04.12.2019 AXEL ONLINE #11

FROM FREDERIKSHAVN TO HOLLYWOOD

Steen Dalin DFF tells the story of a Danish camera adventure The early rack-over Mitchell from the 1920s was best suited for animation. The later ones with a rotating AN OMINOUS PROLOGUE mirror caused problems with light-intake. Aardman Animations in Bristol salvaged their fleet of Timing is everything! It makes me recall Mitchells from discarded Lancaster bombers from WW2 a personal example of really bad timing. Throughout the 1990s Casper Høyberg and I frequently did cinematography on 3-D model animation. We tumbled around with very old and heavy, but classic rack-over 35mm cameras. They were absolutely light-proof in contrast to modern reflex cameras. How come we thought, since an animated scene rarely exceeds 10 seconds in duration. Why not use a still-camera? On Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, some sequences featured ‘Indy’ and co. in railcar-dumpers in a rollercoaster-like chase. They were made as model-stop-motion utilizing ordinary Nikons equipped with a bulk-film-magazine, hosting 100 feet of 35mm film. Of course Spielberg and George Lucas had the advantage of reinventing VistaVision by a horizontal filmstrip in a 24×36mm format. Whereas our 35mm film ran vertically spending half the negative. But my very first camera as a teenager was an upright half- format 18×24mm carrying 72 pictures in a roll. Exactly the standard Academy ratio. So why not try to revive that format? Our technical supporter was a Polish engineer and he went absolutely ecstatic about the idea. On his own initiative he put the entire Technical University of Denmark to work on the project, spending half of his family’s fortune. But alas! When the prototype was ready, the industry had already moved on to digital platforms. 2 As a summer substitute at Egmont video-frame-grab systems. The third and last Imagination, producing commercial 3-D summer, shortly before Egmont pulled the animation in an old Copenhagen dairy, I plug, stop motion had rapidly gone digital myself witnessed the change over three years: with ordinary cheap DSLR cameras. So we had Starting out with 35mm Mitchells, which invented a revolutionary stop-motion camera soon next year were replaced by freakish at the worst possible time.

These look like upright selfies from a mobile phone. Self-portrait anno 1970 from my Yashica half-format camera on 35mm film A Danish designed puppet-armature-skeleton 3 for stop motion animation BACK TO THE FUTURE However, it seems as though the trio behind Logmar Camera Solutions have executed perfect timing: They unveiled a brand new 65mm handheld camera in April 2018 to be displayed at Cine Gear in Los Angeles a couple of months later. Quite ideal as it coincided with an intense focus on large format at the 2018 Summit. Promptly cinematographer-stars such as (La La Land & First Man) and Hoyte van Hoytema (Interstellar & Dunkirk) found their way to Logmar’s exhibition stand.

Linus Sandgren FSF tries out the Magellan 65mm by Hoyte van Hoytema FSF NSC ASC the same the Paramount stand at Cine Gear 2018 camera on his shoulder 4 The two of them famous cinematographers nominated for and possessing great experience in 65mm. Both members of the Swedish Society of Cinematographers, one might add. Along with other participants at the Cine Gear, they showed great interest in a wide-format camera of such small dimensions, a total weight of only 12 kilograms including 122 meters of film.

But how can such an advanced machinery anonymously originate from a grain silo on a dock in the small coastal town of Frederikshavn in northern Denmark of all places? Development began in 2014, when mechanical engineer Tommy Lau Madsen retires from the lighting company Martin Professional based in Aarhus, Denmark’s second-largest city. Now he has time to cultivate a passion from early childhood: FILM! Not the digital kind but good old celluloid. He starts off in miniature by designing the perfect Super 8 camera. Tommy is systematic in his approach. Initially he is forced to learn how to operate a 3-D CAD software. Then he acquires a 3D-printer in order to make sure the individual pieces will fit together in multiple experimental setups on his kitchen table. To deal with the electronics, he requests assistance from Italian Rodolfo Zitellini. Based in Switzerland he is now associated to the company. But Tommy’s camera is not at all an Tommy Lau Madsen along with his working tool average classic Super 8 camera: a 3-D CAD computer

5 The optical viewfinder has been replaced by a flip-out screen, as on any ordinary digital camera. Inside is a small electronic camera reading off the ground glass. It receives the image from a mirror on a super light-weight guillotine-shutter. The plastic pressure plate of the Kodak cassette has been made obsolete. Instead the film is dragged out of the cassette, looped around a sprocket wheel and lead into the film-gate, held tight by a metal pressure- plate. During exposure a registration-pin ensures optimal picture steadiness. A regular feature on professional 16 and 35mm cameras, but unprecedented with 8mm. Moreover the film-gate has been widened to meet present- day 16×9 format. In addition it is provided with an integrated digital sound recorder and Wi-Fi connection.

