Arri
The Arri Group is the largest world wide supplier of motion picture film equipment.[1]
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 (16, 35, and 65/70 mm) and cinematic lighting equipment.[2] Hermann Simon mentioned this company in his book Hidden Champions of the 21st Century as an example of a "Hidden Champion".[3]
In 1924 Arnold and Richter developed their first film camera, the small and portable Kinarri 35. In 1937 Arri introduced the world's first reflex mirror shutter in the Arriflex 35 camera, an invention of their longtime engineer Erich Kästner. This technology employs a rotating mirror that allows a continuous motor to operate the camera while providing parallax-free reflex viewing to the operator, and the ability to focus the image by eye through the viewfinder, much like an SLR camera for still photography. This technology is still employed today in almost every motion picture camera.[4] The first Hollywood film to employ an Arriflex was in 1947 for Dark Passage, starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall.[5] Over the years, more than 17,000 Arriflex 35s were built.
At the same time, the company manufactured light-weight and portable cameras for both news and war photography, as well as feature film production in the 1960s which saw an increase in shooting on location rather than in a studio. The introduction of the Arriflex-16ST camera revolutionized the 16 mm format as a cheaper news-gathering and television medium, and the Arriflex-35BL provided a lightweight, quiet alternative to the rather heavy and cumbersome blimped cameras of the time. The headquarters in Munich also expanded to include sound stages, audio dubbing studios, production offices and a lab. Developments in lighting also continued. In 1972, Arri pioneered the development of daylight luminaires with the Arrisonne 2000w.
While Arri manufactures and designs its own motion picture cameras, lenses are supplied by the Carl Zeiss group and Fujinon, unlike its rival Panavision which manufactures both its own cameras and lenses for exclusive use with each other. Arri's relationship with Panavision is somewhat unique, as Panavision is both Arri's largest rival (as an equipment manufacturer) and largest customer (as a camera rental house).
With their Arrilaser, they expanded into post-production equipment and in 2000 purchased Moviecam to refine their new camera platform Arricam. Arri developed the Arriflex D-21 high definition camera. The camera uses a 35 mm CMOS sensor (instead of CCD) to allow cinematographers to utilize standard 35 mm lenses.[6] This technology was further developed and improved for the Arri Alexa camera. Other recent products of note include the Arriflex 235, a compact 35 mm camera; the Master Prime lens series; the Ultra 8R, an 8 mm rectilinear lens; L-Series LED lights; the Arrimax, an HMI light which can use 18 kW or 12 kW bulbs; and the Arriflex 416, a 16 mm camera optimized for high-end production.
Awards
- Scientific and Engineering Award (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) to Arnold & Richter KG "for the design and development of the ARRIFLEX 35mm portable motion picture reflex camera." (1966) [7]
- Scientific and Engineering Award (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) to Joachim Gerband Erich Kaestner of the Arnold & Richter Company "for the development and engineering of the ARRIFLEX 35BL motion picture camera." (1973) [8]
- Academy Award of Merit (Oscar Statue)to August Arnold and Erich Kaestner of Arnold & Richter, GmbH "for the concept and engineering of the first operational 35mm handheld, spinning-mirror reflex motion picture camera." (1982) [9]
- Scientific and Engineering Award (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) to the Carl Zeiss Company and Arnold & Richter "for the design and development of the Zeiss high-speed 35mm motion picture camera lenses." (1987) [10]
- Scientific and Engineering Award (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) to Arnold & Richter engineering staff Otto Blaschek and Arriflex Corporation "for the concept and engineering of the ARRIFLEX 35 III motion picture camera." (1988) [11]
- Scientific and Engineering Award (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) to the Engineering Department of Arnold & Richter "for the continued design improvements of the ARRIFLEX BL camera system, culminating in the 35BL-4s model." (1990) [12]
- Scientific and Engineering Award (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) to Arnold & Richter, Otto Blaschek and the Engineering Department of ARRI, Austria "for the design and development of the ARRIFLEX 765 camera system for motion picture photography." (1992) [13]
- Erich Kaestner, Chief Design Engineer at Arnold & Richter from 1932 to 1982, receives the Gordon E. Sawyer Award (Oscar Statue) "for technical contributions to the industry." (1992) [14]
- Scientific and Engineering Award (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) to Arnold & Richter Cine Technik "for the development of the 535 series of cameras for motion picture cinematography." (1995) [15]
- Scientific and Engineering Award (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) to Arnold & Richter Cine Technik and ARRI USA, Inc. "for the concept and engineering of the ARRIFLEX 435 camera system." (1998) [16]
- Scientific and Engineering Award (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) to Arnold & Richter Cine Technik and Carl Zeiss Company "for the concept and optical design of the Carl Zeiss / Arriflex Variable Prime Lenses." (1998) [17]
- Scientific and Engineering Award (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) to Franz Kraus, Johannes Steurer and Wolfgang Riedel "for the design and development of the Arrilaser Film Recorder." (2001) [18]
- Emmy Award (Television Academy of Arts and Sciences) "for over 50 years of outstanding achievement in engineering development." (2002)
- Academy Award of Merit (Oscar Statue) (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) to Arnold & Richter Cine Technik and Panavision "for the continuing development and innovation in the design and manufacturing of advanced camera systems specifically designed for the motion picture entertainment industry." (2002) [19]
- Technical Achievement Award to Klemens Kehrer, Josef Handler, Thomas Smidek and Marc Shipman-Mueller "for the design and development of the Arriflex 235 Camera System". (2006) [20]
- Scientific and Engineering Award (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) to Erwin Melzner "for the overall concept including the optical and cooling systems. Volker Schumacher for the optical design, and Timo Mueller for the mechanical design of the Arrimax 18/12 lighting fixture for motion picture lighting." (2008) [21]
- Scientific and Engineering Award (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) to Michael Cieslinski, Dr. Reimar Lenz and Bernd Brauner "for the development of the ARRISCAN film scanner, enabling high-resolution, high-dynamic range, pin-registered film scanning for use in the digital intermediate process." (2009) [22]
Camera lines
Film recorder
Arrilaser film recorder is used for film-out.
Film scanner
Arriscan
See also
References
External links