WWW.ARRI.COM A PICTURE CHRONICLE CELEBRATING 90 YEARS

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THE POWER TO DREAM, THE VISION TO INNOVATE

Aside from simply entertaining us, motion pictures have offered us some of the mostmemorable images of our times. Film can reflect our culture, our history and who we are.Behind this artistry is the technology necessary to communicate these fascinating andcompelling visions. Inspired by the magic of flickering images in a dark cinema, founders,August Arnold and Robert Richter were so moved by this newly invented art form asstudents, that they aspired to become filmmakers and later designers and manufacturersof precision engineered equipment that would revolutionize the industry.

Today the ARRI Group is the world’s largest manufacturer and distributor of motion picturecameras, digital intermediate and lighting technologies. With headquarters in Munich,Germany and ARRI Group subsidiaries in USA, UK, Austria, Italy, Canada and Australiaa network of over forty authorized accredited agencies offer further professional serviceand distribution across the globe.

The ARRI Group also includes camera, lighting and grip rental companies located all overEurope, UK, USA and Australia and a worldwide network of rental partners providingproductions with direct access to an extensive range of the latest high quality equipment,the experience and expertise of dedicated staff and the back-up of a renownedworldwide organisation.

The ARRI Group’s product development, manufacturing and distribution is accompaniedby an ever growing service offering. ARRI Film & TV has made a name for itselfin postproduction for domestic and international feature films, TV productions andcommercials. Today, they offer a complete postproduction workflow, providing everythingfrom lab services, to state-of-the-art image and audio post services.

The close relationship between all of ARRI’s businesses creates a company that is uniquein the world, one that can supply everything to see a project through from script to screen.

Recognizing that the imagination of the filmmaker is limitless but that tools and technologydo have their limitations ARRI constantly strives to offer something better to assist the artistin creating their vision. Synonymous with providing the most innovative and highlyengineered tools available, combined with heritage and experience, the last ninety yearshave shown significant advances in technology and ARRI has seized the challenge tocontinue to take those advances to the next level.

Robert Richter and August Arnold

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1915During their pre-military training they became acquainted with Martin Kopp,a cameraman working for Messter Newsreels. Captivated by this mediumof moving images the two discovered their true passion and destiny. It wasn’tlong before they had saved enough money to purchase their first camera, aGaumont hand crank camera. When they weren’t filming they spent theirfree time in a laboratory constantly pushing boundaries to discover new andexciting ways to expose film and create new effects.

Saving diligently soon paid off, it wasn’t too long before they made theirsecond purchase, a second-hand Urban 35mm camera. With their technicalexpertise they made various improvements while at the same time becomingrespected freelance cameramen.

In the BeginningTwo friends and aspiring cinematographers,August Arnold and Robert Richter, founded acompany that would revolutionize the film andtelevision industry. The collaboration began with achance meeting at a grammar school where the pairbecame firm friends based upon a passion and flairfor all things technical. To supplement their pocketmoney they repaired bicycles and carried outinstallation work for a local electrical company.

Their friendship flourished, as did their passion forimages on the flickering screen as it gatheredpopularity and momentum.

1917It wasn’t long before Arnold and Richter had their first official success withthe sale of several printers. Both had gained an extraordinary amount oftechnical knowledge and expertise by assisting filmmakers Michael Koppand Peter Ostermayer.

1916This industrious pair designed and built their first film printing machine,made from old sprockets and various drive parts from an old film projectorbought from a second-hand goods stall in a local Munich market. Arnoldand Richter officially established their company in 1917 and named it ARRI,after the first two letters of each of their surnames. They set up in a modestshop on Türkenstrasse in Munich, the same address continues to be in usetoday but on a much grander scale housing the international headquartersof the organisation.

1918In the Weiss-Blau studio at Schellingstrasse the twofriends learnt the secrets of existing lighting techniques.

Arnold and Richter working together on a grinding machine and lathe.

Robert Richter (left) and August Arnold with Jupiter lamps.

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1918In September, under the direction of Fred Stanz, they achieved their first success into the foray of motionpictures with the western style feature film Black Jack, shot in a valley on the outskirts of Munich.

They continued to shoot feature films in the early years making over one hundred in total, such as westerns,a popular genre at this time. This included The Yellow Strangler, Texas Fred’s Honeymoon and the thrillingHigh Voltage – Caution! Danger!

However, they were never very far from thinking up new ideas for technical improvements on existing productsand designs for new products to manufacture.

The cast of Black Jack. At the camera, August Arnold.

1920Arnold and Richter worked hard and in 1920 shot their first productions The Train Robbers andDeadly Cowboys with the help of a Pathé camera. As these were their own productions theyearned a substantial amount of money to finance the manufacture of their second phase improveddesign printers. An Italian film producer purchased 12 with an order for 12 more to follow.It was the sale of their printers and the money they made on their film productions that allowedthem to finance the design and manufacture of their first film cameras and lighting products.

