Panavision
Encyclopedia
Panavision is an American motion picture equipment company specializing in camera
s and lenses
, based in Woodland Hills, California
. Formed by Robert Gottschalk
as a small partnership to create anamorphic projection lenses during the widescreen
boom in the 1950s, Panavision expanded its product lines to meet the demands of modern filmmakers. The company introduced its first products in 1954. Originally a provider of CinemaScope
accessories, the company's line of anamorphic widescreen lenses soon became the industry leader. In 1972, Panavision helped revolutionize filmmaking with the lightweight Panaflex 35 mm
movie camera
. The company has introduced other groundbreaking cameras such as the Millennium XL (1999) and the digital video Genesis (2004).
Panavision operates exclusively as a rental facility—the company owns its entire inventory, unlike most of its competitors. This allows investment in research and development, and the integration of high-quality manufacturing, without concern for the end retail value. Maintaining its entire inventory also allows Panavision to regularly update all of its equipment, rather than just the newest models.
founded Panavision in late 1953, in partnership with Richard Moore
, Meredith Nicholson
, Harry Eller, Walter Wallin, and William Mann
; the company was formally incorporated in 1954. Panavision was established principally for the manufacture of anamorphic projection
lenses to meet the growing demands of theaters showing CinemaScope
films. At the time of Panavision's formation, Gottschalk owned a camera shop in Westwood Village, California, where many of his customers were cinematographer
s. A few years earlier, he and Moore—who worked with him in the camera shop—were experimenting with underwater photography
; Gottschalk became interested in the technology of anamorphic lenses, which allowed him to get a wider field of view from his underwater camera housing. The technology was created during World War I to increase the field of view on tank periscopes; the periscope image was horizontally "squeezed" by the anamorphic lens. After it was unsqueezed by a complementary anamorphic optical
element, the tank operator could see double the horizontal field of view without significant distortion. Gottschalk and Moore bought some of these lenses from C. P. Goerz, a New York
optics company, for use in their underwater photography. As widescreen
filmmaking became popular, Gottschalk saw an opportunity to provide anamorphic lenses to the film industry—first for projectors
, and then for cameras. Nicholson, a friend of Moore, started working as a cameraman on early tests of anamorphic photography.
In the 1950s, the motion picture industry was threatened by the advent of television
—TV kept moviegoers at home, reducing box office revenues. Film studios sought to lure audiences to theaters with attractions that television could not provide. These included a revival of color films
, three-dimensional films
, stereophonic sound
, and widescreen movies. Cinerama
was one of the first widescreen movie processes of the era. In its initial conception, the cumbersome system required three cameras for shooting and three synchronized projectors to display a picture on one wide, curved screen. Along with the logistical and financial challenges of tripling equipment usage and cost, the process led to distracting vertical lines between the three projected images. Looking for a high-impact method of widescreen filmmaking that was cheaper, simpler, and less visually distracting, 20th Century Fox
acquired the rights to a process it branded CinemaScope
: in this system, the film was shot with anamorphic lenses. The film was then exhibited with a complementary anamorphic lens on the projector that expanded the image, creating a projected aspect ratio
(the ratio of the image's width to its height) twice that of the image area on the physical frame of film. By the time the first CinemaScope movie—The Robe
(1953)—was announced for production, Gottschalk, Moore and Nicholson had a demo reel of work with their anamorphic underwater system.
Gottschalk learned from one of his vendors that Bausch & Lomb
, whom Fox had contracted to manufacture CinemaScope lenses, were having difficulty filling the lens orders for theatrical anamorphic projection. He teamed up with William Mann, who provided optical manufacturing capability, and Walter Wallin, an optical physicist who was an acquaintance of Mann's. The anamorphic lens design they selected was prismatic
rather than the cylindrical
design of the Bausch & Lomb CinemaScope lens. This design meant the anamorphic lens extension factor—how much the image is horizontally unsqueezed—could be manually shifted, useful for projectionists switching between nonanamorphic ("flat" or "spherical") trailers
and an anamorphic feature
. The result was the anamorphosing system, designed by Wallin, used in the Panatar lens; the patent for the system was filed on August 11, 1954, and awarded five years later.
In December 1954, the company created a specialized lens for film laboratories—the Micro Panatar. When fitted to an optical printer
, the Micro Panatar could create "flat" (nonanamorphic) prints from anamorphic negatives. This allowed films to be distributed to theaters that did not have an anamorphic system installed. To accomplish this dual platform release strategy before the Micro Panatar, studios would sometimes shoot films with one anamorphic and one spherical camera, allowing nonwidescreen theaters to exhibit the film. The cost savings of eliminating the second camera and making flat prints in post-production
with the Micro Panatar were enormous.
Another innovation of the era secured Panavision's leading position: the Auto Panatar camera lens for 35 mm anamorphic productions. Early CinemaScope camera lenses were notoriously problematic in close-up
s with an optical aberration that was commonly known as "the mumps": a widening of the face due to a loss of anamorphic power as a subject approaches the lens. Because of the novelty of the new anamorphic process, early CinemaScope productions compensated for this aberration by avoiding tightly framed shots. As the anamorphic process became more popular, it became more problematic. Panavision invented a solution: adding a rotating lens element that moved in mechanical sync with the focus
ring. This eliminated the distortion and allowed for natural close-up anamorphic photography. The Auto Panatar, released in 1958, was rapidly adopted, eventually making CinemaScope lenses obsolete. This innovation earned Panavision the first of its 15 Academy Awards
for technical achievement. Soon the screen credit "Filmed in Panavision" (as if Panavision itself were a widescreen format) began appearing on motion picture screen credits.
Since 1954, Panavision had been working on a new widescreen process commissioned by MGM
. The resulting system used a 65 mm film camera in conjunction with the APO Panatar lens, which was an integrated anamorphic lens (as opposed to a standard prime lens
with an anamorphoser mounted on it). This created a 1.25x anamorphic squeeze factor. Movies using the process had an astounding potential aspect ratio of 2.76:1 when exhibited with 70 mm anamorphic projection prints. Introduced as MGM Camera 65, the system was used on just a few films, the first of which was Raintree County
(1956). However, the film was released only in 35 mm anamorphic prints because the circuit of 70 mm theaters was booked with Around the World in Eighty Days
(1956), shot with the competing, nonanamorphic Todd-AO
system. In January 1959, the posters for the 70 mm release of Disney's Sleeping Beauty
carried the notation "Process lenses by Panavision" next to the Super Technirama 70
logo. The first film to be presented in 70 mm anamorphic—Ben-Hur
—was released by MGM in 1959 under the trade name MGM Camera 65. Panavision also developed a nonanamorphic widescreen process called Super Panavision 70
, which was essentially identical to Todd-AO. Super Panavision made its screen debut in 1959 with The Big Fisherman
, released by Disney's Buena Vista
division.
went so far over budget that the studio liquidated assets to cover its costs. As a result of this liquidation, Panavision acquired MGM's camera equipment division, as well as the rights to the Camera 65 system it had developed for MGM; the technology was renamed Ultra Panavision
. Only six more features were made with the system: It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
(1963), The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964), Battle of the Bulge
(1965), The Greatest Story Ever Told
(1965), The Hallelujah Trail
(1965), and Khartoum
(1966). As 1.25x anamorphosers for 70 mm projectors have become rare, most of the 70 mm prints of these films still in circulation are designed for projection with nonanamorphic, spherical lenses. The result is a 2.20:1 aspect ratio, rather than the broader ratio originally intended.
