American Cinematographer - August 1997 - 32

The Great White North
on a Great
Big Screen
Alaska:

Spirit of the Wild uses Imax technology to
the splendors of America's last frontier.

convey

by Brooke Comer

The
newWild
Imax
filmviewers
Alaska: Spirit
of the
gives
in¬

pany, Graphic Films Corporation,
has made more than a dozen Imax

timate look at the

features, and

an

majestic wilder¬

of America's northernmost
state - the shimmering auroral
arcs that illuminate
gelid night
ness

skies; the snow-capped peaks

of
the monumental Mt. McKinley; the
Native Alaskan Inupiat tribe en¬
gaged in a whaling expedition on
the Arctic Ocean
well

as

near

Barrow;

as

face-to-face encounters

with the herds of

caribou, elk and

grazing in the state's central
portion, and the brown bears, sea
lions and humpback whales thriv¬
ing in the southeastern Maritime.
Director George Casey,
who has earned three Academy
moose

Award nominations

(including one

for The Eruption of Mount St. Helens,
the first Imax film nominated for
Frames from the
film show
scenic POV

an

Oscar), is

mat

a

veteran of

large-for¬

filmmaking, with

aerial shots of

such titles

the Alaskan

rier

as

a resume of
Genesis, The Great Bar¬

was approached to
produce this film by a private
investor's group affiliated with the

the fact that there was so much
material to film, and we had to

Museum of Natural Science in

keep the film's running time down

Houston, Texas. Long intrigued by

to 40 minutes. We shot 250,000 feet
of 65mm negative on Africa, and
almost 400,000 feet for Alaska."

the stark

beauty of the frozen
north, Casey embraced the oppor¬
tunity to capture Alaska's wonders
with the Imax system. "Alaska is
amazing," says the director.
"Where else can you find the tall¬
est mountains in the northern

hemisphere, 70 active volcanoes,
and over 100,000 glaciers? And be¬
cause of the low sun
angles at those
high altitudes, there is this marvel¬
ous
low-angle lighting throughout
much of the year."
Casey's company most re¬
cently shot the Imax film Africa: The
Serengeti, which, like Alaska, took
the director into
otic locale

unfamiliar, ex¬
teeming with ferocious
an

landscape.

Reef, Planet Ocean, Probes in
Space and Ring of Fire. His com¬

wildlife. "We had many
same kind of
problems on

30

American

August 1997

Cinematographer

that we did on Africa," admits
Casey. "It wasn't only the wildlife,
or the
rough terrain. It was more

of the

Alaska

(Imax films

are generally exhibited
hour. The theaters which
show them prefer the films to be
no
longer than 40 minutes - the
equivalent of 2 Vi miles of negative

every

-

so

that technicians will have

time to rewind and rethread while

audiences are moved in and out of
the auditoriums.)
Alaska's harsh weather

proved problematic for Casey,
cinematographer Rodney Taylor
(who had served
cameraman on

as an

assistant

Africa) and

eton crew which

included

a skel¬
produc¬

tion manager Greg Eliason, key
grip Denny Tedesco, camera assis¬
tant Jim Matlosz and second-unit
American Cinematographer - August 1997

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