American Cinematographer - March 1990 - 37

among the greater population.
Toward that end, the Network

sponsored To The Limit, kicking
off a series of films which will
take advantage of the IMAX for¬
mat's unique ability to educate as
well as entertain. To shape the

dry facts of science into an excit¬
ing, wondrous filmic experience,
the Network and its executive

producers at NOVA turned to
MacGillivray / Freeman.
"This is slightly different
from the other films we've done
because it has

more

of

a

science

topics visually most interesting to
him as a lay person.
"In a way, it came about
backwards," he says. "Because
the most important consideration
in an IMAX film is the image, the
decisions on the content of the
movie were based on what I

thought would look best. And
some of the most
fascinating im¬
ages came from the realm of
endoscopic and microscopic pho¬
tography."
The company's further
research revealed that the endo¬

orientation, and its main purpose
is education," says Greg MacGil¬

scope, a

livray, the company's president.

which trans¬
mits images

"The idea behind the movie is to
take the audience and improve
their understanding of science
with the powerful medium of
IMAX. People get excited by an
IMAX

film, they are thrilled and
surprised by it, but in this case the
main thing is that people are
educated by it. Our company is
very committed to this cause; we
feel that if we do our job right we
can

make a film that is both enter¬

taining and educational. We're
dedicated to making some kind
of positive impact with our films
we don't just look at it as show
business. We try to give our char¬
acters a high

-

sense

of

optic

small
tube

"
..

first tried to build

bigger and
quality endoscopes. After
inadequate results, MFF turned

better
to

Innovision, Inc.,

which had

version. Innovision's tool

new

then improved and adapted.
The advanced endoscope, com¬
bined with adaptations to their
IMAX camera, alleviated much of
was

the

degradation of image.
MacGillivray explains the camera
alterations:
"We

.You want to

areas, gener¬

audience, because
that's where the

is - it looks like a bunch of mush.
A doctor with 30 years experience

knows what he's

looking at. So
to show that

image to an au¬

re¬

IMAX

intermedi¬

ary film step.
We developed
an IMAX cam¬
era with a re¬

volving mirror,
or a

Panaflex,

that

you're
shooting through a pellicle -
you get rid of that extra piece of
glass. The result is a slightly
sharper image with enhanced
so

not

contrast.

"Also, our camera was recon¬
structed with a movable front so
that the circular endoscopic im¬

age could be positioned any¬
where on the IMAX frame. We
did tests in an Omnimax theater
to determine exactly where that
circle should be in order to give
the audience the feeling of trav¬

dience would
have
been

provide young
people good

meaningless,

role models,

tually work
against the suc¬

eling down a tunnel. It was a very

of the film
because you'd
need three or
four minutes of

way an

good examples
of how to live
life."
MacGil¬

cess

livray spent

a
full year re-

narration to

ex¬

critical decision because of the

Omnimax theater audi¬
have
it too high, it would be unpleas¬
ant and it wouldn't give you the
feeling of traveling down a tun¬
ence

views the movie. If you

searching

plain to the au-

nel; too low it would be cut off at

medical films,
films that used

dience what

the bottom."

they're seeing.

endoscopic

You want to
minimize nar¬

Each of the organs fea¬
tured in the physiological exami¬
nation was photographed differ¬

and

micro¬

scopic photography, X-ray pho¬
tography, magnetic resonance
imaging, CAT scanning, thermal
imaging - a myriad of ways to
visually represent what occurs in
the human body. Based on that
research, MacGillivray chose the

ration with

an

IMAX film. You

want to let the visuals

speak to

the audience, because that's
where the power is."
To solve the resolution

problem, MacGillivray and tech¬
nical director Christopher Reyna

March 1990

respiratory

sequence.

nega¬

so
that the films

ac¬

vides the thrills in
the

avoiding

sponsibility

and would

blowup) Below:
Expert climber
Tony Yaniro pro¬

like an Arriflex

is."

power
"They're made
operations,
basically, and doctors know what
they're looking at," MacGillivray
explains. "If you look through an
endoscope into your arm or your
stomach, you don't know what it

format's high
resolution. (Frame

able to

an

speak to the

for

were

tive,

let the visuals

lution pictures.

attributable to the

photo¬
graph from the endoscope di¬
rectly onto the

from otherwise
inaccessible

ally yielded
very low reso¬

a company

developed their own

Opposite page:
IMAX's ability to
convey a sense of
vertigo is in part

ently; perhaps the most fascinat¬
ing example was the heart. "We
weren't able to photograph in a
live, beating heart, because the
blood that would be inside the
heart would actually block the
view.

Instead, we got hearts from

American

Cinematographer

35
American Cinematographer - March 1990

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