Although Fox insisted on maintaining CinemaScope for a time, some actors disliked the system. For Fox's 1965 production Von Ryan's Express
, Frank Sinatra
reputedly demanded that Auto Panatar lenses be used. Such pressures led Fox to completely abandon CinemaScope for Auto Panatars that year; Von Ryan's Express was the studio's first picture with Panavision lenses. To meet the extraordinary demand for Panavision projection lenses, Gottschalk had Bausch & Lomb CinemaScope lenses retrofitted into Panavision housings with a new astigmatic attachment, improving them greatly. This was revealed many years after Gottschalk's death; a lead designer from Bausch & Lomb, who had been involved with the original CinemaScope project, came to work as a designer for Panavision and—after opening some of the older lenses—figured out the secret.
In the mid-1960s, Gottschalk altered Panavision's business model. The company now maintained its full inventory, making its lenses and the cameras it had acquired from MGM available only by rental. This meant that equipment could be maintained, modified, and regularly updated by the company. When Panavision eventually brought its own camera designs to market, it was relatively unconstrained by retrofitting and manufacturing costs, as it was not directly competing on sales price. This allowed Panavision to build cameras to new standards of durability.
The new business model required additional capital. To this end, the company was sold to Banner Productions in 1965, with Gottschalk remaining as president. Panavision would soon expand into markets beyond Hollywood, eventually including New York, Europe, Australia, Hong Kong, and Southeast Asia. Kinney National Service bought out Banner in 1968 and took over Warner Brothers the following year, eventually renaming itself Warner Communications
. Kinney/Warner's financial resources made possible a massive expansion in Panavision's inventory, as well as substantial leaps in research and development.
During this period, the company's R&D department focused on retrofitting the industry standard 35 mm camera, the Mitchell BNC. The effort to develop a lighter, quieter camera with a reflex viewfinder
led to the introduction of the Panavision Silent Reflex (PSR) in 1967. The camera could provide a shutter angle
of up to 200 degrees. Many refinements were made to the PSR during the first few years after its introduction, and it soon became one of the most popular studio cameras in the world. Panavision also began manufacturing spherical lenses for 1.85:1 photography, garnering a significant share of the market.
In 1968, Panavision released a handheld 65 mm camera. By that time, however, the much cheaper process of blowing up 35 mm anamorphic films to 70 mm—introduced with The Cardinal
(1964)—had made 65 mm production virtually obsolete. In 1970, the last two feature films shot entirely with Super Panavision were released: Song of Norway
and Ryan's Daughter
. In the decades since, only a handful of films have been shot in 65 mm.
, and could synchronize handheld work. The Panaflex also included a digital electronic tachometer
and magazine
motors for the take-up reel. Steven Spielberg
's The Sugarland Express
(1974) was the first motion picture filmed with the Panaflex.
During the 1970s, the Panaflex line was updated and marketed in new incarnations: the Panaflex X, Panaflex Lightweight (for steadicam
), the high-speed Panastar, Panaflex Gold, and Panaflex G2. Panavision came out with a direct competitor to Tiffen
's Steadicam stabilizer, the Panaglide harness. The Panacam, a video camera
, was also brought out, though the company largely left the video field to others.
Robert Gottschalk died in 1982 at the age of 64. After Gottschalk's death, Kinney National sold the company to a consortium headed by Ted Field
, John Farrand
, and Alan Hirschfield, and backed by Chicago newspaper and department store heir Frederick Field. With new ownership came sweeping changes to the company, which had stagnated. Optics testing was computerized and, in 1986, the new Platinum model camera was introduced. The next year—responding to a perceived demand for the resurrection of the 65 mm camera—development began on a new model. The company was sold to Lee International
PLC for $100 million in 1987, but financing was overextended and ownership reverted to the investment firm Warburg Pincus
two years later.
In 1989, the company brought out Primo, a new line of lenses. Designed with a consistent color match between all the different focal-length
instruments in the line, these were also the sharpest lenses yet manufactured by Panavision. Six years later, Oscars were awarded to the company and to three of its employees for their work on the Primo 3:1 zoom lens
: Iain Neil for the optical design, Rick Gelbard for the mechanical design, and Eric Dubberke for the lens's engineering. According to the AMPAS
citation, "The high contrast and absence of flare, along with its ability to provide close focusing and to maintain constant image size while changing focus, make the Primo 3:1 Zoom Lens truly unique." In 1991, the company released its new 65 mm technology, System 65, though Arri
had beaten it to market by two years with the Arriflex 765. The gauge was not widely readopted, and only two major Hollywood films were shot with the new 65 mm Panavision process: Far and Away
(1992) and Kenneth Branagh
's Hamlet
(1996), the last known feature film to be shot entirely on 65 mm.
In 1992, Panavision launched a project to develop a camera that involved rethinking every aspect of the company's existing 35 mm system. Nolan Murdock and Albert Mayer Sr. headed up the design team. The new Millennium camera, replacing the Platinum as the company's flagship, was introduced in 1997. The Millennium XL came to the market in 1999 and was led by Al Mayer, Jr. It soon established itself as Panavision’s new 35mm workhorse. The XL was the first product in Panavision history to win both an Academy Award and a Primetime Emmy Award with in the first year of official release. The update to the XL, the XL2 was initially released in 2004.[26] . The first feature films to use these latter two systems were, respectively, The Perfect Storm
(2000) and Just Like Heaven (2005). The XL series not only had a much smaller camera body—making it suitable for studio, handheld, and steadicam work—but also marked the first significant change to the film transport mechanism in the camera since the Panaflex: two smaller sprocket drums for feed and take-up (a design similar to the Moviecam
and subsequent Arricam
) instead of one large drum to do both. As of 2006, Panavision has no further plans to develop additional film camera models.
Ronald Perelman
's solely owned MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings
(Mafco) acquired a majority interest in Panavision in 1998, via a Mafco subsidiary. The company was turned over to its creditors in 2010 following a debt restructuring
agreement. After aborted attempts to create a film-style video camera in the 1970s and 1980s, Panavision sought to join the digital revolution in July 2000, establishing DHD Ventures in partnership with Sony
. The new company's objective was to raise the quality of high definition
digital video to the standards of top-level Hollywood motion-picture production. This cooperative venture was established, largely at the instigation of George Lucas
, to serve his designs for the Star Wars
prequels. The collaboration resulted in the Sony HDW-F900 CineAlta
HDCAM
high definition video camera. Sony produced the electronics and a stand-alone version of the camera; Panavision supplied custom-designed high definition lenses, trademarked Primo Digital, and retrofitted the camera body to incorporate standard film camera accessories, facilitating the equipment's integration into existing crew equipment as a "digital cinema camera." This Panavision HD-900F
, was used in the making of Lucasfilm
's Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
(2002), described as "the first digital major feature film." However the system received only a lukewarm reception from other film makers, and George Lucas himself chose to use more advanced model Sony cameras obtained from a competitor, Plus8Digital, for Star Wars Episode 3.
