Can Anyone Shoot an IMAX Film? From Production to the Big Screen – Focus Check ep142

by Felix TappeinerToday

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Can anyone shoot for IMAX? Three months before his premiere, Stephen Skeel was googling “what is IMAX”, and a few weeks later he was sitting in IMAX’s own screening room at its headquarters, watching his short film on the big screen. His video agency 7 Wonders has no studio and no IMAX film camera – just a rented FUJIFILM GFX ETERNA 55, internal ProRes 422 HQ and a team small enough that autofocus was a requirement.

Instead of the weekly news round-up, Nino sits down with Stephen Skeel, executive producer at the US-based 7 Wonders. They talk about his Odyssey-inspired short with Greek reenactors that started as an experiment for the company’s own YouTube channel. They discuss why the FUJIFILM GFX ETERNA 55 was chosen as a Filmed for IMAX-certified camera, and why so few theaters can project the full 1.43:1 image. They also shre the story behind the dozens of emails it took to arrange a screening, how The Odyssey turned IMAX into a major marketing story, and what Stephen would do differently next time.

This episode is sponsored by Hollyland (04:33 in this episode). Check out the Pyro S wireless video transmitter: http://cined.co/nImvmn

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From a Google search to IMAX headquarters

(01:09 in the episode)

Stephen’s starting point was the hype around Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey and the renewed interest in premium large-format cinema. After more than ten years in video he had never touched that world, so he started with a search. What he found was an ecosystem: IMAX’s own 70mm film cameras, which no independent filmmaker gets near, and the Filmed for IMAX program, IMAX’s short list of certified digital cinema cameras. That list turned the idea into a project. Once the short was finished, a chain of emails led to IMAX itself, which invited 7 Wonders to screen at its facility and authored the proprietary theatrical file for them.

Read more: FUJIFILM GFX ETERNA 55 joins the Filmed for IMAX program

Why a run-and-gun team picked the GFX ETERNA 55

(05:24 in the episode)

Nino asks the obvious question: why not rent a VENICE or a V-RAPTOR? Stephen’s answer is autofocus. This was not a client project, and the other certified cameras need an AC and a focus puller – far too much for a scrappy production. The ETERNA 55 was the one camera on the list a small team could actually run.

Why put in the time and money at all? 7 Wonders mostly does branded work and client YouTube channels, and wanted its own channel to explore the filmmaking process. Stephen’s point: everyone in this business needs a project that excites them beyond client work.

Read more: FUJIFILM GFX ETERNA 55 first-look review

What IMAX actually wants from a digital camera

(07:21 in the episode)

Nino separates the two things audiences confuse: shooting on IMAX film cameras with their 65mm negative, as Nolan did for all of The Odyssey, and Filmed for IMAX, a certification IMAX gives to a handful of digital cameras. Stephen’s understanding is that IMAX wants a large and, above all, tall sensor to fill its taller screens. The FUJIFILM ETERNA 55 can shoot 8K, but not from the full sensor readout, so the recommendation was 4K 4:3 open gate. Stephen says only 41 IMAX theatres worldwide can project 1.43:1, most of them on 70mm film – and only five can do it digitally.

Read more: How Christopher Nolan shot The Odyssey entirely on IMAX film

Internal ProRes and the IMAX branding problem

(11:20 in the episode)

To keep the kit light at remote locations, the team skipped external raw and shot everything internally in ProRes 422 HQ. IMAX told Stephen raw is the preference, but ProRes was fine for building the file – and on the big screen he saw no image breakdown.

Nino adds the context most cinema-goers miss: IMAX has licensed its name to many digital theatres without the full screen size or aspect ratio, while many of the original tall screens have closed – including one in Vienna, torn down around 15 years ago.

Read more: FUJIFILM GFX ETERNA 55 released – final features discussed

Lenses for a very tall sensor

(14:17 in the episode)

Nino’s instinct for a historical subject would be vintage glass. The rental house even suggested anamorphics, but those would not have delivered the readout the 1.43:1 projection needs, and the team needed full coverage plus native GF-mount autofocus. That left Fujifilm’s GF stills primes and the GF 32-90mm power zoom. Stephen admits it is not the look he would have designed from scratch, but he is pleased with the result. Nino notes how few lenses cover the sensor at all – and that many which do are stills lenses that need gears and adapting for film work.

Read more: FUJINON GF 32-90mm T3.5 PZ OIS WR announced

Dozens of emails to find a screen

(17:00 in the episode)

Most theatres never replied. Those that said no cited schedules packed with The Odyssey, the wrong technical setup – 1.43:1 on 70mm film but only 1.90:1 digitally – or a screening fee 7 Wonders could not cover at the time. The Tennessee Aquarium IMAX was the exception: its team worked through the dead ends with them instead of closing the door. Stephen, an executive producer on a normal day, says the outreach scratched as much of an itch as the technical side.

The Odyssey effect

(19:50 in the episode)

Nino’s observation: until The Odyssey, few audiences knew what IMAX film meant. Nolan has always cut IMAX film shots into his action scenes, but this time the making-of itself became the marketing – which Nino connects to an appetite for analog authenticity while AI looms over visual effects.

Stephen, whose only film experience is the Super 8 at his own wedding, says he would be too nervous to shoot film professionally. What excites him is the renewed love for the process: projectionists dusting off 70mm projectors, and audiences going back to the cinema because they care how films are made.

Read more: IMAX unveils new 70mm film camera “Keighley”

Should you try it – and how to frame 1.43:1

(24:20 in the episode)

Stephen’s answer is yes – but expect to learn how unforgiving focus planes are on a sensor this large. IMAX’s head of post-production watched the film with him and pointed out what he would change. Framing with 2.39:1 guides while monitoring the full 4:3 image was manageable; the hard part was keeping key subject information below the top crop line on low-angle shots with the ETERNA on a DJI Ronin 2, where the gimbal fights the tilt. He also points to Meta’s new VR glasses and their IMAX certification as another way to watch tall formats.

Protecting other aspect ratios – and the YouTube cut

(28:27 in the episode)

Even Nolan has to protect 1.90:1 and 16:9 versions, Nino points out, so committing fully to 1.43:1 is hard. In the 7 Wonders YouTube video, the short is shown briefly at its true aspect ratio and then scaled to fill a 16:9 screen – the one thing commenters criticised. Stephen plans to release the film in 1.43:1, with requests already coming from Apple Vision Pro users; Nino’s tip is a separate YouTube upload, which respects the original aspect ratio.

What’s next

(31:05 in the episode)

Full disclosure: we were put in touch with Stephen by a contact at FUJIFILM who liked the project. Neither FUJIFILM nor IMAX was involved in making the film – the camera came from Lensrentals, and Stephen only showed FUJIFILM the finished short.

Next for 7 Wonders: more process videos on its channel, from the DIY visual effects to the outreach – and possibly a large-format follow-up, after the reenactment group called about a big event in Greece next year at locations where Nolan shot The Odyssey.

Read more: “Can Anyone Film an IMAX Movie?” – 7 Wonders on YouTube

Would you try shooting for a screen this size? Let us know in the comments below or on YouTube, or email us at [email protected]. And if you would like more long-form interviews like this alongside the weekly news, tell us that too. Subscribe to Focus Check on your favourite podcast platform.