Voilà! A first-time modern Super 8 camera has been created since VHS eradicated the small home-movie film format more than 30 years ago. Tommy does not possess actual production facilities. A machine shop in Dragør near Copenhagen deliver the individual parts, while fitting, adjustment and miscellaneous tests are done by Tommy in majestic solitude. In 2014 fifty cameras were produced and sold in collaboration by a company in Los Angeles.

At first glance Chatham looks like any other digital camera

6 The Super 8 film is pulled out of the cassette to the film-transport integrated in the camera

7 Kodak was not the only Super 8 camera in the swinging sixties Pro8mm is a small business in Burbank than when they originally left the factory. They slice up 35mm film into 8mm strips. These specialising in everything to do with Super 8. develop super 8 film and provide digitalization can be perforated and put into cassettes so For many years they have been renovating and of all formats in an extensive program. But that the entire Kodak program becomes available. rebuilding old Beaulieu and Bolex cameras. is not all. To accommodate the growing revival Positive as well as negative film. To a degree in which they appear far better of the format, they have built equipment to

8 Magellan & Chatham in the hands of cinematographer Moises Perez at Cine Gear THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK At this point the last person in the trio, cinematographer Orla Nielsen DFF, takes on the responsibility of conducting a vigorous testing program as well as manual trials. The reason being that a well known player has announced its arrival. Kodak has been inspired by Logmar to make their own Super 8 camera revival. “They asked us if we wanted in and financed us to develop a brand new Kodak Super 8 camera. The camera is very much alike our Chatham. We made them ten cameras, which were tested in all sorts of possible ways. Even in climate chambers by German standards including hundreds of rolls going through each camera. It became a very good camera but in a more classic version. It does not have a sprocket-wheel and a registration- pin. It was determined to be too cumbersome and unfit for the use by amateurs. Nevertheless it is accompanied by the extended wide format, the viewfinder screen and all the electronic innovations. Furthermore it has a C-mount similar to the classic Beaulieu and Bolex, hence more affordable optics is an option. However Kodak decided the camera to be mass-produced in China. Our ten Logmar cameras served as an inspiration and by now they have been put on the shelf. They are the property of Kodak although very often lent out to famous filmmakers in USA making use of them for different projects.” Kodak drew heavily on the experiences of Logmar for their new camera 9 During the process of developing the Super 8 camera, Tommy and Orla acquired a vast number of international contacts among professional players. By now they have relocated from Tommy’s kitchen table into a brand new office in the restored Kattegat Silo at the docks in Frederikshavn. Gradually a new project is crystallising in the mind of Tommy.

10 ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT WOMAN His own son has often tormented him by asking why in the world would he mess around with a small-scale Super 8 camera, when he could do something larger – like a 65mm camera? Going abroad with the Chatham camera, Tommy often obtained information about the format. But everyone tells him not to embark on such a venture: “65mm film has absolutely no future,” they say. Which only makes him want to try even harder. Why not go a step further, implementing the technological innovations of the Chatham Super 8 to a professional 65mm camera? Quite often they are too big, too heavy and much too clumsy? The Kodak camera project is complete so now Tommy can go ahead designing once again. This time assisted by a professional cinematographer, namely Orla Nielsen:

“We found out we were virtually alone on the market. Arri does not rent out 65mm and they cannot be bought anymore, because Arri is putting faith in digital large-format. They made approximately 12 editions of model 765 about 20-25 years ago. They were either sold or rented out and by now they must have been spread across the world. Panavision still has a lot of cameras but very few can be operated by hand. Most of them are colossal blimped cameras intended for use in studios. Our camera is not blimped and 65mm certainly Orla & Tommy in the new office with the Magellan 65mm does not run silent. But we have minimized the 11 camera to 65mm. Instead of the traditional Carl Zeiss lenses for Hasselblad precisely covers the 65mm image rotating mirror the camera is equipped with a guillotine-shutter, saving both weight and volume. The high-responsive mirror of the shutter creates an image on the ground glass. That image is picked up by a tiny Sony camera inside, passing it on to the fold-out screen. Alternatively, it can be transmitted by Wi-Fi to any monitor or smart phone. A well defined image in high resolution will always be available, despite aperture or light conditions. Of course the camera can be remote-controlled, no matter if it is mounted on a crane or the wing of an airplane. The electronics also control frame rates of 2-54 fps and provide information on film usage.

This being an article in a cinematographic media, we haven’t even touched on the built-in sound recorder and the five-pin XLR connector. The choice of lens-mount was a subject of much scrutiny. Finally the entire series of Hasselblad 500cm lenses was selected. Besides being a standard item at an affordable cost, these magnificent Carl Zeiss lenses precisely cover a 65mm image. Arri and other mounts can be installed without problems. The machine shop in Dragør is noise by replacing all rotating metal parts with The minimal weight and the small dimensions still the supplier of components, but for the belt drives. Even the dual registration-pins are of the Magellan camera is due to the new new camera an additional company from belt-driven so the only item producing a noise features being upscaled from the Super 8 Sønderborg in southern Denmark has also is the film-loop. A bit like the Arri 2C, which is been involved. Definitely a 100% Danish used a lot for commercials”. produced camera.

12 The Magellan 65mm light-weight camera of less than two stone fully loaded

13 So far the two companies have delivered “Ever since we have constantly been in contact If you have wondered about the eponymous names of the parts for five cameras, which are being with Linus Sandgren and Hoyte van Hoytema” both cameras, Orla Nielsen informs us that Tommy’s assembled, tried out and exposed to Orla Nielsen says. “During the production family always had a soft spot for penguins. The Chatham Penguin became extinct in 1872 followed by comprehensive test-setups in Frederikshavn. of Dunkirk, Hoyte was famous for hoisting a the vanishing of Super 8 some 120 years later. On the monster of an IMAX camera on his shoulders. other hand the Magellan Penguin is only endangered, The collaboration with Kodak resulted in the All because the hand-held look was his kind however still surviving in colonies in Argentina, Chile film manufacturer being an active part of the of style. Evidently he was very excited about and the Falklands. You might hypothesize that the evolution process of the 65mm camera. Kodak a light-weight camera.” Obviously the future future of 65mm follows the same path. Despite the has also been very helpful providing raw-stock seems bright for the first significant camera digital revolution, it still sustains itself on islands of big budget film productions. The company name and film development. Whether the camera in Denmark since the carpenter J. P. Andersen Logmar is a bit more tricky. It derives from ancient is to be put up for sale, or if it will be rented (known as the Nellerød Man) created his Scandinavian language, probably medieval Norse. In out through the various rental houses across handmade cameras out of Cuban mahogany Island it would be Lögfræðingur which means lawman the world, has not yet been decided. The most some time in the last century. I wonder if or lawyer. realistic option would probably be the latter. this endeavour for once might be a case of Such an advanced camera is expected only to extraordinarily good timing and in the end will be used in top-tier productions and requires turn out to be successful? massive maintenance. You do not send a Formula One car out on the racetrack without several pit stops. Links for more content:

The camera is still in progress. So far it has Tommy Madsen & Phil Vigeant from Pro8mm turned out that the panel on the right side demonstrates Chatham of the camera can be difficult to operate. https://vimeo.com/101753821 Eventually it will be replaced by a much larger touch-screen, directly connected to the Historical footage of the Kennedy-brothers powerful NVIDIA computer, which serves as digitalized by Pro8mm the heart of the electronic control. Yet since https://www.pro8mm.com/ the Magellan saw the light of day in April 2018 and well before the presentation at Cine Gear Test shots with Chatham Super 8 https://vimeo.com/129700087 Editor: Steen Dalin in Los Angeles, the Magellan has been a fully Layout: Maria Mac Dalland operational camera. Photos: Orla Nielsen, Thomas Hauerslev, Steen Dalin – illustrations from the internet. Thanks to Torben Glarbo and Anton White Orbaek

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