Panavision's next step in the evolution of digital cinema cameras also involved collaboration between Sony and Panavision; this time, Panavision participated in all the stages of development. The aim was to create a system that could use the entire range of the company's 35 mm spherical lenses. This led to the 2004 introduction of the Genesis HD—a full bandwidth (4:4:4)
HD SDI
camera with improved colorimetry
- and sensitometry
-related specs. Its Super 35 mm film
–sized recording area made it focally compatible with regular 35 mm lenses, giving it a true 35 mm depth of field
. The camera's electronics—including its CCD (charge-coupled device
) image sensor
—and HDCAM SR record deck
were manufactured by Sony. The chassis
and mechanics were designed by a Panavision team led by Albert Mayer Jr., son of the Panaflex designer. The Genesis was first used on Superman Returns
(2006) followed soon after by Flyboys
(2006); But the comedy Scary Movie 4
(2006), shot afterward on a mixture of 35mm film and the Genesis, actually went into general release first because of the extensive visual effects work needed to complete both Flyboys and Superman Returns. Subsequent to the completion of major design work on the Genesis, Panavision bought out Sony's 49 percent share of DHD Ventures and fully consolidated it in September 2004.
During the same period, Panavision began acquiring related motion picture companies, including eFilm
(acquired 2001; sold to Deluxe in full by 2004), Technovision France (2004), the motion picture camera-rental arm of the Canadian rental house William F. White International (2005), the digital camera rental company Plus8Digital (2006), the international lighting and equipment company AFM and the camera company One8Six (2006), and the camera inventory of Joe Dunton & Company (2007). On July 28, 2006, Mafco announced it was acquiring the remaining Panavision stock and returning the company to private status. A $345 million credit line from Bear Stearns
and Credit Suisse
was secured to finance the company's debt as well as to facilitate "global acquisitions." That same year, Mafco acquired Deluxe Entertainment Services Group.
In March 2010, citing a drop in production and difficulty servicing significant debt as a result of the 1998 Mafco transaction, shareholder MacAndrews & Forbes
agreed to a debt restructuring
arrangement with Panavision's creditors. Private equity
firm Cerberus Capital
was the lead investor in the deal, which involved a USD $140 million reduction in debt and a USD $40 million cash infusion. In return the majority shareholder Ronald Perelman was required to relinquish control of Panavision, and no longer has any equity in the company.
Camera
A camera is a device that records and stores images. These images may be still photographs or moving images such as videos or movies. The term camera comes from the camera obscura , an early mechanism for projecting images...
s and lenses
Photographic lens
A camera lens is an optical lens or assembly of lenses used in conjunction with a camera body and mechanism to make images of objects either on photographic film or on other media capable of storing an image chemically or electronically.While in principle a simple convex lens will suffice, in...
, based in Woodland Hills, California
Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California
Woodland Hills is a district in the city of Los Angeles, California.Woodland Hills is located in the southwestern area of the San Fernando Valley, east of Calabasas and west of Tarzana, with Warner Center in its northern section...
. Formed by Robert Gottschalk
Robert Gottschalk
Robert Gottschalk was an American camera technician and founder of Panavision.- Early Life :His father, Gustav, was an architect who built a number of hotels in Chicago, IL, where he lived with his wife, Anna. Gustav's success left the family well-off financially and influenced Gottschalk's...
as a small partnership to create anamorphic projection lenses during the widescreen
Widescreen
Widescreen images are a variety of aspect ratios used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ratio greater than the standard 1.37:1 Academy aspect ratio provided by 35mm film....
boom in the 1950s, Panavision expanded its product lines to meet the demands of modern filmmakers. The company introduced its first products in 1954. Originally a provider of CinemaScope
CinemaScope
CinemaScope was an anamorphic lens series used for shooting wide screen movies from 1953 to 1967. Its creation in 1953, by the president of 20th Century-Fox, marked the beginning of the modern anamorphic format in both principal photography and movie projection.The anamorphic lenses theoretically...
accessories, the company's line of anamorphic widescreen lenses soon became the industry leader. In 1972, Panavision helped revolutionize filmmaking with the lightweight Panaflex 35 mm
35 mm film
35 mm film is the film gauge most commonly used for chemical still photography and motion pictures. The name of the gauge refers to the width of the photographic film, which consists of strips 35 millimeters in width...
movie camera
Movie camera
The movie camera is a type of photographic camera which takes a rapid sequence of photographs on strips of film which was very popular for private use in the last century until its successor, the video camera, replaced it...
. The company has introduced other groundbreaking cameras such as the Millennium XL (1999) and the digital video Genesis (2004).
Panavision operates exclusively as a rental facility—the company owns its entire inventory, unlike most of its competitors. This allows investment in research and development, and the integration of high-quality manufacturing, without concern for the end retail value. Maintaining its entire inventory also allows Panavision to regularly update all of its equipment, rather than just the newest models.
Early history
Robert GottschalkRobert Gottschalk
Robert Gottschalk was an American camera technician and founder of Panavision.- Early Life :His father, Gustav, was an architect who built a number of hotels in Chicago, IL, where he lived with his wife, Anna. Gustav's success left the family well-off financially and influenced Gottschalk's...
founded Panavision in late 1953, in partnership with Richard Moore
Richard Moore (cinematographer)
Richard Moore was an American cinematographer. In 1953, Moore teamed with Robert Gottschalk to co-found Panavision, a company which introduced a new hand-held studio camera that could record both sight and sound at the same time.-Early life:Moore was born in Jacksonville, Illinois, on October 4,...
, Meredith Nicholson
Meredith Merle Nicholson
Meredith Merle “Nick” Nicholson was an American cinematographer. He worked behind the camera on low-budget films of the 1950s, hit television series in the 1960s, and comedies, dramas, and made-for-TV movies in the 1970s and 1980s.In 1953, Nicholson, along with his two sons and three other...
, Harry Eller, Walter Wallin, and William Mann
William Mann
William Mann may refer to:*William Hodges Mann , American politician*William Mann , English cricketer*William Julius Mann , U.S. Lutheran theologian and author*William J...
; the company was formally incorporated in 1954. Panavision was established principally for the manufacture of anamorphic projection
Movie projector
A movie projector is an opto-mechanical device for displaying moving pictures by projecting them on a projection screen. Most of the optical and mechanical elements, except for the illumination and sound devices, are present in movie cameras.-Physiology:...
lenses to meet the growing demands of theaters showing CinemaScope
CinemaScope
CinemaScope was an anamorphic lens series used for shooting wide screen movies from 1953 to 1967. Its creation in 1953, by the president of 20th Century-Fox, marked the beginning of the modern anamorphic format in both principal photography and movie projection.The anamorphic lenses theoretically...
films. At the time of Panavision's formation, Gottschalk owned a camera shop in Westwood Village, California, where many of his customers were cinematographer
Cinematographer
A cinematographer is one photographing with a motion picture camera . The title is generally equivalent to director of photography , used to designate a chief over the camera and lighting crews working on a film, responsible for achieving artistic and technical decisions related to the image...
s. A few years earlier, he and Moore—who worked with him in the camera shop—were experimenting with underwater photography
Underwater photography
Underwater photography is the process of taking photographs while under water. It is usually done while scuba diving, but can be done while snorkeling or swimming.-Overview:...