Robert Richter on camera with Karl Dittmannshooting The Train Robbers.

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1924The first camera developed was the KINARRI 35,a hand cranked 35mm camera housing 100ft ofstandard film.

When they weren’t filming they would rent theircameras to other cameramen for a fee for them toshoot their own projects, giving birth to the idea laterfor equipment rental which one day would becomethe ARRI Rental Group.

1924ARRI began production of the first mirror facetreflector with an electric light bulb and designed amobile generator, fully equipped with an aircraftengine to support it. With the development ofthese pioneering technologies, combined withthe expansion of the film processing laboratory,the installation of further printing machines anddeveloping rooms, the small company continued togrow at an impressive rate.

The next model, an improved version named theTropen, was built with an adjustable rotary shutter.

Mobile generator.

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1937A landmark year came in 1937 with the designand build of the reflex mirror shutter camera,the ARRIFLEX 35. It was so groundbreaking andrevolutionary, the design principle continues to beincorporated in every modern motion picture filmcamera today. For the first time in movie-making history,a camera operator could focus through the viewfinderand see without any parallax errors. The ability toactually see through the lens empowered filmmakers tohave more control over their creative vision.

The ARRIFLEX 35 was so enduring that afterselling almost 17,000 units, 45 years later in1982 an Academy Award of Merit (Oscar statue)was presented for the concept and engineering ofthis camera.

1925Saw the first sale success in the USA with theexportation of a new improved printing machine.

1927After expanding the printing department in 1925 with self-constructedmachines, ARRI built the first big film processing machine with friction drive.By this time the company had 20 employees.

1928The KINARRI 16 was developed and built, an amateur camera witha hand crank, this was then followed by an advanced version with aspring mechanism.

1937The first ARRI Fresnel lampheads were introduced.

1946Seventy ARRIFLEX 35II cameras were in production by 1946.Over the years, more than 17,000 ARRIFLEX 35s were built.

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1945After the end of the war Arnold and Richter, togetherwith members of staff, started to rebuild new premiseson the ruins of the previous structure. Reconstructionwas carried out in several phases, which tookapproximately ten years to complete.

1944During World War II production was re-located to theold Brannenburg Castle on the River Inn and to Buchon Lake Ammersee. This precautionary measureproved to be a wise one as on 13th July 1944 largebomber formations dropped incendiary bombs on asection of the Munich headquarters. Within momentsthe ARRI plant had gone up in flames, all thatremained was smoking debris.

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Brannenburg Castle, one of ARRI’s production sites duing World War II.

The main entrance at Türkenstrasse under construction. ARRIFLEX 35II photographed in the sixties.

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1948Post-war reconstruction proceeded at high speed. This phase of constructionwas completed in the late fifties.

1952Property was purchased in Stephanskirchen, near Rosenheim, to house thefactory and a foundry for the design and manufacture of ARRI lighting andcamera magazines.

Louisiana Story (1948)

Directed by legendarydocumentary filmmakerRobert J. Flaherty, this featurewas one of the first to use theARRIFLEX 35II after imports intoAmerica began in 1947.Photographed by RichardLeacock, it tells the fictionalstory of a young Cajun boyfrom the bayous of Louisiana.The lightweight camera proveduseful given the difficult terrainand Flaherty was impressedby the reflex viewfinder, oftenoperating one of twoARRIFLEX cameras himself.

almost exclusively. Actors perform directly into the camera asParry sets about clearing his name of the murder of his wife,accompanied by a Bogart voice-over. This and other deceits,such as the appearance of Parry’s hands performingfunctions immediately in front of the lens, seek to give theimpression that we in the audience are seeing precisely whatthe character is seeing. Only after Parry undergoes plasticsurgery to alter his appearance is Bogart’s face finallyrevealed, from which point the movie adopts a moreconventional and objective filming style.

Realizing that the choice of camera for point of view shotswas of crucial importance, Daves acquired an ARRIFLEX 35from the US government after discovering that several hadbeen brought back to the USA from Germany at the close ofthe war. Veteran Cinematographer Sidney Hickox, who hadalso photographed the two preceding Bogart/Bacall movies,quickly adapted to using the small and portable camera bothon set and on location in San Francisco.

Daves thought carefully about how he would assemble thefootage: “I learned that we don’t use our eyes the way filmis edited, so instead of direct cutting I dissolved or cut onpans”. The compact design of the ARRIFLEX 35 and its reflexviewing system allowed for more intimate and preciselycomposed images, which gave a polish to the film’ssubjective camera-work.

After Dark Passage the subjective camera technique fell fromfavour, appearing mainly in the occasional horror or sciencefiction film and only for short sequences. Most recently, BrianDe Palma brought the device back to film noir by includinga subjective camera scene in The Black Dahlia (2006),though such examples are few and far between incontemporary cinema. Unlike the dramatic device for whichit was first utilized in Hollywood, the ARRIFLEX 35mm reflexcamera went from strength to strength and has now beenused on a countless number of films.

