Technirama
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Technirama is a screen process that was used by some film production houses as an alternative to CinemaScope. It was first used in 1956 but fell into disuse in the mid 1960s. The process was invented by Technicolor and is an anamorphic process with a screen ratio the same as revised CinemaScope (2.35:1).
[edit] Technical
The Technirama camera used a film area twice that of the CinemaScope cameras, this resulted in a less grainy and sharper picture. Cameras used 35 mm film, running it horizontally and utilizing an 8 perforation frame, double the normal size, exactly the same as VistaVision. VistaVision cameras were sometimes adapted. Technirama used a 1.5:1 anamorphic (squeeze) lens in order to take in a wider image. In the lab, the 8 perf horizontal negative would be "blown down" with a further 1.33 : 1 squeeze to create normal 4 perf normal (vertically running) prints with images having a squeeze ratio of 2:1, the same as CinemaScope. These prints could be shown with the same projection lenses as CinemaScope productions but would have greatly improved clarity owing to the double sized original negative.
Just as VistaVision had a few flagship engagements using 8-perf horizontal contact prints and special horizontal running projectors, there is a bit of evidence that horizontal prints were envisioned for Technirama as well (probably with 4-track magnetic sound ala CinemaScope) but to what extent this was ever done commercially, if at all, remains unclear.
The name Super Technirama 70 was used on films where the shooting was done in Technirama and at least some prints were made on 70 mm stock by unsqueezing the image. Such prints would be compatible with those made by such 65 mm negative processes as Todd-AO and Super Panavision. The quality would have been very good but perhaps a bit less than those processes due to the negative being not quite as large and the need for optical printing.
Technicolor had some of its famous 3-strip color cameras, obsolete after the coming of color negative film in the early 1950's, converted into Technirama cameras. These units became the standard Technirama cameras supplemented by VistaVision cameras fitted with anamorphic optics.
The color was enhanced through the use of a special development process that was used to good effect in the films The Vikings (1958) and The Music Man (1962). However, fewer than 40 films were produced using this process in the United States. It was more popular and longer-lasting in Europe. Walt Disney Productions used the process twice for full length animated features: Sleeping Beauty (1959) and The Black Cauldron (1985).
[edit] Specifications
- Film: 35 mm running horizontally using eight perforations at 24 frames per second.
- Film area: 1.496" (38 mm) × 0.992" (25.2 mm).
- Anamorphic power: 1.5
- Aspect ratio: 2.25:1.