; Gottschalk became interested in the technology of anamorphic lenses, which allowed him to get a wider field of view from his underwater camera housing. The technology was created during World War I to increase the field of view on tank periscopes; the periscope image was horizontally "squeezed" by the anamorphic lens. After it was unsqueezed by a complementary anamorphic optical
Optics
Optics is the branch of physics which involves the behavior and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it. Optics usually describes the behavior of visible, ultraviolet, and infrared light...
element, the tank operator could see double the horizontal field of view without significant distortion. Gottschalk and Moore bought some of these lenses from C. P. Goerz, a New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
optics company, for use in their underwater photography. As widescreen
Widescreen
Widescreen images are a variety of aspect ratios used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ratio greater than the standard 1.37:1 Academy aspect ratio provided by 35mm film....
filmmaking became popular, Gottschalk saw an opportunity to provide anamorphic lenses to the film industry—first for projectors
Movie projector
A movie projector is an opto-mechanical device for displaying moving pictures by projecting them on a projection screen. Most of the optical and mechanical elements, except for the illumination and sound devices, are present in movie cameras.-Physiology:...
, and then for cameras. Nicholson, a friend of Moore, started working as a cameraman on early tests of anamorphic photography.
In the 1950s, the motion picture industry was threatened by the advent of television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
—TV kept moviegoers at home, reducing box office revenues. Film studios sought to lure audiences to theaters with attractions that television could not provide. These included a revival of color films
Color photography
Color photography is photography that uses media capable of representing colors, which are traditionally produced chemically during the photographic processing phase...
, three-dimensional films
3-D film
A 3-D film or S3D film is a motion picture that enhances the illusion of depth perception...
, stereophonic sound
Stereophonic sound
The term Stereophonic, commonly called stereo, sound refers to any method of sound reproduction in which an attempt is made to create an illusion of directionality and audible perspective...
, and widescreen movies. Cinerama
Cinerama
Cinerama is the trademarked name for a widescreen process which works by simultaneously projecting images from three synchronized 35 mm projectors onto a huge, deeply-curved screen, subtending 146° of arc. It is also the trademarked name for the corporation which was formed to market it...
was one of the first widescreen movie processes of the era. In its initial conception, the cumbersome system required three cameras for shooting and three synchronized projectors to display a picture on one wide, curved screen. Along with the logistical and financial challenges of tripling equipment usage and cost, the process led to distracting vertical lines between the three projected images. Looking for a high-impact method of widescreen filmmaking that was cheaper, simpler, and less visually distracting, 20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
acquired the rights to a process it branded CinemaScope
CinemaScope
CinemaScope was an anamorphic lens series used for shooting wide screen movies from 1953 to 1967. Its creation in 1953, by the president of 20th Century-Fox, marked the beginning of the modern anamorphic format in both principal photography and movie projection.The anamorphic lenses theoretically...
: in this system, the film was shot with anamorphic lenses. The film was then exhibited with a complementary anamorphic lens on the projector that expanded the image, creating a projected aspect ratio
Aspect ratio (image)
The aspect ratio of an image is the ratio of the width of the image to its height, expressed as two numbers separated by a colon. That is, for an x:y aspect ratio, no matter how big or small the image is, if the width is divided into x units of equal length and the height is measured using this...
(the ratio of the image's width to its height) twice that of the image area on the physical frame of film. By the time the first CinemaScope movie—The Robe
The Robe (film)
The Robe is a 1953 American Biblical epic film that tells the story of a Roman military tribune who commands the unit that crucifies Jesus. The film was made by 20th Century Fox and is notable for being the first film released in the widescreen process CinemaScope.It was directed by Henry Koster...
(1953)—was announced for production, Gottschalk, Moore and Nicholson had a demo reel of work with their anamorphic underwater system.
Gottschalk learned from one of his vendors that Bausch & Lomb
Bausch & Lomb
Bausch & Lomb, an American company based in Rochester, New York, is one of the world's leading suppliers of eye health products, such as contact lenses and lens care products today. In addition to this main activity, in recent years the area of medical technology has been developed...
, whom Fox had contracted to manufacture CinemaScope lenses, were having difficulty filling the lens orders for theatrical anamorphic projection. He teamed up with William Mann, who provided optical manufacturing capability, and Walter Wallin, an optical physicist who was an acquaintance of Mann's. The anamorphic lens design they selected was prismatic
Prism (optics)
In optics, a prism is a transparent optical element with flat, polished surfaces that refract light. The exact angles between the surfaces depend on the application. The traditional geometrical shape is that of a triangular prism with a triangular base and rectangular sides, and in colloquial use...
rather than the cylindrical
Cylinder (geometry)
A cylinder is one of the most basic curvilinear geometric shapes, the surface formed by the points at a fixed distance from a given line segment, the axis of the cylinder. The solid enclosed by this surface and by two planes perpendicular to the axis is also called a cylinder...
design of the Bausch & Lomb CinemaScope lens. This design meant the anamorphic lens extension factor—how much the image is horizontally unsqueezed—could be manually shifted, useful for projectionists switching between nonanamorphic ("flat" or "spherical") trailers
Trailer (film)
A trailer or preview is an advertisement or a commercial for a feature film that will be exhibited in the future at a cinema. The term "trailer" comes from their having originally been shown at the end of a feature film screening. That practice did not last long, because patrons tended to leave the...
and an anamorphic feature
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
. The result was the anamorphosing system, designed by Wallin, used in the Panatar lens; the patent for the system was filed on August 11, 1954, and awarded five years later.
Entering the market
Panavision's first product—the Super Panatar projection lens—debuted in March 1954. Priced at $1,100, it captured the market. The Super Panatar was a rectangular box that attached to the existing projection lens with a special bracket. Its variable prismatic system allowed a range of film formats to be shown from the same projector with a simple adjustment of the lens. Panavision improved on the Super Panatar with the Ultra Panatar, a lighter design that could be screwed directly to the front of the projection lens. Panavision lenses gradually replaced CinemaScope as the leading anamorphic system for theatrical projection.In December 1954, the company created a specialized lens for film laboratories—the Micro Panatar. When fitted to an optical printer
Optical printer
An optical printer is a device consisting of one or more film projectors mechanically linked to a movie camera. It allows filmmakers to re-photograph one or more strips of film...
, the Micro Panatar could create "flat" (nonanamorphic) prints from anamorphic negatives. This allowed films to be distributed to theaters that did not have an anamorphic system installed. To accomplish this dual platform release strategy before the Micro Panatar, studios would sometimes shoot films with one anamorphic and one spherical camera, allowing nonwidescreen theaters to exhibit the film. The cost savings of eliminating the second camera and making flat prints in post-production
Post-production
Post-production is part of filmmaking and the video production process. It occurs in the making of motion pictures, television programs, radio programs, advertising, audio recordings, photography, and digital art...
with the Micro Panatar were enormous.
