by Bob Fisher
A revival of the Techniscope format is gaining traction in the realm of independent filmmaking. Techniscope traces it’s roots to the mid-1960s when Sergio Leone directed A Fistful of Dollars, Once Upon a Time in the West, The Good, The Bad and the Ugly and other “Spaghetti Westerns” on two-perf 35 mm film. The format was developed by Technicolor in Italy. It enabled Leone and other directors who were working with sparse budgets to slash negative and front-end lab costs by 50 percent. The edited negative was optically copied onto four-perforation color intermediate film that was used to generate release prints for distribution to cinemas.
Henner Hofmann, ASC, AMC sparked the revival when he collaborated with director Andrew Goth on the production of Gallowwalker. The independent film features Wesley Snipes in the role of a gunman in the Old West. It was produced in Namibia, Africa, where the landscapes and pristine environment provided ideal settings. “Andrew wanted to emulate the aesthetics of Sergio Leone’s Spaghetti Westerns,” Hofmann says, “so I suggested shooting in Techniscope format.”
Panavision modified a couple of 35 mm G2 cameras with two-perforation movements. Hofmann and Goth composed images in 2.4:1 aspect ratio. Panavision Vice President Phil Radin reports that eight other filmmakers had followed the trail blazed by Goth and Hofmann by mid-2009. The common denominators are that Techniscope was an affordable option for producing very low budget movies in wide screen 35 mm format with post production done at HDCAM SR 4:4:4 resolution.
Curve of Earth written by director Lee Madsen is another. Madsen explains that the title is a metaphor for how people who live in parallel worlds flow into each other’s lives.
“During our first meeting, Lee described his vision for producing Curve of Earth in anamorphic format,” cinematographer Ben Kufrin recalls. “Curve of Earth is a drama that takes place in the main character’s home and other interior settings. Lee envisioned things happening in backgrounds and foregrounds with characters on the edges of frames.”
There was a very modest budget, and an ambitious 24-day production schedule. Jim Roudebush, at Panavision, suggested shooting in Techniscope format using G2 cameras with spherical lenses. After Madsen and Kufrin shot a test, they decided to follow that route. Kufrin had KODAK VISION2 5218, a 500T emulsion on his palette for interior and night sequences, and KODAK VISION2 5205, a 250-speed negative for daylight exteriors. “We generally used one camera, usually with Primo lenses and naturalistic lighting,” he says. “Staging was designed for fluid movement rather than cut-aways to shots at different angles. The latitude and resolution film offers was a big advantage.”
Post production was done at Deluxe Digital Media. The processed negative was scanned with a Spirit DataCine and transferred to a HDCAM SR 4:4:4 digital master file. Kufrin provided colorist Sean Lawrence with digital stills that he used as a reference for timing dailies. Some flashback sequences were shot in Super 8 format with cameras, film and processing provided by Pro8MM and Spectra Film & Video in Burbank. The processed negative was transferred to an HDCAM SR 4:4:4 at Modern VideoFilm in Burbank.
At a Techniscope seminar at the 2009 Cine Gear Expo, cinematographer Jim Chressanthis discussed a test he designed and shot to determine if Techniscope was a viable option for producing television dramas which will air in HD format. “We set up a scene with things happening in bright sunlight and dark shadows that called for the full dynamic range that film offers,” Chressanthis said. “We shot it with both two- and threeperf 35 mm film. I knew that two-perf is a viable option, but didn’t realize how close the look would come to three-perf film. The differences are practically transparent on an HD screen. Two-perf is a viable option on a tight budget.” 
