Nolan’s IMAX Dream vs India’s Screens

Context

The release of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey is revolutionary in the movie business, and for the first time, the entire movie was filmed using IMAX cameras.

Key Highlights

• Nolan has always placed great emphasis on the 15/70mm IMAX format as the best way to see his films.
• The Odyssey will not be able to be screened in its original 15/70mm format in India, however, as there is no commercial theatre that can screen it in that format.

What Makes 15/70mm IMAX Special?

• The 15/70mm format is a 70mm wide strip of film with 15 perforations per frame, resulting in an image similar to 18K resolution.
• It has a 1.43:1 aspect ratio, meaning that the picture is quite tall and immersive compared with traditional movie screens.
• Each frame is almost 10 times the size of a conventional 35mm film frame, allowing for superb visual detail.
• Need highly specialised projectors, large film reels and trained staff.
• One 15/70mm print of The Odyssey is said to be more than 17 kilometres of celluloid and weigh 240 kilograms: enough to make a small elephant.

Why India Cannot Screen the Native IMAX Version

• The film was then processed conventionally, and the movie’s colour corrections were completed manually, using photochemical techniques.
• The original colour negative was physically assembled and then used to create special release prints.
• Very few theaters in the world have the capability of showing the 15/70mm IMAX films.
• Digital projection systems like 2K Xenon, 4K Commercial Laser and 4K XT Laser dominate the commercial IMAX market in India.
• These systems tend to be limited to an aspect ratio of 1.90:1, as opposed to the 1.43:1 aspect ratio for The Odyssey.
• Indian viewers may see an image that has been cut off at the top and bottom, as part of the original frame.

Infrastructure and Economic Constraints

• The lack of 15/70mm IMAX theatres is due to considerations of architecture and economics.
• Specialized film projectors need a huge screen, a vast projection room and a lot of maintenance.
• The production, distribution and storage of heavy film prints is commercially challenging.
• For exhibitors, digital distribution via encrypted hard drives is much more cost-effective, quicker and more convenient.

India’s Missed IMAX Opportunity

• Gujarat Science City, Ahmedabad, has a 1.43:1 aspect ratio screen and a 15/70mm IMAX projector.
• But it is not a film school, though, and its educational mission and special facilities are not geared towards commercial feature-length films.
• Its projection system is geared for shorter educational material and isn’t easily able to handle a 172-minute movie like The Odyssey.

Way Ahead

• India should give a boost to investment in the advanced cinema infrastructure and in the specialized large-format projection technologies.
• Building world-class facilities for art and entertainment may be possible with public-private collaborations.
• Improved technological strength in cinema can also boost the creative economy and cultural soft power of India.
• But expansion of infrastructure has to be commercially viable and adapt to the shifting tastes of the audience.

Conclusion

• The Odyssey is a testament to the fact that cinema is a growing art, technology and infrastructure convergence.
• Nolan’s original 15/70mm IMAX format was not screened in India, revealing the disparity between world-class filmmaking and domestic capacity.
• The challenge is not simply to watch one movie in a specific format, but to create a system to sustain the latest and greatest in creative technologies.

Source: The Indian Express

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