Another innovation of the era secured Panavision's leading position: the Auto Panatar camera lens for 35 mm anamorphic productions. Early CinemaScope camera lenses were notoriously problematic in close-up
Close-up
In filmmaking, television production, still photography and the comic strip medium a close-up tightly frames a person or an object. Close-ups are one of the standard shots used regularly with medium shots and long shots . Close-ups display the most detail, but they do not include the broader scene...
s with an optical aberration that was commonly known as "the mumps": a widening of the face due to a loss of anamorphic power as a subject approaches the lens. Because of the novelty of the new anamorphic process, early CinemaScope productions compensated for this aberration by avoiding tightly framed shots. As the anamorphic process became more popular, it became more problematic. Panavision invented a solution: adding a rotating lens element that moved in mechanical sync with the focus
Focus (optics)
In geometrical optics, a focus, also called an image point, is the point where light rays originating from a point on the object converge. Although the focus is conceptually a point, physically the focus has a spatial extent, called the blur circle. This non-ideal focusing may be caused by...
ring. This eliminated the distortion and allowed for natural close-up anamorphic photography. The Auto Panatar, released in 1958, was rapidly adopted, eventually making CinemaScope lenses obsolete. This innovation earned Panavision the first of its 15 Academy Awards
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
for technical achievement. Soon the screen credit "Filmed in Panavision" (as if Panavision itself were a widescreen format) began appearing on motion picture screen credits.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
. The resulting system used a 65 mm film camera in conjunction with the APO Panatar lens, which was an integrated anamorphic lens (as opposed to a standard prime lens
Prime lens
In film and photography, a prime lens is either a photographic lens whose focal length is fixed, as opposed to a zoom lens, or it is the primary lens in a combination lens system....
with an anamorphoser mounted on it). This created a 1.25x anamorphic squeeze factor. Movies using the process had an astounding potential aspect ratio of 2.76:1 when exhibited with 70 mm anamorphic projection prints. Introduced as MGM Camera 65, the system was used on just a few films, the first of which was Raintree County
Raintree County (film)
Raintree County is a 1957 Technicolor film drama about the American Civil War. It was directed by Edward Dmytryk. The film stars Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor, Eva Marie Saint, and Lee Marvin....
(1956). However, the film was released only in 35 mm anamorphic prints because the circuit of 70 mm theaters was booked with Around the World in Eighty Days
Around the World in Eighty Days (1956 film)
Around the World in 80 Days is a 1956 adventure film produced by the Michael Todd Company and released by United Artists. It was directed by Michael Anderson. It was produced by Michael Todd, with Kevin McClory and William Cameron Menzies as associate producers. The screenplay was written by James...
(1956), shot with the competing, nonanamorphic Todd-AO
Todd-AO
Todd-AO is a post-production company founded in 1953, providing sound-related services to the motion picture and television industries. The company operates three facilities in the Los Angeles area.-History:...
system. In January 1959, the posters for the 70 mm release of Disney's Sleeping Beauty
Sleeping Beauty (1959 film)
Sleeping Beauty is a 1959 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and based on the fairy tale "La Belle au bois dormant" by Charles Perrault...
carried the notation "Process lenses by Panavision" next to the Super Technirama 70
Super Technirama 70
Super Technirama 70 was the marketing name for films which were photographed in the 35 mm 8-perf Technirama process and optically enlarged to 70 mm 5-perf prints for deluxe exhibition....
logo. The first film to be presented in 70 mm anamorphic—Ben-Hur
Ben-Hur (1959 film)
Ben-Hur is a 1959 American epic film directed by William Wyler and starring Charlton Heston in the title role, the third film adaptation of Lew Wallace's 1880 novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ. The screenplay was written by Karl Tunberg, Gore Vidal, and Christopher Fry. The score was composed by...
—was released by MGM in 1959 under the trade name MGM Camera 65. Panavision also developed a nonanamorphic widescreen process called Super Panavision 70
Super Panavision 70
Super Panavision 70 was the marketing brand name used to identify movies photographed with Panavision 70 mm spherical optics between 1959 and 1983.-History:...
, which was essentially identical to Todd-AO. Super Panavision made its screen debut in 1959 with The Big Fisherman
The Big Fisherman
The Big Fisherman is a 1959 American film directed by Frank Borzage about the later life of Peter, one of the closest disciples of Jesus.The film is adapted from a novel written by Lloyd C. Douglas...
, released by Disney's Buena Vista
Buena Vista Distribution
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures is a motion picture and television feature distribution company owned by Disney Enterprises, Inc. Buena Vista International was the international distribution arm, Buena Vista Home Entertainment was the firm's video and DVD distribution arm, and Buena Vista...
division.
Cameras
By 1962, four of Panavision's founders had left the company to pursue private careers. That year, MGM's Camera 65 production of Mutiny on the BountyMutiny on the Bounty (1962 film)
Mutiny on the Bounty is a 1962 film starring Marlon Brando and Trevor Howard based on the novel Mutiny on the Bounty by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall. The film retells the 1789 real-life mutiny aboard HMAV Bounty led by Fletcher Christian against the ship's captain, William Bligh...
went so far over budget that the studio liquidated assets to cover its costs. As a result of this liquidation, Panavision acquired MGM's camera equipment division, as well as the rights to the Camera 65 system it had developed for MGM; the technology was renamed Ultra Panavision
Ultra Panavision 70
Ultra Panavision 70 and MGM Camera 65 were the photographic marketing brands — ca. 1957 to 1966 — that identified movies photographed with Panavision-brand anamorphic lenses using a 65mm negative and 70mm release print...
. Only six more features were made with the system: It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World is a 1963 American comedy film produced and directed by Stanley Kramer about the madcap pursuit of $350,000 in stolen cash by a diverse and colorful group of strangers...
(1963), The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964), Battle of the Bulge
Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge was a major German offensive , launched toward the end of World War II through the densely forested Ardennes mountain region of Wallonia in Belgium, hence its French name , and France and...
(1965), The Greatest Story Ever Told
The Greatest Story Ever Told
The Greatest Story Ever Told is a 1965 American epic film produced and directed by George Stevens and distributed by United Artists. It is a retelling of the story of Jesus Christ, from the Nativity through the Resurrection. This film is notable for its large ensemble cast and for being the last...
(1965), The Hallelujah Trail
The Hallelujah Trail
The Hallelujah Trail is a 1965 Western spoof directed by John Sturges and starring Burt Lancaster, Lee Remick, Brian Keith, Donald Pleasence, and Martin Landau, amongst others.-Plot synopsis:...
(1965), and Khartoum
Khartoum (film)
Khartoum is a 1966 film written by Robert Ardrey and directed by Basil Dearden. It stars Charlton Heston as General Gordon and Laurence Olivier as the Mahdi and is based on Gordon's defence of the Sudanese city of Khartoum from the forces of the Mahdist army during the Siege of Khartoum.Khartoum...
(1966). As 1.25x anamorphosers for 70 mm projectors have become rare, most of the 70 mm prints of these films still in circulation are designed for projection with nonanamorphic, spherical lenses. The result is a 2.20:1 aspect ratio, rather than the broader ratio originally intended.
Although Fox insisted on maintaining CinemaScope for a time, some actors disliked the system. For Fox's 1965 production Von Ryan's Express
Von Ryan's Express
Von Ryan's Express is a 1965 World War II adventure film starring Frank Sinatra and Trevor Howard, based on a novel by David Westheimer, and directed by Mark Robson.-Plot:...
, Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
reputedly demanded that Auto Panatar lenses be used. Such pressures led Fox to completely abandon CinemaScope for Auto Panatars that year; Von Ryan's Express was the studio's first picture with Panavision lenses. To meet the extraordinary demand for Panavision projection lenses, Gottschalk had Bausch & Lomb CinemaScope lenses retrofitted into Panavision housings with a new astigmatic attachment, improving them greatly. This was revealed many years after Gottschalk's death; a lead designer from Bausch & Lomb, who had been involved with the original CinemaScope project, came to work as a designer for Panavision and—after opening some of the older lenses—figured out the secret.
