Cinematography technique · used in 8 films
Shooting on very large-format 70mm IMAX film, which gives a much sharper, deeper and taller picture. It captures huge scale and small detail in the same shot.
Examples
Stanley Kubrick · 1960
The film was shot in Super Technirama 70, a large film format, and then blown up to 70mm. The image is sharp and wide enough to hold huge crowds. Russell Metty won an Academy Award for the photography.
Where to see it: The battle scenes. They were filmed in Spain, and large crowds fill the wide frame.
Christopher Nolan · 2008
Wally Pfister shot 6 major sequences on IMAX cameras. During those scenes, the picture physically grows from a 2.39:1 frame to 1.43:1. The Joker's opening bank heist and the Hong Kong extraction set a visual scale right away that makes ordinary filmmaking look small.
Where to see it: The opening bank heist. The first IMAX frame expansion signals how ambitious the film is.
Christopher Nolan · 2012
Nolan shot more than an hour of the film with IMAX cameras, over twice as much as The Dark Knight. The opening hijack was filmed in the air over Scotland, with a real C-130 cargo plane and stunt performers. The tall IMAX frame makes the drop below the planes feel enormous.
Where to see it: The opening hijack. Bane's men latch a C-130 onto a CIA plane carrying a nuclear scientist, then rip the smaller plane apart in midair.
Christopher Nolan · 2020
Hoyte van Hoytema shoots sequences on IMAX film to make the most ambitious set pieces as big as possible. The format gives the time-inversion action a huge visual scale, which matches how ambitious the film is about time.
Where to see it: The Stalsk-12 set piece. The battle is fought in both directions of time at once. The IMAX frame is wide enough to hold both armies as they move in opposite time.
Jordan Peele · 2022
Hoyte van Hoytema shot the film on 65mm film, including IMAX cameras. For night scenes, he paired a film camera with a digital camera that captured infrared light, then combined the images. The huge sky over the desert fills the screen, so you keep scanning it for Jean Jacket.
Where to see it: The final sequence. Jean Jacket unfolds into its full shape over the valley while Emerald races to Jupiter's Claim on a motorbike.
Christopher Nolan · 2023
Nolan shot the Trinity test sequence on IMAX 65mm with practical effects, meaning real photographic and chemical ones. The detonation was captured without CGI, so the explosion looks terrifyingly physical and real.
Where to see it: The Trinity test. First there is silence before the shockwave, then the fire blooms in IMAX clarity. The sound arrives late, and it hits like guilt.
Ryan Coogler · 2025
Coogler shot on 2 large film formats. Most scenes play in an extremely wide frame (2.76:1). For the big musical, emotional and horror moments, the picture grows into the much taller IMAX frame. The image literally opens up when the film wants you to feel more.
Where to see it: The opening minutes and the juke joint music scenes. The frame expands to the full IMAX height as the film's biggest moments arrive.
Christopher Nolan · 2026
Nolan shot the whole film on IMAX 70mm film cameras, a first for a feature, and used more than 2 million feet of film. For dialogue scenes the cameras were hidden in large sound blimps, and mirrors helped actors keep eye contact. The huge frame suits the sea, the desert and the caves.
Where to see it: Trojan Horse prologue: Odysseus and his men use the Trojan Horse to take Troy in a midnight raid. Cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema rigged portable LEDs to match the color of firelight.
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