Lecturers conduct exclusive research on one of world's rarest film cameras

Film Production lecturers Laura Hilliard and Steven Wyatt have been working with Danish camera manufacturer Logmar to put their highly-sought-after Magellan 65mm camera through rigorous testing over the last six months.

The camera, which was first used on Christopher Nolan’s film Tenet (2020), is one of only a handful of 65mm cameras remaining in use across the world today. Thus, the Logmar Magellan is the first 65mm film camera to be manufactured in 30 years and used on a major motion picture.

The lecturers have been collaborating closely with Kodak Film Lab London, Orchard Film (part of the Digital Orchard Group), Sunbelt Rentals, Provision, MKV, and No Drama on the project.

They have been granted access to the Logmar camera and a set of lenses from WhitePoint Optics to help further develop the technology in a rigorous testing environment. Their work is centered at The Newton Film Hub on the University’s Peel Park campus, made possible by the nine free-standing industry film sets and extensive lighting and camera equipment housed in the building.

Salford is the only university in the world currently to have a 65mm camera and the Film Production course is unique in offering undergraduate and graduate students access to 65mm with dozens so far being trained in how to load and use the camera.

Laura and Steven are also developing training courses for camera crew currently working in the industry on how to use the extremely rare format.

Laura, who teaches an Introduction to Cinematography module on 16mm film at Salford to over 130 undergraduates a year, said: “Given the rarity of the format, there is a particular mystique around these cameras. This is because there are very few remaining working 65mm cameras. All are under lock and key for use by only the most prestige Academy Award-winning directors and cinematographers.

“We hope to open access to the 65mm celluloid film format to ensure its future success. We want to train camera assistants and operators on set, work closely with labs and scanning facilities to gain valuable insights about the medium, and then share all of this along with detailed exposure reports, camera notes, and test footage to the wider celluloid film community online.

“When Steven and I first pressed record on the Magellan, it gave us that magic feeling you get with film. The feeling I had shooting my first ever Super 8 film. It’s like waking up on Christmas morning as a kid or finding yourself, a regular driver, at the wheel of a Formula One car.”

Laura and Steven began their search for a 65mm camera when asked by UK training body ScreenSkills to teach a celluloid filmmaking course on Super 8, 16mm, 35mm and 65mm to industry camera professionals.  This search led them to Logmar who agreed to loan them the Magellan in exchange for access to their research with the model as the Danish company works on developing a successor model.

65mm was the go-to production format for films in the 1960s, showcased in Ben-Hur (1959), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Cleopatra (1963) and 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) but due to the costs involved in producing films on the large format, the smaller 35mm format became more popular and the emergence of digital camera technology in the 1990s saw the 65mm format almost die out.

The format did see a revival in the 2010s after it was used in The Master (2012), The Hateful Eight (2015) and again by Kenneth Brannagh in his Murder on the Orient Express (2017) remake, with each of the three films embracing the format to deliver a unique visual style for their storytelling.

Tenet cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema enlisted the Magellan prototype amongst a range of other IMAX film cameras, the Arriflex 765, and the Panavision System 65 for Nolan's shoot, but since then, the model has not been used on another feature film.

Laura and Steven’s testing has seen the duo spend a considerable amount of time road testing the camera. As experienced cinematographers used to working both on professional film sets and in more controlled academic research environments, their feedback has proved invaluable to the camera manufacturer.

Steven said: “Logmar were keen to find someone out of the spotlight and away from studio pressures - As lecturers and teachers of our industry, we’ve been the perfect fit.

“With the facilities we have here at Salford as well, we’ve been able to try a number of things, notably with the support of Richard Evans [Academic Fellow] and Libby Scott [Research Associate], who have been instrumental in planning and assisting on test shoots.

“We’ve done big studio lighting set ups with 5ks, dolly track, complicated blocking, and multiple monitors and we’ve also shot classic film registration tests.

“With Richard’s help, we’ve even worked with Dean Hall at MKV to rig the camera on a Steadicam and we’ve taken it on location in Wales to shoot sweeping landscape vistas. We extensively document while on set and share everything, which is just what they need.”

The University is working closely with Kodak Film Lab London and Orchard Film in London as part of the research, with Laura and Steven frequently visiting and sending rushes to their Pinewood facility. For Logmar, headquartered in Denmark, this has been a bonus, having experienced cost and delay in physically sending the exposed film rushes across borders.

Recently, the Orchard Film scanning team, led by Dan Redrup, unveiled a ground-breaking upgrade in their scanning capabilities. Building on their 5-perf service, they now offer 8-perf, and 15-perf IMAX across all formats.

“Dan Redrup has a wealth of information on celluloid film – he's seen every gauge in every condition go through Orchard Film’s scanners and is incredibly generous with his time. Their recent upgrades to 65mm scanning will improve our research” Laura said.

“Also, we’ve taken the Magellan camera down to show the lab and scanning team and gained valuable ideas from their perspective.”

Although highly skilled and practiced in processing and scanning 65mm film on high budget productions, some of the Pinewood team hadn't had the opportunity to see a 65mm camera in person.

Steven said. “We’ve realized there’s so much to learn when we share information and open access to these tools. The project wouldn’t be possible without the support of the whole Orchard Film team as well as the wonderful team at Kodak - especially Antonio Rasura, Ruhan Lottering, and Andy Hill.”

Whilst they hope their research with the camera will lead to greater innovations with the Magellan, Laura and Steven also feel hopeful that their time with the camera will see a new generation of filmmakers trained on the format, which in turn, could lead to more directors utilising celluloid on future films.

“We take great pride in that no other film school in the world can offer this opportunity right now. But we recognise that this is also about training up those already working in industry and to be able to teach others, could have such a big ripple effect on the popularity of 65mm film.”