In the mid-1960s, Gottschalk altered Panavision's business model. The company now maintained its full inventory, making its lenses and the cameras it had acquired from MGM available only by rental. This meant that equipment could be maintained, modified, and regularly updated by the company. When Panavision eventually brought its own camera designs to market, it was relatively unconstrained by retrofitting and manufacturing costs, as it was not directly competing on sales price. This allowed Panavision to build cameras to new standards of durability.
The new business model required additional capital. To this end, the company was sold to Banner Productions in 1965, with Gottschalk remaining as president. Panavision would soon expand into markets beyond Hollywood, eventually including New York, Europe, Australia, Hong Kong, and Southeast Asia. Kinney National Service bought out Banner in 1968 and took over Warner Brothers the following year, eventually renaming itself Warner Communications
Warner Communications
Warner Communications or Warner Communications, Inc. was established in 1971 when Kinney National Company spun off its non-entertainment assets, due to a financial scandal over its parking operations and changed its name....
. Kinney/Warner's financial resources made possible a massive expansion in Panavision's inventory, as well as substantial leaps in research and development.
During this period, the company's R&D department focused on retrofitting the industry standard 35 mm camera, the Mitchell BNC. The effort to develop a lighter, quieter camera with a reflex viewfinder
Reflex finder
A reflex finder is a viewfinder system with a mirror placed behind a lens. The light passing through the lens is reflected by the mirror to a focusing screen, usually ground glass...
led to the introduction of the Panavision Silent Reflex (PSR) in 1967. The camera could provide a shutter angle
Rotary disc shutter
A rotary disc shutter is a type of shutter. It is notably used in motion picture cameras.Rotary discs are semicircular mirrors which rotate in front of the film gate, and thus expose the film. As the mirror spins it reflects the image onto the ground glass so that it can be viewed by the camera...
of up to 200 degrees. Many refinements were made to the PSR during the first few years after its introduction, and it soon became one of the most popular studio cameras in the world. Panavision also began manufacturing spherical lenses for 1.85:1 photography, garnering a significant share of the market.
In 1968, Panavision released a handheld 65 mm camera. By that time, however, the much cheaper process of blowing up 35 mm anamorphic films to 70 mm—introduced with The Cardinal
The Cardinal
The Cardinal is a 1963 film which was produced independently and directed by Otto Preminger, and distributed by Columbia Pictures. The screenplay was written by Robert Dozier, based on the novel by Henry Morton Robinson....
(1964)—had made 65 mm production virtually obsolete. In 1970, the last two feature films shot entirely with Super Panavision were released: Song of Norway
Song of Norway
Song of Norway is an operetta written in 1944 by Robert Wright and George Forrest, adapted from the music of Edvard Grieg and the book by Milton Lazarus and Homer Curran...
and Ryan's Daughter
Ryan's Daughter
Ryan's Daughter is a 1970 film directed by David Lean. The film, set in 1916, tells the story of a married Irish woman who has an affair with a British officer during World War I, despite opposition from her nationalist neighbours...
. In the decades since, only a handful of films have been shot in 65 mm.
Birth of Panaflex
Albert Mayer led the next major project: the creation of a lightweight reflex camera adaptable to either handheld or studio conditions. After four years of development, the Panaflex debuted in 1972. A revolutionary camera that operated quietly, the Panaflex eliminated the need for a cumbersome sound blimpSound blimp
A Sound Blimp is a housing attached to a camera which reduces the sound caused by the shutter click, particularly SLRs. It is primarily used in film still photography, so as not to interfere with the shooting of principal photography, and also in other situations where sound is distracting:...
, and could synchronize handheld work. The Panaflex also included a digital electronic tachometer
Tachometer
A tachometer is an instrument measuring the rotation speed of a shaft or disk, as in a motor or other machine. The device usually displays the revolutions per minute on a calibrated analogue dial, but digital displays are increasingly common...
and magazine
Camera magazine
A camera magazine is a light-tight chamber or pair of chambers designed to hold and move motion picture film stock before and after it has been exposed in the camera...
motors for the take-up reel. Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
's The Sugarland Express
The Sugarland Express
The Sugarland Express is a 1974 American drama film starring Goldie Hawn, Ben Johnson, William Atherton, and Michael Sacks. It was directed by Steven Spielberg, his first film to be intended as a theatrical release .It is about a husband and wife trying to outrun the law and was based on a...
(1974) was the first motion picture filmed with the Panaflex.
During the 1970s, the Panaflex line was updated and marketed in new incarnations: the Panaflex X, Panaflex Lightweight (for steadicam
Steadicam
A Steadicam is a stabilizing mount for a motion picture camera that mechanically isolates it from the operator's movement, allowing a smooth shot even when moving quickly over an uneven surface...
), the high-speed Panastar, Panaflex Gold, and Panaflex G2. Panavision came out with a direct competitor to Tiffen
Tiffen
Tiffen Manufacturing Corporation is a company in Hauppauge, New York, U.S.A. which manufactures filters for photography, and other professional film and photography-related products. Founded in 1945, by Sol Tiffen, the company has won several Academy Awards for technical achievements infiltration...
's Steadicam stabilizer, the Panaglide harness. The Panacam, a video camera
Video camera
A video camera is a camera used for electronic motion picture acquisition, initially developed by the television industry but now common in other applications as well. The earliest video cameras were those of John Logie Baird, based on the electromechanical Nipkow disk and used by the BBC in...
, was also brought out, though the company largely left the video field to others.
Robert Gottschalk died in 1982 at the age of 64. After Gottschalk's death, Kinney National sold the company to a consortium headed by Ted Field
Ted Field
Frederick Woodruff "Ted" Field is an American media mogul and entrepreneur and film producer.-Biography:Field was born in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, the son of Katherine Woodruff Fanning, an editor of the Christian Science Monitor, and Marshall Field IV, who owned the Chicago Sun-Times. He is...
, John Farrand
John Farrand
John Stuart Farrand is a British-American business executive.For fourteen years he worked for a U.K. company, Music Hire Group Limited, and served as managing director beginning in 1973. From 1980 until 1985, he was a senior executive at Warner Communications Inc., which included heading up its...
, and Alan Hirschfield, and backed by Chicago newspaper and department store heir Frederick Field. With new ownership came sweeping changes to the company, which had stagnated. Optics testing was computerized and, in 1986, the new Platinum model camera was introduced. The next year—responding to a perceived demand for the resurrection of the 65 mm camera—development began on a new model. The company was sold to Lee International
Lee International
-Early history:Lee Electric Ltd was incorporated as a business in 1961 by John Lee and Benny Lee , two film lighting electricians...
PLC for $100 million in 1987, but financing was overextended and ownership reverted to the investment firm Warburg Pincus
Warburg Pincus
Warburg Pincus, LLC is an American private equity firm with offices in the United States, Europe, Brazil and Asia. It has been a private equity investor since 1966...
two years later.
