Virtual Production on 65mm Film: Pathway Merges 30 Years of Media Production Innovation in World First Shoot.

MANCHESTER, 2nd May 2023

In a world first, Pathway have brought together 30 years of media production technology to shoot 65mm film on a virtual production stage. The test film is available to watch on Pathway’s website.

The film is based on the novel Questus by Shawn Williamson and features character Angus MacWilliam, played by Graham Gardner, who wields a stone sword as he slowly advances through dense Scottish gorse bushes on the edge of Loch Eriboll.

“We wanted to see if shooting an LED wall on 65mm could give virtual production more character and presence,” said Nathan Newman, co-founder of Pathway. The blending of analogue and digital production methods for virtual production was made possible through a collaboration with Kodak, Panavision and ARRI Rental.

‘VP On 65mm Film’ was shot by cinematographer Paul Mortlock GBCT and directed by James Slater. The test sequence was shot on Kodak VISION3 65mm 200T Colour Negative Film stock with an ARRIFLEX 765 on ARRI Rental Vintage 765 lenses. The 65mm camera was created by ARRI in 1986 by Otto Blaschek and is known for its use on feature films such as Gravity (2013) and Tenet (2020). The virtual production scene was powered by the contemporary real-time technology of Unreal Engine 5.2 which gave the filmmakers a high degree of control over lighting and the rear parallax of the virtual set.

“This project was a case of two firsts for me - shooting on a virtual production set and on 65mm. I felt privileged to experience first hand the possibilities this could offer,” commented Director James Slater. Slater is known for his music video work with singer-songwriter Sam Fender, singer Jamie T and for recently achieving a Vimeo staff pick for documentary Look For The Diamonds.

“In terms of prep, we were interested to see how the screen would react and work with film,” Mortlock explained. “Any artefacts, moiré – any issues like that, we wanted to find out. We had half a roll of 35mm film from another project and we shot it at various distances with various lenses, looking for any issues that we might come across. It was a proving ground for what was to come.”

Mortlock was intrigued by the prospect of shooting on film in a virtual environment and the advantages that it would bring. “It was about being able to get those shots that you just can’t get, or it would be too expensive to get, that stand in your way of achieving what you really want to get. So that was really interesting, especially when working in Unreal [Engine] where you can move everything around and do what you like, such as change the time of day. I found that great.”

Nathan Newman, Co-founder of Pathway concluded, “It’s not every day that you get to work with such a rare and prestigious camera and we were delighted to onboard such helpful collaborators.” The VP studio had a narrow time window of just 10 days to make the test happen. “When we told our would-be collaborators about our plans they didn’t ask ‘why?’ they asked ‘what do you need?’ We couldn’t have made this happen without their kind support and a shared vision to pursue innovation.”

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About Pathway

Pathway is a Manchester based 6,000 square foot facility dedicated to the creation of real-time produced media with LED volumes.

Our offering is part Innovation Lab, part Production Facility. We support filmmakers, technologists and artists from research and education through to delivering your shoot in real-time.