The third of four films starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, Dark Passage wasreleased in late 1947. Shot partly on location in San Francisco and partly on theWarner lot in LA, this highly stylised film noir was directed by Delmer Daves, who hadrisen from prop boy to actor to writer and would become best known for directing astring of well received westerns over the next 20 years.

Dark Passage is notable mainly for its use of a dramatic device that is most commonlyreferred to as subjective camera, a technique whereby action is viewed through theeyes of a particular observer, rather than through the usual objective, impersonalpoint of view. The film opens with Bogart’s character, Vincent Parry, escaping fromprison by concealing himself in one of several barrels on an outbound truck. Havingmanaged to topple the barrel from the moving vehicle and career down a hill withoutinjury, he stumbles into undergrowth without the audience having seen his face. Forthe next 30 minutes of its running time, the film utilises the subjective camera technique

Dark Passage (1947 )

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1952ARRI developed its largest lamphead so far, the ARRI GIGANT 20kW.

Famous racing driver, Graham Hill,films a training lap with an ARRIFLEX16ST, mounted on the car.

1952Mid-century brought the golden age of television to the world and later stillfollowed the era of home video, these brought about changes in the use offilm cameras and therefore the requirements they had to fulfill. Thebroadening media horizon, first in the USA and then the rest of the world,led to greater demands for programmes, not only in the publicly ownednational companies but also the private media sector of cable and satellitetechnologies. This opened up new possibilities and the consequence was agrowing demand for more programmes, and therefore an increasingdemand for cameras. The popular mass medium demanded faster andcheaper production methods, taking advantage of 16mm film. In 1952 ARRIbrought the ARRIFLEX 16ST to market, the first professional 16mm filmcamera incorporating the reflex mirror shutter. At this time the 16mm formatwas used for the capture of news and sports reports, however, in futureyears for this particular segment of the industry this format was to bereplaced by video cameras.

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Satyajit Ray

Filming began in 1952, funded by Ray himself, and would continue in fits and startsover four years as money came and went. The director was adamant that the filmshould be shot in real locations with a combination of actors and non-actors, in thetrue neo-realist vein.

Mitra shot with an ARRIFLEX 35II, while sound was recorded with a Nagra reel-to-reeltape recorder. This lightweight kit allowed for swift and versatile location shootingwith a minimum of crew, which was vital to the production in terms of both resourcesand directorial approach.

Ray and Mitra sought to avoid a slick studio-like lighting style, so Mitra developed asystem of bounce lighting whereby lamps were aimed at cheap white sheets angledat the performers in order to create a softer, more natural light. By this method, whichwould go on to be utilised by lighting cameramen worldwide, Mitra could simulatedaylight with extraordinary simplicity and effectiveness. The resulting black and whitecinematography was stunning and played a big part in the success of the film.

Championed by the American Director John Huston, who saw some of Ray’s footagewhile location scouting in India for The Man Who Would Be King, the film premieredat New York’s Museum of Modern Art in 1955. After its subsequent release inCalcutta, Pather Panchali was entered in the 1956 Cannes Film Festival, where itwon the special jury prize for “Best Human Document.”

The film went on to win over a dozen awards and prizes, launching Ray on his longand distinguished directorial career. Pather Panchali became the first of three filmsconcerning the same character that are collectively known as the Apu Trilogy. Mitraserved as his cinematographer for many years and ARRIFLEX cameras were a stapleof their collaboration. When Ray’s son Sandip became a director in later years, hetoo chose to shoot with ARRIFLEX cameras, having assisted on his father’s setsthroughout his life. Satyajit Ray died on April 23, 1992, just weeks after beingawarded an Academy Honorary Award for Lifetime Achievement.

There can be few directors in the history of cinema to havemade their first feature film with as little experience and asmuch success as Satyajit Ray. Now widely regarded as oneof the greatest Indian filmmakers of all time, Ray was firstexposed to the world of film production when he volunteeredto help Jean Renoir scout locations for The River during theFrench director’s visit to his home region of Bengal in 1949.

Employed as a graphic designer at an advertising agency,Ray was seconded to London the following year and took theopportunity to watch every film he possibly could. It wasafter a screening of Vittorio de Sica’s neo-realist masterpieceBicycle Thieves that he resolved to direct his own adaptationof the classic Bengali novel Pather Panchali, a story revolvingaround the family struggles of an impoverished Bengali boynamed Apu.

On his return to India in late 1950, Ray set about assemblinga crew; fortuitously, his chosen collaborators turned out to beextremely talented individuals. Novice Art Director BansiChandra Gupta would go on to become the most respectedpractitioner of this discipline in all of India, while ProductionManager Anil Choudhury rose to the challenge of his taskwith aplomb. Perhaps most crucial to the success of Ray’saesthetic vision was Subrata Mitra, a stills photographer whohad never before operated a motion picture camera but whowas persuaded to take on the role of cinematographer.