In 1989, the company brought out Primo, a new line of lenses. Designed with a consistent color match between all the different focal-length
Focal length
The focal length of an optical system is a measure of how strongly the system converges or diverges light. For an optical system in air, it is the distance over which initially collimated rays are brought to a focus...
instruments in the line, these were also the sharpest lenses yet manufactured by Panavision. Six years later, Oscars were awarded to the company and to three of its employees for their work on the Primo 3:1 zoom lens
Zoom lens
A zoom lens is a mechanical assembly of lens elements for which the focal length can be varied, as opposed to a fixed focal length lens...
: Iain Neil for the optical design, Rick Gelbard for the mechanical design, and Eric Dubberke for the lens's engineering. According to the AMPAS
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is a professional honorary organization dedicated to the advancement of the arts and sciences of motion pictures...
citation, "The high contrast and absence of flare, along with its ability to provide close focusing and to maintain constant image size while changing focus, make the Primo 3:1 Zoom Lens truly unique." In 1991, the company released its new 65 mm technology, System 65, though Arri
Arri
-History:Arri was founded in Munich, Germany as Arnold & Richter Cine Technik in 1917, named after founders August Arnold and Robert Richter. They produce professional motion picture equipment, digital and film cameras and cinematic lighting equipment...
had beaten it to market by two years with the Arriflex 765. The gauge was not widely readopted, and only two major Hollywood films were shot with the new 65 mm Panavision process: Far and Away
Far and Away
Far and Away is a 1992 adventure-drama-romance film directed by Ron Howard from a script by Howard and Bob Dolman, and stars Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. Cinematography by Mikael Salomon, with a music score by John Williams...
(1992) and Kenneth Branagh
Kenneth Branagh
Kenneth Charles Branagh is an actor and film director from Northern Ireland. He is best known for directing and starring in several film adaptations of William Shakespeare's plays including Henry V , Much Ado About Nothing , Hamlet Kenneth Charles Branagh is an actor and film director from...
's Hamlet
Hamlet (1996 film)
Hamlet is a 1996 film version of William Shakespeare's classic play of the same name, adapted and directed by Kenneth Branagh, who also stars in the title role as Prince Hamlet...
(1996), the last known feature film to be shot entirely on 65 mm.
In 1992, Panavision launched a project to develop a camera that involved rethinking every aspect of the company's existing 35 mm system. Nolan Murdock and Albert Mayer Sr. headed up the design team. The new Millennium camera, replacing the Platinum as the company's flagship, was introduced in 1997. The Millennium XL came to the market in 1999 and was led by Al Mayer, Jr. It soon established itself as Panavision’s new 35mm workhorse. The XL was the first product in Panavision history to win both an Academy Award and a Primetime Emmy Award with in the first year of official release. The update to the XL, the XL2 was initially released in 2004.[26] . The first feature films to use these latter two systems were, respectively, The Perfect Storm
The Perfect Storm (film)
The Perfect Storm is a 2000 dramatic disaster film directed by Wolfgang Petersen. It is an adaptation of the 1997 non-fiction book of the same title by Sebastian Junger about the crew of the Andrea Gail that got caught in the Perfect Storm of 1991. The film stars George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg,...
(2000) and Just Like Heaven (2005). The XL series not only had a much smaller camera body—making it suitable for studio, handheld, and steadicam work—but also marked the first significant change to the film transport mechanism in the camera since the Panaflex: two smaller sprocket drums for feed and take-up (a design similar to the Moviecam
Moviecam
Moviecam is a motion picture equipment company specializing in movie camera systems for 35 mm film. Originally started in Vienna as an in-house project of Fritz Gabriel Bauer and Walter Kindler's Moviegroup film production company in the late 1960s, the amount of research and development needed to...
and subsequent Arricam
Arricam
Arricam is a 35 mm movie camera line manufactured by Arri. It is Arri's flagship sync-sound camera line, replacing the Arriflex 535 line. The design was developed by Fritz Gabriel Bauer and Walter Trauninger, and is heavily derivative of the cameras Bauer created for his Moviecam company, which was...
) instead of one large drum to do both. As of 2006, Panavision has no further plans to develop additional film camera models.
Recent restructuring and acquisitions
In May 1997, Panavision announced it would be purchasing Visual Action Holdings PLC, a major film services group for $61m (£37.5m). The British-based company was formally known as Samuelson Group PLC. The company operated three rental depots in the UK and was main agent for Panavision in France and Australia. It also had smaller rental operations in New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. Crucially, it controlled three Panavision agencies in the US cities of Atlanta, Chicago and Dallas (acquired from Victor Duncan, Inc.). Panavision CEO William C Scott said, “This transaction provides Panavision with a strong platform on which to grow the international side of our business and also completes our company-controlled distribution system in the US. Additionally, we will immediately expand our presence in key Southeast Asia markets, where television and film activity are expect to grow rapidly. Overall, the transaction enables us to control a true worldwide distribution network for Panavision’s camera systems and related products, one of our most important strategic objectives.”Ronald Perelman
Ronald Perelman
Ronald Owen Perelman is an American business magnate. Through his company MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings Inc., he has invested in various companies in grocery, cigar, licorice, makeup, car, photography, television, camping, security, lottery, jewelry, banks, and comic book industries.-Early...
's solely owned MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings
MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings
MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings, Inc. is the principal holding company used by and wholly owned by businessman and private equity investor, Ronald Perelman...
(Mafco) acquired a majority interest in Panavision in 1998, via a Mafco subsidiary. The company was turned over to its creditors in 2010 following a debt restructuring
Debt restructuring
Debt restructuring is a process that allows a private or public company – or a sovereign entity – facing cash flow problems and financial distress, to reduce and renegotiate its delinquent debts in order to improve or restore liquidity and rehabilitate so that it can continue its...
agreement. After aborted attempts to create a film-style video camera in the 1970s and 1980s, Panavision sought to join the digital revolution in July 2000, establishing DHD Ventures in partnership with Sony
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
. The new company's objective was to raise the quality of high definition
High-definition video
High-definition video or HD video refers to any video system of higher resolution than standard-definition video, and most commonly involves display resolutions of 1,280×720 pixels or 1,920×1,080 pixels...
digital video to the standards of top-level Hollywood motion-picture production. This cooperative venture was established, largely at the instigation of George Lucas
George Lucas
George Walton Lucas, Jr. is an American film producer, screenwriter, and director, and entrepreneur. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive of Lucasfilm. He is best known as the creator of the space opera franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones...
, to serve his designs for the Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
prequels. The collaboration resulted in the Sony HDW-F900 CineAlta
CineAlta
Sony's CineAlta 24P HD Cameras are a series of professional digital video cameras that offer many of the same features of a 35mm motion picture film camera.- Concept :...
HDCAM
HDCAM
HDCAM, introduced in 1997, is an High-definition video digital recording videocassette version of Digital Betacam, using an 8-bit DCT compressed 3:1:1 recording, in 1080i-compatible downsampled resolution of 1440×1080, and adding 24p and 23.976 PsF modes to later models...
high definition video camera. Sony produced the electronics and a stand-alone version of the camera; Panavision supplied custom-designed high definition lenses, trademarked Primo Digital, and retrofitted the camera body to incorporate standard film camera accessories, facilitating the equipment's integration into existing crew equipment as a "digital cinema camera." This Panavision HD-900F
Panavision HD-900F
The Panavision HD-900F is the first high definition camera that records in 24 frame per second format. In 1997, Panavision and Sony collaborated to develop the first ever high definition movie camera.-Technical aspects:...
