The first-ever music video to be shot on IMAX cameras
For those obsessed with watching movies at the highest resolution possible, on the largest screen available, IMAX has you covered. When watching a film on an IMAX screen, the aspect ratio is bigger than a standard cinema screen, typically projecting at 1.43:1 or 1.90:1.
IMAX Corporation was founded in 1967 by William C. Shaw, Graeme Ferguson, Robert Kerr and Roman Kroitor, who helped develop IMAX projection. When watching a movie in an IMAX cinema, no ordinary print is played in front of you. Instead, the print is made specifically for IMAX theatres, taking into consideration the screen’s scope, which is typically 18 by 24 metres in scale.
Due to the technicalities surrounding the creation of IMAX prints, they are expensive to make and often reserved for use by cinema’s most popular directors. The first IMAX movie ever made was Tiger Child, directed by Donald Brittain and released in 1970. However, these days, IMAX is associated with blockbusters like Avengers: Infinity War, Avatar: The Way of the Water, Interstellar and Dune.
Christopher Nolan, a lover of IMAX, recently discussed the powers of the format in regard to his 2023 movie Oppenheimer. “We knew that this had to be the showstopper,” he told The Associated Press. “We’re able to do things with picture now that before we were really only able to do with sound in terms of an oversize impact for the audience—an almost physical sense of response to the film”.
IMAX certainly leaves an impact on the viewer due to its sheer expansive size. However, the medium has rarely been used to shoot music videos, with the first of two instances occurring in 2015. Adele’s ‘Hello’ was the first music video ever shot in IMAX, with direction handled by Mommy filmmaker Xavier Dolan. Rihanna’s ‘Sledgehammer’, directed by Floria Sigismondi, became the next IMAX music video, released the following year.
‘Hello’ marked Adele’s comeback after a hiatus, marking her first song since 2012’s ‘Skyfall’ for the James Bond movie of the same name. It was a huge hit, becoming one of the best-selling digital singles of all time, shifting over a million copies in just one week. Naturally, the song needed grand accompaniment. Thus, Dolan created the IMAX music video, loosely inspired by one of his earlier films, I Killed My Mother.
Discussing the video, Dolan told The Los Angeles Times: “When I heard the song, I saw a story right away. [The video] is highly unoriginal. The lyrics are ‘Hello, it’s me’, and then you see someone picking up a phone. I’m not good at imagining super conceptual videos. I just thought it would be nice to have her walk around the house and make phone calls and end up in a forest, with maybe some flashbacks in it.”
Dolan also elucidated his decision to use a flip phone in the video, contrasting the ultra-modern IMAX technology. “It makes me uncomfortable filming iPhones because I feel like I’m shooting a commercial.”
Watch the video for ‘Hello’ below.
