' Dunkirk' Christopher Nolan captures the enormous waste of war with the world's highest resolution IMAX camera

"Dunkirk" synopsis

400,000 British and French soldiers cornered at Dunkirk in northern France. The sea is behind. The young soldiers, including Tommy(Fionn Whitehead) and his comrades (Harry Styles), do not give up on surviving even in a situation where there is no escape from the enemy from land and air. Meanwhile, in his home country of England, a rescue operation involving even civilian ships is about to begin in order to rescue his friends across the ocean. A civilian captain (Mark Rylance) heads to Dunkirk with his sons, regardless of the danger. A Royal Air Force pilot (Tom Hardy) also sorties despite being at a disadvantage in numbers. Thus began the largest rescue operation in history, risking lives. Will Tommy and his friends survive? What will happen to the courageous people's strategy?

Index

• Why Nolan is so particular about film
• film and digital. Each director's perspective
• What Nolan wanted to depict with the world's highest resolution

Why Nolan is so particular about film

Digital cameras are gaining popularity in modern movie shooting due to their mobility, cost reduction, and compatibility with post-production work. Representative examples include ` `RED,'' promoted by Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson, and ``ALEXA,'' developed by ARRI, a long-established film camera company. The resolution is also rapidly approaching from 4K to 6K, and it appears that 8K is now on its way to commercialization. In fact, Clint Eastwood's 2016 film `` Miracle on the Hudson '' was shot on a digital camera with 6K resolution.

Christopher Nolan is going against the current trend in Hollywood. He has never used a digital camera and still sticks to shooting with film. The existence of film is almost disappearing from our daily lives, and when we witness the evolution of digital cameras, film inevitably has an old-fashioned image.

When we say that we are particular about a film, we tend to have emotional impressions about it, such as because it has a good ``taste'' or ``atmosphere,'' so it may come off as mere nostalgia. So why is Nolan so particular about film? Does he miss good old film too? Surprisingly, the answer was simple. Nolan says.

"Film is definitely better than digital."

Most of Dunkirk was shot with IMAX cameras using 65mm/15 perforation film. As the name suggests, it is twice the width of 35mm film used in regular movie shooting, and it also has 15 perforations unique to IMAX (a perforation is a hole on the side of the film), which is also 8 perforations of 35mm film. It has more than twice the film area both vertically and horizontally. The resolution is said to be more than 10 times higher, and the resolution of the IMAX 70mm film used for screening is equivalent to 15K. . It far surpasses digital cameras that are about to put 8K into practical use.

Making of “Dunkirk”

``Dunkirk'' was filmed using the world's highest resolution IMAX camera, and its immersive feel will take your breath away. By the way, I watched this film at IMAX at 109 Cinemas Osaka Expo City at the time of the screening. There was no other reason why I went all the way from Tokyo to Osaka. At the time, this theater was the only one in Japan where you could watch movies in the 1.43:1 aspect ratio, which is the default aspect ratio for IMAX 70mm films. Due to the screening system, regular movie theaters screen movies at 2.40 (2.35):1 Cinemasco size, with nearly 40% of the top and bottom cut off.

Even regular IMAX digital theaters have an aspect ratio of 1.90:1, and unfortunately the only way to see it in full size in Japan at 1.43:1 was to go to Osaka in September 2017. is. . (Currently available for screening at Grand Cinema Sunshine in Ikebukuro)

film and digital. Each director's perspective