TECH VISTAVISION
such as Star Wars turned to it to create visual-effects shots. Since The Brutalist , the format has began to make a comeback. Both of the teams behind One Battle After Another (2025) and Wuthering Heights (2026) decided to shoot in VistaVision, while the upcoming productions Digger and Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew have also opted to use the format. One of the most recent notable examples is Yorgos Lanthimos’ 2025 film Bugonia . Cinematographer Robbie Ryan, BSC, ISC had previously experimented with the format for a sequence in a different Lanthimos film. “Yorgos wanted to shoot on VistaVision for Poor Things (2023),” Ryan says. “However, because of the noise of the VistaVision Beaumont camera (Beaucam) and his dislike for ADR (automated dialogue replacement), we decided to keep it to the reanimation scene, which had no dialogue.” “For this, we used the VistaVision Beaucam and Ektachrome reversal stock – which was a first, I believe. The results were impressive, so it gave us a taste for attempting to shoot a full feature film on the format.” When Bugonia came along, Lanthimos felt it was the right project on which to pursue the VistaVision route. “I had done some research and found the more silent Wilcam W11,” adds Ryan. “This was a more sync-friendly version of the very noisy VistaVision Beaucam. Scotty Smith helped us out because he and technician Marty Mueller had updated many of the features on the Wilcam W11 to make it more production ready.”
CAMERA GALORE While a Mitchell VistaVision camera (far right) shot White Christmas, a Beaumont filmed The Brutalist (right) and a Wilcam W11 captured Bugonia (above)
According to Ryan, VistaVision is aptly named because it’s designed to shoot a big image such as a vista or similar view. “It is twice the size of normal 35mm film stock,” he says. “In effect, it provides the same negative space as a 35mm stills camera – and achieves this by flipping the transport mechanism in the camera from vertical to horizontal. Transporting film through the camera gate like this requires more torque and power, hence the noisier cameras. Twice the neg size is quite a jump in image quality and is very pleasing to the eye whether it’s a landscape or a portrait. We really leant into shooting portraits on Bugonia so the faces would become a landscape.” The only significant drawback for Ryan is that the camera design for the VistaVision system never truly evolved. “I like to compare it to VHS and Betacam - CinemaScope is more like VHS, while VistaVision is more like Betacam,” he says. “It never got a chance to evolve, so shooting on these cameras has quite a few quirks. You need a bit more patience with reload times. Some models have an inherent flicker issue that is possibly belt- drive related. It’s like a vintage car with a dodgy fanbelt. People’s imagination makes VistaVision sound like some high-
I’VE BEEN obsessed with FOR A VERY LONG TIME” VistaVision
spec fantasy camera. It’s not, but the results are still fantastic.” PARAMOUNT PRESERVATION Charlotte Barker is director of film restoration and preservation at Paramount Pictures, where she has worked for 21 years. She has always been a fan of VistaVision. “When I got into the archives, no one was prioritising this division,” she
14
DEFINITIONMAGAZINE.COM
Powered by FlippingBook