1953The first blimps are developed for 16mmand 35mm cameras.

1953In Munich ARRI continued to expand with thecompletion of two large studios complete withdubbing rooms and production offices, joined laterby a modern motion picture theatre.

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1957In 1957 a new colour printing laboratory was completed and equippedwith ARRI printing and developing machines. Twelve months later, a furtherlarge office building was nearing completion.

1964ARRIFLEX cameras film sports events all over the world. A Japanese cameramanrecords the opening of the 18th Olympic Games in Tokyo with an ARRIFLEX 16ST.

A Hard Day’s Night (1964)

Produced on a limited budget to capitalise on the Beatlemania phenomenon, Richard Lester’smad-cap mock-documentary follows the Fab Four as they prepare for a show. The ARRIFLEX 35IIBcameras allowed Cinematographer Gilbert Taylor BSC,ASC to keep up with John, Paul, George andRingo as they dashed from screaming fans, while the reflex finder permitted handheld zoom andtelephoto shots. The film is credited with inventing a plethora of music video techniques.

A Taste of Honey (1961)

An adaptation of ShelaghDelaney’s play, this gritty socialdrama followed the ‘kitchen sink’trend set by John Osborne’sLook Back in Anger.Directed by Tony Richardson,a prominent figure of theBritish New Wave, the filmwas photographed byWalter Lassally, who frequentlyshot with blimped ARRIFLEX 35IIseries cameras on a number ofdifferent film stocks. This wasthe first British feature to befilmed entirely on location;it won four BAFTA awards.

1958ARRI builds a cinema. It was refurbished in 1985 and again in 2002, whenit was completely renovated and equipped with the latest technology.

Camera and assembly department, Adalbert Strasse.

Cinema photographed in 1985.

1965The ARRIFLEX 16BL is the first self-blimped cameraand continues in the following years to become oneof the most successful cameras ever.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)

The third and final western that Sergio Leone madeabout the ‘man with no name’, a lone gunman played byClint Eastwood, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is astory of treasure, greed and treachery, set against an epicbackdrop of the American Civil War. Tonino Delli ColliAIC shot wild with ARRIFLEX 35II CT/B Techniscopecameras; all dialogue was dubbed in postproduction assome actors were speaking Italian and others English,as was common with ‘spaghetti westerns’.

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Tonino Delli Colli

In 1961 he teamed for the first time with Director Pier Paolo Pasolini, on Accattone.Their collaboration, which Delli Colli rated as one of the most rewarding of his workinglife, would continue for the following 15 years, producing such classics asThe Decameron and The Gospel According to St. Matthew. Together they consistentlycreated different and original images, partly by using equipment not common in theItalian industry at the time, including a 35-140mm zoom and lightweight ARRIFLEX35mm reflex cameras.

Perhaps the films for which Delli Colli is best known are those directed by SergioLeone. The cinematographer had helped and encouraged Leone when he was tryingto raise interest in A Fistful of Dollars, a low-budget western that adapted the plot ofKurosawa’s Yojimbo. When the film was finally made it was a runaway success, aswas its sequel, For a Few Dollars More. Delli Colli got involved for the last in whatbecame known as the Dollars Trilogy, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, in 1966. Hephotographed this film, as well as Leone’s next western Once Upon a Time in theWest, using Techniscope, a two perforation widescreen process that had beendeveloped by Technicolor Italia. The system combined a two perforation pull-down witha 2.35:1 gate, resulting in two images being exposed on top of each other within thefour perforation Academy area. Delli Colli shot with Techniscope ARRI 35II CT/Bcameras, which made filming in the desert easier due to their portability. The fact thatthey also halved film stock and development costs gave Leone the freedom to filmscenes many times over, which was how he preferred to work.

Another important collaborator was Federico Fellini, with whom Delli Colli made fourfilms, including The Voice of the Moon and Ginger & Fred, both of which were shotwith ARRI 35BL series cameras. Fellini had a habit of changing everything at the lastminute, so the cinematographer had to draw on all of his experience and be readyfor anything on set each day.

After winning four David di Donatello awards over the course of his long and illustriouscareer, Delli Colli’s final film was Life is Beautiful in 1997, which won internationalacclaim. He died in 2005, the same year he was awarded the ASC InternationalAchievement Award.

After beginning work at the Cinecittà studios in Rome whenhe was 16, Tonino Delli Colli AIC served as an apprenticein the camera department for several years under thetutelage of cinematographers such as Mario Albertelli. Prouduntil the end of his life of the fact that he never studiedfilmmaking, nor read even a single book on the subject, DelliColli learned his craft on the job and eventually began totake the reins himself when Albertelli fell ill.

