Dan Mindel, ASC, BSC is known for his preference for 35mm anamorphic cinematography. In fact, he knows the serial numbers of his favorite Panavision anamorphic lenses by heart, and knows exactly how each lens will affect a given photographic subject.

“When I look through an anamorphic lens, it just feels very natural and human to me because the field of view is so wide,” he says. “The glass in these lenses that we’ve been using for the last 30 or 40 years was cut by hand, so there are imperfections. The light does unimaginable things when it hits those aberrations. An unquantifiable magic happens, and I love that. It’s one of the tools we use to sell the illusion.”

As technology continues its ongoing trajectory, and the industry discovers new ways to create and distribute entertainment content, the infrastructure supporting the imaging chain is evolving. Film technology still sets the standard, but the landscape has changed, and we are adapting.

Our efforts to streamline operations, pursue vertical markets for our technology, and maintain quality resources have been highly successful. Kodak recently filed its plan of reorganization with the US Bankruptcy Court, and I can assure you that Entertainment Imaging (the motion picture film business unit of Kodak) is part of the company’s current business emergence plan.

Intro:
Erika Addis has worked in the film and television industry for over 25 years. Her work as a cinematographer includes a broad range of documentaries, feature films and television series. She has won many awards, and she holds a master’s degree in Film and Television, specializing in Documentary and Screen Studies, from the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS). She recently shared some of her thoughts on the discipline of shooting film vs. digital, and gave Kodak permission to publish an excerpt of her story below:

With the action happening just down the street from our corporate headquarters here in Rochester, we jumped at the opportunity to meet and talk with the team tasked with capturing the action for this latest installment in the Spider-Man saga.

Cinematographer Bruce McCleery took time out of a packed shooting schedule to speak with Andrew Evenski, president and general manager of Kodak’s Entertainment and Commercial Films Group. Everyone we talked with expressed how great it was to be shooting in Rochester, the home of Kodak.

Cinematographer Daniel Mindel, ASC, BSC is shooting director Marc Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2, which is shooting entirely in New York, including Kodak’s hometown of Rochester. Mindel, whose credits include Star Trek and Star Trek Into Darkness, Savages, Mission: Impossible III and Domino, is known for a strong preference for shooting anamorphic 35 mm film, or larger film formats like IMAX and 8-perf 65 mm.

The first installment of the Amazing Spider-Man was shot in native 3D using digital cameras. “On The Amazing Spider-Man 2, they hired me because they wanted to go back to shooting film,” says Mindel. “Marc Webb had seen Star Trek and liked the way it looked. We are halfway through the Spider-Man 2 shoot, and it’s looking really good.”