, was used in the making of Lucasfilm
Lucasfilm
Lucasfilm Limited is an American film production company founded by George Lucas in 1971, based in San Francisco, California. Lucas is the company's current chairman and CEO, and Micheline Chau is the president and COO....
's Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones is a 2002 American epic space opera film directed by George Lucas and written by Lucas and Jonathan Hales. It is the fifth film to be released in the Star Wars saga and the second in terms of the series' internal chronology...
(2002), described as "the first digital major feature film." However the system received only a lukewarm reception from other film makers, and George Lucas himself chose to use more advanced model Sony cameras obtained from a competitor, Plus8Digital, for Star Wars Episode 3.
Panavision's next step in the evolution of digital cinema cameras also involved collaboration between Sony and Panavision; this time, Panavision participated in all the stages of development. The aim was to create a system that could use the entire range of the company's 35 mm spherical lenses. This led to the 2004 introduction of the Genesis HD—a full bandwidth (4:4:4)
Chroma subsampling
Chroma subsampling is the practice of encoding images by implementing less resolution for chroma information than for luma information, taking advantage of the human visual system's lower acuity for color differences than for luminance....
HD SDI
Serial Digital Interface
Serial digital interface is a family of video interfaces standardized by SMPTE. For example, ITU-R BT.656 and SMPTE 259M define digital video interfaces used for broadcast-grade video...
camera with improved colorimetry
Colorimetry
Colorimetry is "the science and technology used to quantify and describe physically the human color perception."It is similar to spectrophotometry, but is distinguished by its interest in reducing spectra to the physical correlates of color perception, most often the CIE 1931 XYZ color space...
- and sensitometry
Sensitometry
Sensitometry is the scientific study of light-sensitive materials, especially photographic film. The study has its origins in the work by Ferdinand Hurter and Vero Charles Driffield with early black-and-white emulsions...
-related specs. Its Super 35 mm film
Super 35 mm film
Super 35 is a motion picture film format that uses exactly the same film stock as standard 35 mm film, but puts a larger image frame on that stock by using the negative space normally reserved for the optical analog sound track.Super 35 was revived from a similar Superscope variant known as...
–sized recording area made it focally compatible with regular 35 mm lenses, giving it a true 35 mm depth of field
Depth of field
In optics, particularly as it relates to film and photography, depth of field is the distance between the nearest and farthest objects in a scene that appear acceptably sharp in an image...
. The camera's electronics—including its CCD (charge-coupled device
Charge-coupled device
A charge-coupled device is a device for the movement of electrical charge, usually from within the device to an area where the charge can be manipulated, for example conversion into a digital value. This is achieved by "shifting" the signals between stages within the device one at a time...
) image sensor
Image sensor
An image sensor is a device that converts an optical image into an electronic signal. It is used mostly in digital cameras and other imaging devices...
—and HDCAM SR record deck
Video tape recorder
A video tape recorder is a tape recorder that can record video material, usually on a magnetic tape. VTRs originated as individual tape reels, serving as a replacement for motion picture film stock and making recording for television applications cheaper and quicker. An improved form included the...
were manufactured by Sony. The chassis
Chassis
A chassis consists of an internal framework that supports a man-made object. It is analogous to an animal's skeleton. An example of a chassis is the underpart of a motor vehicle, consisting of the frame with the wheels and machinery.- Vehicles :In the case of vehicles, the term chassis means the...
and mechanics were designed by a Panavision team led by Albert Mayer Jr., son of the Panaflex designer. The Genesis was first used on Superman Returns
Superman Returns
Superman Returns is a 2006 superhero film directed by Bryan Singer. It is the fifth and final installment in the original Superman film series and serves as a alternate sequel to Superman and Superman II by ignoring the events of Superman III and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace .The film stars...
(2006) followed soon after by Flyboys
Flyboys
Flyboys is a 2006 American drama film set during World War I, starring James Franco, Martin Henderson, Jean Reno, Jennifer Decker, David Ellison, Abdul Salis, Philip Winchester, and Tyler Labine. It was directed by Tony Bill, a pilot and aviation enthusiast. The screenplay was written by Phil...
(2006); But the comedy Scary Movie 4
Scary Movie 4
Scary Movie 4 is the fourth film of the Scary Movie franchise, directed by David Zucker, written by Jim Abrahams, Craig Mazin and Pat Proft, and produced by Craig Mazin and Robert K. Weiss. It is distributed by The Weinstein Company via its Dimension Films unit in the U.S. and Television, and...
(2006), shot afterward on a mixture of 35mm film and the Genesis, actually went into general release first because of the extensive visual effects work needed to complete both Flyboys and Superman Returns. Subsequent to the completion of major design work on the Genesis, Panavision bought out Sony's 49 percent share of DHD Ventures and fully consolidated it in September 2004.
During the same period, Panavision began acquiring related motion picture companies, including eFilm
EFilm
EFilm is a post-production house in Hollywood that specializes in the digital intermediate process and other digital motion picture technologies.-eFilm Workstation:...
(acquired 2001; sold to Deluxe in full by 2004), Technovision France (2004), the motion picture camera-rental arm of the Canadian rental house William F. White International (2005), the digital camera rental company Plus8Digital (2006), the international lighting and equipment company AFM and the camera company One8Six (2006), and the camera inventory of Joe Dunton & Company (2007). On July 28, 2006, Mafco announced it was acquiring the remaining Panavision stock and returning the company to private status. A $345 million credit line from Bear Stearns
Bear Stearns
The Bear Stearns Companies, Inc. based in New York City, was a global investment bank and securities trading and brokerage, until its sale to JPMorgan Chase in 2008 during the global financial crisis and recession...
and Credit Suisse
Credit Suisse
The Credit Suisse Group AG is a Swiss multinational financial services company headquartered in Zurich, with more than 250 branches in Switzerland and operations in more than 50 countries.-History:...
was secured to finance the company's debt as well as to facilitate "global acquisitions." That same year, Mafco acquired Deluxe Entertainment Services Group.
In March 2010, citing a drop in production and difficulty servicing significant debt as a result of the 1998 Mafco transaction, shareholder MacAndrews & Forbes
MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings
MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings, Inc. is the principal holding company used by and wholly owned by businessman and private equity investor, Ronald Perelman...
agreed to a debt restructuring
Debt restructuring
Debt restructuring is a process that allows a private or public company – or a sovereign entity – facing cash flow problems and financial distress, to reduce and renegotiate its delinquent debts in order to improve or restore liquidity and rehabilitate so that it can continue its...
arrangement with Panavision's creditors. Private equity
Private equity
Private equity, in finance, is an asset class consisting of equity securities in operating companies that are not publicly traded on a stock exchange....
firm Cerberus Capital
Cerberus Capital Management
Cerberus Capital Management, L.P. is one of the largest private equity investment firms in the United States. The firm is based in New York City, and run by -year-old financier Steve Feinberg. Former U.S...
was the lead investor in the deal, which involved a USD $140 million reduction in debt and a USD $40 million cash infusion. In return the majority shareholder Ronald Perelman was required to relinquish control of Panavision, and no longer has any equity in the company.
External links
- Official Panavision site
- Panavision's Future is in Need of Focus by Richard Verrier, The Los Angeles Times, July 20, 2009