After World War II, the neo-realist style of filmmakingemerged in Italy, characterised by naturalistic black-and-white photography and location shooting. Delli Colli builthis reputation as a cinematographer during this period andlater spearheaded the general transition to colour byphotographing the first colour Italian film, Totò a Colori, in1952. The emulsion he used for this film was rated at 6 ASA,necessitating vast quantities of light for studio scenes.

Tonino Delli Colli at work on Ginger and Fred.Federico Fellini is at the camera.

Tonino Delli Colli (left) with Pier Paolo Pasolini.

Tonino Delli Colli with the camera on the set ofThe Good, the Bad and the Ugly, while Sergio Leone directs.

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1966The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented ARRI with an Academy Award for the design anddevelopment of the ARRIFLEX 35.

1970The ARRITECHNO 35 is the only X-ray moviecamera with up to 150fps on the market. Used in thefield of angiocardiography, thirteen thousand weresold worldwide.

A Clockwork Orange(1971)

Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation ofAnthony Burgess’ novel followsthe adventures of socialmaladroit Alex and his ‘droogs’in a dystopian future verydifferent from that portrayedin Kubrick’s previous film2001: A Space Odyssey.Photographed by John Alcott BSCwith both blimped and wildARRIFLEX 35IIC cameras,A Clockwork Orange wasfilmed almost entirely onlocation. The cameras wereowned by Kubrick himself, whoalso served as operator for themany handheld sequences.

1972The ARRIFLEX 35BL was the first self-blimped “studio silent” 35mm filmcamera. Previously, blimped cameras were extremely cumbersome andweighed up to 80 pounds, but with the compact 35BL handheld work waspossible since it only weighed 33 pounds. Some iconic films shotwith the camera from this era included Taxi Driver, Days of Heaven,Apocalypse Now, The Shining and Reds.

Easy Rider (1969)

Photographed by the great Laszlo Kovacs ASC, Easy Rider was shoton an ARRIFLEX 35IIC owned by Vilmos Zsigmond ASC. Stars PeterFonda and Dennis Hopper produced and directed respectively, aswell as writing the film together with Terry Southern. Kovacs adapteda 1968 Chevy Impala with a flat wooden platform and used it as acamera car for the road scenes, operating the 35IIC whilst bothzooming and focusing the lens himself.

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Across 110th Street (1972)

Sa’id found out during principal photography that the first production model of themuch anticipated ARRILFEX 35BL had just arrived in New York. Having establisheda long and successful relationship with ARRIFLEX over the I Spy years, Sa’id persuadedVolker Bahnemann, at that time Vice President of the ARRI division in America, to lethis Across 110th Street crew be the first to try out the 35BL, for a week.

The camera immediately revolutionised what they were able to achieve on the streets ofHarlem. It was self-blimped and featured a dual-compartment coaxial magazinepositioned at its rear for perfectly shoulder-balanced handheld shooting. “It’s a realwinner”, affirmed cinematographer Jack Priestly at the time. “It’s as quiet as a churchmouse and has great flexibility, especially as it weighs only 33 pounds. I don’t know whatI would have done in a lot of spots without it, especially in those small rooms where weoften had to shoot. You put it on your shoulder and walk around, bend down, sit down,hold it in your lap – everything. I think it’s going to help the film industry tremendously.”

One week with the 35BL proved it to be such a valuable tool that Sa’id negotiatedkeeping the camera for the last four weeks of filming. Camera Operator Sol Negrin, laterto become a highly respected cinematographer, reported of the 35BL: “It was used inmajor sound sequences shot in confined quarters where it was impossible to use a largecamera, but where we needed portability and quietness. We also used it on the rooftopsof buildings in Little Italy – buildings that had no elevators. The low noise level of theARRIFLEX 35BL permits shooting sound sequences in confined quarters, thus eliminatingthe post-dubbing of dialogue that is usually necessary under such conditions.”

A combination of Fouad Sa’id’s radical location skills and ARRIFLEX’s ground-breakingtechnology allowed Shears’ dream of a realistic backdrop for his story to beaccomplished. A staggering 95% of the movie was shot at a total of 60 different interiorand exterior locations in Harlem.

When planning this gritty Harlem-based ‘blaxploitation’movie, Director Barry Shears was adamant that only by filmingin real locations could he bring a suitably raw and genuinefeel to its themes of gang warfare and bloody street violence.Hollywood colleagues warned him that New York was theworst city in which to film, due to labour costs and permitnightmares, and Harlem the worst part of New York, due toits status at that time as the most lawless ghetto in the US.

Undeterred, Shears took on Fouad Sa’id, an unrivalled expertin location shooting, as a Co-Producer. Sa’id had cut his teethas a cameraman on the pioneering NBC TV series, I Spy,which broke new ground for American television by mixingstudio work with location footage shot all over the world; a featmade possible by abandoning the ubiquitous but unwieldyMitchell cameras of the day in favour of the lightweightARRIFLEX IIC.

