As a part of his Oscars 2024 winning speech, Oppenheimer’s cinematographer – Hoyte van Hoytema, advises filmmakers to shoot on film. “It’s much easier than you think,” he says. What do you think of his advice?
To all aspiring filmmakers out there, I would like to say please try shooting with that incredible, new, hip thing called ‘celluloid. It’s much easier than you think. And it makes things look so much better.
Oppenheimer DP – Hoyte van Hoytema
Hoyte takes the Oscars
It’s not a secret that the acclaimed IMAX cinematographer and Christopher Nolan’s cinematic partner, Hoyte Van Hoytema NSC FSF ASC, loves shooting on film. He has said before that he trusts celluloid and doesn’t want to shoot on digital. Indeed, it was worth it, as Hoytema took the Oscars 2024 Cinematography award for Oppenheimer. Furthermore, during his speech at the 96th Annual Academy Awards in Hollywood, Hoytema gave a piece of advice to filmmakers: “To all aspiring filmmakers out there, I would like to say please try shooting with that incredible, new, hip thing called ‘celluloid. It’s much easier they think. And it makes things look so much better” Hoytema stated and praised the extraordinary imagery crafted from the mighty IMAX film cameras utilized by him in all Christopher Nolan masterpieces.
Panavision introduces the bespoke probe lens
In continuation of our articles focusing on the lenses behind Oppenheimer, Panavision has just officially introduced the custom-made lens used to film the macro particle shots. As stated by Panavision: “In celebration of The Oscars, we’re showcasing a special, custom probe lens created exclusively for Oppenheimer captivating microphotography sequences, designed by Panavision’s Senior Vice President of Optical Engineering and Lens Strategy Dan Sasaki (aka The Lens Guru)”. Moreover, “To represent Oppenheimer’s visions of an atomic detonation, ASC Award winning #cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema ASC FSF NSC needed to be able to photograph submerged wood and aluminum flakes, burning thermite, and other microscopic elements in 15-perf IMAX. Van Hoytema called upon Panavision’s special optics team to design a custom, watertight, interchangeable IMAX lens relay. Onscreen, the result is an immersive view of Oppenheimer’s mental visions of atoms colliding and setting off chain reactions” Panavision added. Explore this very special lens below:
As explained, the lens was specially designed to be paired with IMAX 9802 film cameras, in order to craft those excellent atomic particle shots instead of just using special effects.
Closing thoughts
We wrote numerous articles regarding the advantages of shooting on film (discipline, accuracy, costs – in some cases, and of course, the texture of the imagery). Note that IMAX film costs like gold ($1,500 for 3 minutes of shooting at 24 frames per second) and might be used by high-end production only. However, many independent filmmakers do shoot on ARRIFLEX and ARRICAM film cameras, even in low-budget projects, just to get the authentic look of celluloid. Will you consider using film in your next project?
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