American Cinematographer - May 1986 - 58

prints. This technique is employed
often in process work when shoot¬
ing background plates.
The reasons for not using
anamorphic on Top Gun were
many. The most important had to
do with the tremendous physical
which the

stress

systems

cameras

and lens

underwent when mounted

F-14. There are approx¬
imately six gs of pressure when the

to

an

aircraft banks

a corner.

"We thought of going
anamorphic on the picture be¬
cause Tony insisted on the 2:35

wide screen look, since it better
accommodated the window con¬

According to Stevens,
internal cockpit cameras and
one selected external mount were
the most that could be triggered
electronically. Once airborne there
was no ability to track. The cam¬
era angle was restricted to a pre¬
selected position, focused on a dif¬
ferent angle of the pilot. This was
later
The

reset

for each

new

mission.

pre-determincd f-stop was
tricky to calculate, especially when
the aircraft changed position in
the sky relative to the sun.
"The dogfights were all
carefully choreographed to tell the
story," said Kimbell. "We'd have a
briefing with the Top Gun pilots
and go over the various maneu¬
vers. They'd put them on a card
and then go out and perform them
for one-and-a-half hours, until

they

ran out

would have had
up

to start

heavily. The

in the aircraft and the

format. This is a 2:3 5
to 1 aspect ratio which incorpo¬
rates flat, spherical lenses, using
the full (silent) aperture including

Super

35mm

the soundtrack

area

outside acad¬

It is fast becoming
more and more popular among the
film community as an alternative
to using anamorphic lenses. The
emy aperture.

extra .112

copy

tion space

56

inches

ratio with

American

provides

more

a

larger

film informa¬

when making release

Cinematographer

weight and mass of ana¬
morphic equipment create more
inertia. A five-pound lens begins to
weigh 100 pounds when turning a
corner."

Shooting with spherical
not having to deal
piece of anamorphic
glass, extreme nodal point shifts,
or focusing problems. Spherical
lenses are sharper with better
depth of field and less light loss.
But Kimbell was quick to point
out that spherical does not neces¬
sarily mean better or worse.
"Rather, it's different,"
lenses meant
with an extra

he indicated. "It's almost

as

if the

quality of the lens gives a different
feeling of presence. A spherical
lens certainly has different aspects
than an anamorphic. It alters your
style, depending on what equip¬
ment you're working with, just as
a Canon does against a Nikon or a
"The anamorphic lens
will press you to light or tailor the
way you set up your shot. The
same goes for Super 35. It's a dif¬
ferent animal. You compose for it

a

full

aper¬

ture-centered lens axis.
The Panavision system
utilizes a common top line, extrac¬

ting the picture from the top
down. Therefore, headroom al¬
ways stays the same for 70mm,
35mm, and even TV. Kimbell
wanted to avoid using a common
top line because of all the different
camera systems employed on the

2

we

Panavision.

of gas."

The film company had
decided to shoot the film in the

already equipped with

then

added

two

the camera's front. The instru¬
ment cameras on the F-iqs were

shoot. He elected

stresses

Gillyard, jr.

tically centered for full aperture by
changing the mounting plate on

figurations seen from inside most
cockpits," Kimbell recalled. "But
mixing the formats

Cruise and Clarence

Each of the Panavision and Arriflex lens mounts had to be op¬

to

extract

the

picture frame from the center
perfs off the normal 4-perf pull

2.3 5

down.
When the release prints
made Kimbell wanted to resilver the film. He pointed out that
another film photographed in
were

Super

35

and resilvered

was

Sil¬

verado (no pun intended). MGM
Labs calls their process "upper
scale enhancement."

According
the lab
a

runs

to Kimbell,
the film back through

D-76 developer which enriches

the blacks.

Obviously, release prints
35 are grainier than nor¬
mal anamorphic prints. This is be¬
cause the center 2-perf portion of
the original negative is the only
part used. "I was concerned about
grain which is why we wanted to
in

Super

rcsilver the film," said Kimbell.
a lot of testing before we
used it. It costs extra to resilver
these prints, but I feel it's ex¬

"We did

tremely important to do it because
in the blow-up we'll pick up extra
grain due to the diminished nega¬
tive size. And
2:35

than

to

view this film in

is so much
1:85."

more

dramatic

differently,

Kimbell selected two film
stocks: 5247 and 5394. "1 love 47
because it has finer grain and more

position and mood. The difference
in f-stop or depth of field gives you
varied impressions of how you'd

contrast," he continued. Kimbell
rated the 47 at 125 El and the 94
at 360 El. "The 94 has a look all
its own," he said, "perfect for the
gritty feeling we wanted. It's very

even though the aspect
ratios are the same. Shooting it of¬
fers different problems in com¬

approach it."
Kimbell

protected for TV
by composing for 1.66 as well.
May 1986

helpful in low light level condi¬
tions. I'm

not sure

like it. It's got a

everyone

will

little broader
American Cinematographer - May 1986

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - May 1986