A fast action sequence is filmed with an ARRIFLEX 35BL.

DoP Jack Priestly on the rooftops of New York.

1972ARRI pioneers the development of daylight luminaires. The ARRISONNE 2000W, the world’s first ever daylightlamphead, was produced using Osram HQI technology, an early form of HMI discharge light.

ARRISONNEs in action illuminating the Konigsplatz in Munich during the Olympic games.

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1975The ARRIFLEX 16SR was the first professional camera with symmetricalconstruction, allowing easy operating on both sides. This offered a far widerrange as a news and documentation camera.

In 1982 its successor, the ARRIFLEX 16SR II, appeared on the market.

1977During these years ARRI continued to grow on a more international scale.In 1977 the forming of an ARRI subsidiary in New York and Los Angelesinsured ARRI’s growing presence in the Hollywood market where apermanent foothold has remained ever since. By establishing American-based subsidiaries, ARRI’s technological influence grew from the strongrelationships established with US filmmakers.

This strategy for growth lead the way for the opening of other outlets aroundthe world. By the 1980s, ARRI in Munich had become a total end-to-endproduction entity, offering camera and lighting rental and completepostproduction facilities.

Bound for Glory (1976)

Hal Ashby originally cast Tim Buckley to star in this biopicof American folk singer Woody Guthrie, but he diedbefore filming began and was replaced byDavid Carradine.

Cinematographer Haskell Wexler ASC shot with anARRIFLEX 35BL and won the Oscar for Best Cinematographyat the 1977 Academy Awards for his efforts. Bound forGlory is famous for being the first feature film to make useof Garrett Brown’s revolutionary Steadicam.

The Shining (1980)

Based on a novel by StephenKing, Stanley Kubrick’s seminalhorror film was the last hemade with cinematographerJohn Alcott BSC and his secondwith the ARRIFLEX 35BL. Thevast Overlook Hotel set atElstree Studios was lit by‘practicals’ as well as700,000W of simulateddaylight punching throughwindows, resulting intemperatures so high that theset burned down. The Shining isfamous for Kubrick’s masterfuluse of a Steadicam, operatedby its inventor, Garrett Brown.1979

The ARRI APOLLO Daylight Fresnel series wasdeveloped utilising double-ended HMI bulbs.

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At the age of 13 Stanley Kubrick was given a Graflexcamera by his father Jacques, a professional physician inthe Bronx, New York, and a keen amateur photographer.Stanley was soon taking pictures for his school newspaperand after a very short time image-making had become farmore important to him than his classroom studies. By the timehe was 17 he had sold his first photograph to Lookmagazine, a national publication to which he contributedfurther pictures throughout his last year of high school beforebeing employed as a staff photographer upon graduation.

Over the next few years Kubrick honed his photographicskills on a variety of assignments for Look, all the whiledeveloping his passion for movies by frequenting thecinemas of Manhattan whenever possible, just as he hadwhen playing truant from school. In early 1949 he covereda photo story on middleweight boxer Walter Cartier andwas inspired to produce a short documentary film, funded byhis own savings, entitled Day of the Fight. He sold the filmto RKO for $100 more than it cost to make and became, atthe age of 22, an entrepreneurial filmmaker who had turneda profit, albeit a modest one.

Giving up his job at the magazine, Kubrick devoted himselfto a career in film and produced a number of further shortsbefore raising the money to shoot his first feature, Fear andDesire. Although he later dismissed this as a student-level

effort, it taught him a great deal about the dramatization of intellectual ideas andalso gave investors the confidence to back another feature. On Killer’s Kiss, which heagain photographed himself, Kubrick made use of an ARRIFLEX 35IIA for certainscenes. The compactness of the camera allowed him to operate personally, handheldif need be, while its reflex viewfinder suited his meticulous eye for composition.

The 35II camera series, which developed through various models over the years,became regular fixtures on Kubrick’s sets. They were used when mobility was vital,such as in the scene depicting the siege of Burpelson Air Force base inDr. Strangelove, or when space was limited, such as on the B-52 set of the same film.

In 1970 Kubrick began production on A Clockwork Orange, which was shot almostentirely with his own 35IIC cameras. He utilised ARRIFLEX blimps for dialogue sceneswhen necessary, but revelled in the freedom afforded by the lightweight camera whileshooting wild. All of the handheld scenes were operated by the director himself,including the infamous ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ rape sequence and the ‘Catlady’ fight.

A lifelong camera enthusiast, Kubrick maintained an extraordinary knowledge ofmotion picture technology and continued to select ARRI cameras as the product linedeveloped throughout his career. The 35BL series were used on both Barry Lyndonand Full Metal Jacket, while for Eyes Wide Shut, Kubrick chose a 535B as hisprincipal camera.

