise opens one day early on November 8th in IMAX. Here’s the IMAX info and comparison chart:



The filmmakers worked with the IMAX team in the post-production process to increase the aspect ratio of the film and designed the IMAX presentation of Skyfall to allow audiences to see up to 26% more of the originally captured image. The technical term for the proportional relationship between an image’s width and its height is called aspect ratio. A film made for CinemaScope 2.41:1, the standard in the industry, is cropped and uses only part of the image the movie camera captures. Like with Skyfall, we provide filmmakers with the ability to optimize their film’s aspect ratio for an IMAX screen during production by shooting with the extremely high-resolution IMAX camera (capable of up to IMAX® 1.43:1—up to 40% more of the picture) or in post-production (capable of up to IMAX® 1.90:1—up to 26% more of the picture). So what does this mean for moviegoers? You get to see much more of the original image, resulting in a full panoramic view that makes you feel part of the action.

Does this mean that SKYFALL will be shown in the 1.43:1 ratio? If so, I'm suddenly much more interested in catching an IMAX screening.

1.90:1 would also be fine and dandy, I guess, but 1.43:1 would be dramatically different to the standard aspect ratio of 2.35:1.

Nah, it's not 1:43. But it will look stunning in IMAX. I saw the trailer at an IMAX screening and it knocked my socks off.

It's 1.9, Deakins said so, and he oughta know.

Are we sure that this is truly "opening up the mattes" or is IMAX zooming in on the image. PROMETHEUS had a taller image in IMAX and I assume it was a pan and scan job (mostly because I assumed digital cameras would output video in the aspect the director and DP intended).

Yes, it's Pan & Scan, it's a con, don't believe the hype. They cut half the image and SF will be 1.18:1 like the old silent films.

PS: the film will play silent in IMAX also, with only the music.

Tubes wrote:

Are we sure that this is truly "opening up the mattes" or is IMAX zooming in on the image. PROMETHEUS had a taller image in IMAX and I assume it was a pan and scan job (mostly because I assumed digital cameras would output video in the aspect the director and DP intended).

In this case, they are opening up the mattes.

Stamper wrote:

SF will be 1.18:1 like the old silent films.

And the problem with that would be....?

However, it seems that the IMAX projection of SKYFALL won't be "flat", i.e. a square-shaped screen and no "widescreen", but if they were going to show it that way it wouldn't be pan-and-scan and there would be no cutting of half the image. On the contrary, the image would be opened up to its fullest extent.

That's my very non-technical understanding of it, anyway, and based on the two shots in this thread of the person at the wheel of the car.

I'm just kidding cos it('s all very clear in the original post link

Just got back from the IMAX screening. Glad I went with Harms' recommendation, it was quite awesome how they were able to upconvert it to make it look as good as possible on IMAX, much better looking than TDKR's sections that were non-IMAX.