Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1513564
31 W I N T E R Q 4 I S S U E C O V E R the f irst 20 minutes: setting up [both] black-and-white and the color [film stocks], setting up who Oppenheimer is personally and his relationship with Strauss [a rival played by Robert Downey Jr.], setting up Room 2022, and setting up his scientific life," she said. "I just wanted to nail that first 20 minutes in a way that would let the audience settle in and get to know this person, yet not feel bored. I was constantly aware of that pacing. You have to keep up the momentum, but not make it feel rushed, and that's hard to achieve with a three-hour movie," she said. And then there were the technical chal- lenges, which presented some Ph.D.-level puzzles to solve. Filmgoers who saw "Oppenheimer" in theaters this summer had numerous viewing options, from analog film formats including IMAX 70mm, 70mm, and 35mm to digital options like IMAX digital, Dolby Cin- ema, and standard 4K digital cinema. Nolan is known for shooting on large-format film stock, so for him, the IMAX 70mm presen- tation provided the ideal cinema experience as it most closely represented how the film was originally captured. Working with film took Lame back to the dawn of her career. She noted that most editors her age and younger have worked only in the digital world, so the film work- flow may not be familiar to them. "My first job was working on a film movie, 'Before the Devil Knows You're Dead.' That was shot on film, the dailies were screened on film — ev- erything. I feel lucky to have had that early opportunity to work with film." Nolan tapped long-time collaborator DP Hoyte Van Hoytema, ASC (member of ICG Local 600), who lensed "Tenet," "Dunkirk," and "Interstellar." The two chose to shoot "Oppenheimer" on IMAX 65mm (15-perf ) and 65mm (5-perf ) using Kodak Vision3 250D 5207 film, Kodak Vision3 500T 5219 film, and a specially created IMAX 65mm black-and-white film stock named Eastman Double-X 5222. T h e b l a c k - a n d - w h i t e I M A X s t o c k didn't exist before this film. Nolan want- ed to shoot the scenes with Strauss in b l a c k - a n d - w h i t e a s t h i s r e p r e s e n t e d Strauss's either/or " black-and-white" perspective. The color stock is used for Oppenheimer's perspective. Since there are two time periods intercut throughout the film — the making/testing of the bomb (color) and the security hearings (black- and-white) — the idea was that the use of color and black-and-white helped to make that clearer for the audience. Creating a new type of film stock for "Oppenheimer" posed a few challenges. Hoytema said, "First, we had to ask Kodak if they could manufacture IMAX 65mm black-and-white film. Since it was never done before, they had to investigate if they could manufacture it. From the beginning, there were many engineering challenges. One was the thickness of the backing on the film stock, and the chemical makeup of the emulsion. It's all very different. Theoreti- cally, you can put emulsion over a strip of LENS: Hoyte Van Hoytema, cinematographer. TESTING: Making "Oppenheimer" required crews to get familiar with film workflow. U N I V E R S A L P I C T U R E S