In a shot from Jan Harlan’s touching tribute Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures, releasedtwo years after the Director’s death, Kubrick is seen sitting in his own garden with hisdaughter on his knee. He points directly at the lens and says “you know what kindof camera that is? It’s an ARRIFLEX.”

Stanley Kubrick

Stanley Kubrick on the set of Eyes Wide Shut.

Stanley Kubrick on the set of The Shining.

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Vacano built a gyroscopically-stabilized camera rig that he could hold in front of hiscrouched body as he ran through the set. Though Steadicam was available at that time,it was too cumbersome to get through the tiny circular doors that separated compartmentswithin the submarine. Space was so tight that he had to wear a crash helmet and bodyarmour to prevent serious injury on the many occasions when he fell or struck an obstacle.The rig softened his jarring running motion without eliminating a sense of human bodymovement that he believed would help pull audiences into the story.

Vacano initially used an ARRIFLEX IIC camera on his handheld rig, but ran into difficultybecause the rigid viewfinder made low-angle work almost impossible. He lived in Munichand had a good relationship with ARRI, so asked engineers at the company if they mightbuild something that could help him. This conversation brought about the birth of theARRIFLEX IIIC, a single-mount, pivoting-viewfinder camera that represented the lastevolutionary step of a body design which began life in 1946 as the ARRIFLEX II. Vacanowas delighted: “I was always very close with the ARRI engineers”, he says. “We woulddiscuss future developments and I would tell them what I would like to see or whatparticular features might help me. They were always very willing to help and for Das Bootthey built a completely new camera for me, which was fantastic.”

Das Boot was a box-office smash and a towering artistic success. It became the mostsuccessful foreign film released in the US up to that time and its record of six Oscarnominations has yet to be matched by a German film. Jost Vacano describes the shootas physically the toughest of his career, but remembers having no doubt at all that theywere creating something special. “You know after this film I worked in the United Statesfor about 15 years and shot many big mainstream films there, but when I look back,Das Boot is still one of my favourite pieces. Maybe the best one of all.”

Based on the best-sellingWorld War II U-boat novel by LotharG. Buchheim, Das Boot had actually been in development asan American venture from as early as 1976. The project,however, was impeded and eventually shut down by creativedifferences between the production team and Buchheim, whohad right of veto over the screenplay. In 1979, ProducerGünter Rohrbach was head of Bavaria Film Studios andresurrected the film as an all-German production.

Jost Vacano BVK, ASC a local cinematographer with 15 yearsexperience shooting features and German TV, was hired tophotograph the film. He had never met Director WolfgangPeterson before, though they quickly formed a strongrelationship and shared a determination that absolute realismshould be the basic credo underlying the endeavour. Vacanoran into difficulty, however, when he expressed a belief thathandheld filming would be the best option: “I had very strongfeelings about the visuals of this film and it was not easy in thebeginning to convince the director and the producers thatI was right”.

Das Boot (1981)

The Last Waltz (1978)

Hailed by many as the greatest rock film ever made, The LastWaltz documents the final concert of The Band, during whichthey perform with guests such as Bob Dylan and MuddyWaters. Director Martin Scorsese, who had begun his careeras an editor on Woodstock, Michael Wadleigh’s film of thelegendary 1969 music festival, employed camera operatorsincluding Michael Chapman ASC, Vilmos Zsigmond ASC andLaszlo Kovaks ASC to man the seven different cameras,several of which were ARRIFLEX 35BLs.

Apocolypse Now (1979)

Relocating Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness to theVietnam War, Francis Ford Coppola’s sprawling explorationof the human psyche’s response to violence and chaos took16 months to film in the Philippines. Vittorio Storaro AIC, ASCwon an Oscar for his extraordinary and colourfulphotography, despite the troubled shoot and intenselychallenging conditions. He shot with an ARRIFLEX 35BL andcan be seen operating an ARRIFLEX 16ST in a scene wherehe and Coppola cameo as a TV news team.

Jost Vacano in the submarine set with a purpose built gyro-rig and prototype IIIC. First Assistant Peter Maiwaldholds the remote focus unit.

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Sven NykvistSven Nykvist ASC, built a career that spanned six decades, over the course of which he worked on over 120 films and collected two AcademyAwards for Best Cinematography. As a young boy he was left with relatives in Stockholm when his parents emigrated from Sweden to work asLutheran missionaries in the Congo. The sense of isolation and abandonment instilled in Nykvist by this separation almost certainly contributed to hisemotional affinity with legendary Director Ingmar Bergman, whose work often dealt with such themes. Their collaboration, stretching across many yearsand resulting in more than 20 films, was the most important professional and creative relationship of Nykvist’s life.

