Interstellar
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39 Movies Released in 2014 Shot on 35mm
Last year, I posited that Boyhood‘s use of 35mm seemed to be a kind of special effect as much as anything: committing to film ensured an internally continuous look over 12 years of production whose uniqueness would survive despite a digital intermediate and no prints being struck for American release. This type of use of 35mm, separate from its ongoing viability as an exhibition format, was one common reason cited for its use in 39 2014 US releases originating in whole or substantial part from it. That’s a list that’s probably not complete: collating the release calendar against the technical specifications primarily quickly […]
by Vadim Rizov on Jan 15, 2015 -
Watch: Behind Interstellar’s Sound Design
Deborah Stratman’s bewitching short film Hacked Circuit, which premiered at Sundance earlier this year, presents a roving, unbroken look inside the foley post-production process at an LA studio. Along those lines, this featurette with Interstellar‘s Supervising Sound Editor and Sound Designer, Richard King, provides perspective into the blockbuster’s unusually naturalistic and practical sound effects. To capture the essence of a dust storm, King and his team built a sand gun and fired it against a rusty car; to convey a car ripping through a cornfield, they built a rig and did it for themselves. Just as Nolan eschews green screens, he refrains from the use […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Nov 24, 2014 -
Interstellar, Christopher Nolan’s Very Own 2010
In Interstellar‘s future, a life-ending new Dust Bowl requires astronaut Matthew McConaughey to go into space, shoot through a wormhole, scope out three planets for habitation and make it back home to assure his daughter he loves her. The film is bookended and periodically interrupted by real Dust Bowl veterans’ talking heads, their hard times testimonies taken from a Ken Burns doc on the topic. It speaks to Christopher Nolan’s admirably idiosyncratic instincts that he’d ground visualizations of near-mystical journeys through quantum physics with seemingly incompatible Burns talking heads; it speaks simultaneously to his imaginative limitations that he can think of […]
by Vadim Rizov on Nov 19, 2014 -
Watch: Recreating Interstellar’s Black Hole
“How ever sophisticated your CGI is,” says Christopher Nolan, ” if it’s been created from no physical elements and you haven’t shot anything with the camera, it’s going to stand out.” A notable proponent of practical effects, Nolan shot his latest extravaganza Interstellar without a single green screen. In this new episode of Shanks FX, Joey Shanks recreates the film’s illusion of the black hole with a little smoke and lighting. Watch above.
by Sarah Salovaara on Nov 12, 2014 -
Watch: How to Prepare a 70mm Interstellar Print for Projection
One of the more unexpected side effects of Interstellar‘s much-ballyhooed release in 35mm, 70mm and 70mm IMAX has been a wave of videos from local theaters showing their patrons exactly what it takes to prepare and project 70mm. My pick of the litter is this nicely shot two-minute video from the Willow Creek 12 Theater in Plymouth, Minnesota. Watch the process from start to finish as eight cans of film arrive, are unlocked, checked for damage, and then fed onto a platter for projection. An earlier video showed the theater testing its 70mm projector for its first 70mm engagement in 22 years. […]
by Vadim Rizov on Nov 3, 2014 -
Trailer Watch: Interstellar, Now with Giant Waves
Here’s the latest trailer for Christopher Nolan’s global warming/space travel epic Interstellar, now reported to clock in at a you-better-deliver 175 minutes. Where the last trailer had Michael Caine orating Dylan Thomas to urge humanity to not go gentle into that good night, this time the exposition gives a more concrete idea of what to expect, which may or may not be a good thing depending on your tastes. There’s also lots of Matthew McConaughey urging people not to give up and what appears to be the biggest tidal wave since The Abyss‘ director’s cut.
by Vadim Rizov on Oct 1, 2014
