Pixar Created a Virtual IMAX Camera to Shoot LIGHTYEAR on a Bigger Scale
Pixar Animation Studios has also been at the forefront of innovation in the animation industry and when it comes to their upcoming film Lightyear, they wanted to shoot the film on a bigger scale than anything that’s been done before with an animated project. So, they went ahead and created a full virtual IMAX camera to shoot the film.
Jane Yen, Lightyear visual effects supervisor, revealed this cool little tech detail during a recent press conference, saying, "We created a virtual IMAX camera with 1.43:1 aspect ratio and developed a pipeline to allow us to simultaneously shoot the film for IMAX, and then crop down for our standard 2.39:1 format."
As for how the camera actually works CB talked to Lightyear's director of photography, Jeremy Lasky and he shared:
"I think this is the first that has been made for IMAX in this way. There's about a third of the film that was shot for IMAX. And the easy answer is that we have a set of lenses. And when I say lenses, I mean CG made. t's all just code, right? A set of lenses that recreate the look of an amorphic lens, which is your typical wide screen. You'll notice things out of focus in the background instead of being round are like stretched a little bit. There's like that blue lens flare that you see. It's anamorphic lenses where the way to shoot wide screen in the sixties, seventies, and then later got phased out a little bit, but they're still used today. But those effects call to a period of sci-fi that we were looking at, which is why those same lenses or versions of those lenses were used on Wall-E."
Lasky went on to explain how the sci-fi films from the '70s and '80s influenced the look of Lightyear, and eventually led them to creating this IMAX camera to shoot with:
"It's hearkening back to this kind of film, this period of filmmaking. The IMAX stuff, if you've ever seen a piece of IMAX film, it's gigantic. They're shooting it on these huge things. And it presents a different look than standard 35 millimeter film because of the size of the film or the size of the sensor, if you're shooting digitally. Now, we said, 'Okay, well, let's be true to this. If we're going to make this in IMAX, let's really do it.' So our lenses were modified. We built a set of lenses that actually are IMAX. They're approximating shooting on a larger sensor. So your depth, the field feels different. The character relationships at different lenses or focal lengths feel different. The flare feels different, the lens flare.
"So for the 30 or so minutes of the movie in IMAX, we shot with those lenses opened up to the 1.43 aspect ratio and composed for that while keeping the composition as clear and as solid for a 2.39 crop from the center. So the wide screen image is pulled out of the IMAX image. Which all sounds really technical, but all it really means is, when you're watching it an IMAX screen, we were thinking about those scenes as IMAX. And it wasn't just some after the film was done, blow up of the movie."
I love the technical side of filmmaking and what they’ve done here is completely fascinating to me! This virtual IMAX camera is definitely going to help take animated film productions to the next level. I’m excited to see what it actually brings to Lightyear when I watch it in IMAX.
Lightyear hits theaters on June 17th. Make sure to check out the most recent trailer for the film here!