Monday the 2nd of May saw members of NZCS gather at Filmlab for an evening hosted by Kodak. I had earlier got a call from Grant Campbell of Kodak who had informed me of a 65mm shoot being done in Auckland. He suggested it would be an interesting evening for members if we could arrange for Cinematographer Brad Ohlund and his sidekick Jack (“just Jack”) to give us a rundown of what it meant to be shooting on 65mm Film.

Grant was right on the money – we had a good turn out and Brad and Jack were extremely generous with their time and knowledge. It seems the battle hardened team from Mac Gillvray Freeman Films had taken that huge camera to the extremes of the earth including the Grand Canyon, high Mountains, Ice Bergs and Underwater. Brad gave us an introduction to the camera itself by getting NZCS member Dave Garbett to have a go at threading up the gate. He then ran us through the mechanics of the beast and it’s strengths as a spectacular Image making machine along with it’s inherent restrictions and quirks.

Brad explained at length the effect on the audience if certain basic rules of shooting IMAX footage were not followed and covered aspects of framing, strobing and lens selection as well as giving detailed examples of appropriate subject matter. This flowed on to a screening of Blu Ray footage with some remarkable scenes and excerpts from various IMAX projects undertaken by MacGillvray Films.

It was an impressive evening not only in regard to the remarkable footage and technology involved but also because of the candid insight Brad and Jack offered members into what it took to be on the road with such a camera.

NZCS wishes to thank Grant Campbell from Kodak for making the evening possible and also a big thank you to Brad and Jack. The best that we could offer them in return was the hope that the weather and conditions would settle as they attempted to shoot footage on the Hauraki Gulf of America’s cup boats in action in the coming days.