American Cinematographer - December 1997 - 64

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Universal
Assist

$599
I

Lightstorm Technolo¬
gies, and Mike and I entered an
agreement with Panavision to co¬
develop technology. We're going
into production soon on a couple
things we've designed, including

company,

the Vid Stick. So we're in

a

close

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how it would look on film. So I
would look at the monitor and
crank my midscale values to a set
threshold that Mike had drawn on
the picture tube with a grease pen¬

and the 14.5mm Panavision

day and the past; instead, I

prime that went behind it
were
very exacting, and
had to be worked out

wanted to create the

computer.
The Panavision

FTZSAC camera-control
had to be modified so it
could be interfaced with the sub
electronics to run into the housing
and operate the run, frame rate, the
iris and the focus.

I also told Mike that I wanted
the camera movement to operate
with wheels, rather than some joy¬

stick control. I wanted smooth,

movie-type moves, not joystick sci¬
entific movements. To do that,
Panavision

essentially built

a

hot¬

head that would function 2 Vi

miles under water. It

sense

that

you had traveled in a time
machine and ended up right
there in 1912." -James Cameron

on a

was a

big

servo-actuated monster that could
take this 190-pound camera and

housing and

move it.
When you're

engineering
equipment, it all has to
undergo a separate engineering
review by at least two other com¬
panies, because it's going to be
mounted on a manned submers¬
ible. The implodable volume of the
camera and housing was great

enough that if it failed, the shockcould sympathetically fail
the manned sphere of the sub. If
that happened, anyone inside

a nine-inch thick
viewport on a
moving sub - by the time you get
your reading, the shot will be gone.
You'll just drift away. We did all of
the readings on the fly with our

waveform monitor, and it has oc¬
curred to me that this setup could
be

powerful tool on the set for
shooting circum¬
stances. If you can stick an incident
meter in front of an actor's face, by
all means do that. But if you're
dealing with complex moving sub¬
jects from a car or helicopter, and
you can't get your spot readings
fast enough, the waveform monitor
a

certain kinds of

could be

a

valuable tool. I think cin¬

ematographers should consider it.
My brother Mike's engi¬
neering skills and Panavision's
optical engineering and manufac¬
turing skills made this all work the
first time out
with just two or
three months of development.
That's a pretty amazing feat.
-

wave

Did the

shooting approach

-Bolex Rex
-Reflex Lens Finders

would die in about two microsec¬

[see AC Jan. 1995] influence your

-Many Others

onds. That

used

the Imax film Titanica

on

yr
The universal assist allows through the lens

and
housing engineering is directly re¬

methods

vie wing by attaching to the viewfinder ofyour
film camera. EachsystemincludesB/WCCD

lated to your

(color for $799), AC power supply,
DC power cable, fitted case, warranty.

camera

H Bmw
mBa
60

bays to know that I could look at
the video tap picture from our
camera and relate that
image to

relationship with Panavision.
They built a new two-perf
35mm camera for the deep-dives,
and a housing that could withstand
cil. That information would then
determine our f-stop, and we basi¬
6,500 psi. The front glass on the
housing had 1.2 million pounds of cally had great dailies. It's no use
reading with a spot meter through
pressure on it. It was three inches
thick and made of special"I didn't want to have a dramatic
grind borosilicate glass.
The optics between this
difference between the present

this kind of

*r

where your peaks and black pedes¬
tal are. I've sat in enough telecine

means

your camera

of your

life expectancy. It was

used the

unbelievably complex.
Another thing Mike and

research

Panavision

was

adapting

think it

came
up with was
waveform monitor for
control. Basically, the

a

exposure

waveform monitor shows you

Tel: 305-949-8800

Fax: 305-949-7600
December 1997

on the
'salvage' portion
film? Both productions
same

Russian subs and

ship to

access the wreck.
Cameron: No, our approach

completely different. In fact, I
was
incredibly ballsy of
them to do their film the way they
did. They fit the Imax camera into
American Cinematographer - December 1997

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