Starting out in the early 1940s as a camera assistant at studios in Sweden and Italy, Nykvist first took sole responsibility for photographing the film13 Chairs in 1945. He was working on documentaries immediately prior to sharing a cinematography credit on Sawdust and Tinsel in 1953,initiating his association with Bergman. Six years later the director asked Nykvist to shoot Virgin Spring, encouraging him to think not just in terms ofcreating beautiful images, but of actually using light to help tell the story. “Ingmar Bergman has meant more to me more than almost anyone else inmy whole life because of what he taught me,” Nykvist commented in 1976. “He got me interested in what I think is the most important thing inphotography – using light to create a mood.”

Virgin Spring won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film and was followed by Through a Glass Darkly, Winter Light and The Silence, by whichtime the two men had formed an unshakeable creative bond. Nykvist’s developing style was favouring soft, bounced light, unobtrusive cameraworkand intense study of the human face. His propensity for searching close-ups is most notable in Persona, a film he shot on an ARRIFLEX 35IIC in 1966.In fact, no matter what studio camera he might use on a film, he almost always included an ARRIFLEX as part of his kit, for handheld shots andset-ups affording limited space.

After the ARRIFLEX 35BL came out in 1972, Nykvist made use of it on a number of films, including Fanny and Alexander, for which he won his secondOscar in 1982. Shot to be released as both a five-hour TV series and a three-hour feature, the production was fraught with difficulty, nearly costingthe cinematographer his life when a crossbeam fell in the studio.

Nykvist teamed up with Andrei Tarkovsky for The Sacrifice, the celebrated Russian director’s final film before succumbing to cancer. Nykvist againshot with the 35BL, producing beautiful, lingering images; the film won an extraordinary four awards at Cannes, including Best Artistic Contributionfor cinematography.

Not long after receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award from the ASC in 1996, Nykvist was diagnosed with progressive aphasia and was forced toretire. Respected worldwide and having worked with many other important directors including Woody Allen, Roman Polanski, Louis Malle and RichardAttenborough, Sven Nykvist died in September 2006.

Fanny and Alexander (1982)

Sven Nykvist collected a BAFTA, a BSC Award and the Best Cinematography Oscar for his work on thisIngmar Bergman classic, which tells the story of the Ekdahls, an early twentieth-century Swedish family.Creating some of the most memorable images of his 25-year collaboration with Bergman, Nykvist assertedhis total mastery of natural light with this film. The ARRIFLEX 35BL perfectly suited the director’s demand formobile yet unobtrusive camerawork.

Director Andrei Tarkovsky andSven Nykvist on location duringfilming of The Sacrifice.

Director Ingmar Bergman linesup a shot with Sven Nykviston Fanny and Alexander.

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1982Subsidiary company ARRI Video, now known as ARRI Film & TV, is set up. Today it offers a complete postproductionworkflow, providing everything from lab services to state-of-the-art image and audio post services.

1988The ARRI STUDIO range was introduced, a series ofhigh performance lampheads that took advantage oftungsten halogen lamps and utilised wide anglelenses for the first time to provide a 60 degreebeam angle.

The Last Emperor (1987)

Bernardo Bertolucci’s tale ofPuyi, the last Emperor of China,won a staggering nineAcademy Awards, one of thembeing Vittorio Storaro’s third forBest Cinematography. It was thefirst Western film to be madeabout modern China with thefull co-operation of the Chinesegovernment. Storaro filmed withan ARRIFLEX 35BL andmeticulously controlled hiscolour palette, assigningspecific colours to differentthemes and stages in the story.

Full Metal Jacket (1987)

Douglas Milsome BSC, whopulled focus for John AlcottBSC on The Shining, steppedin as cinematographer forStanley Kubrick on this film,which the director againopted to shoot with ARRIFLEX35BL cameras. Despite beingset in Vietnam, the entire filmwas produced and filmed inEngland, at PinewoodStudios, BassingbournBarracks and BecktonGasworks. Milsomeexperimented with differentshutter angles for battlescenes, a techniqueJanusz Kaminski borrowedfor Saving Private Ryan.

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1989ARRI earns its place in history when the ARRIFLEX 16mm is taken into spaceby NASA on two space missions on board the Space Shuttle Columbusin 1989 and the Space Shuttle Atlantis in 1990. It has been used onsubsequent missions.

as cinematographer, Storaro took a phone call from Bertolucci, who asked him toshoot The Bird with Glass Feathers (1970). Immediately after this film they workedtogether on The Conformist (1970), a film composed of striking and confident imagesthat were clearly the work of a major cinematographic talent.

In 1978 he shot his first non-Italian film for Francis Ford Coppola, who had seen LastTango in Paris (1972) and wanted to take advantage of Storaro’s experience withMarlon Brando’s improvisational acting. Apocalypse Now (1979) was filmed onlocation in the Philippines with ARRIFLEX 35BL cameras and Technovision anamorphiclenses; it won the cinematographer his first Academy Award.

After this film Storaro became increasingly preoccupied with the thematic use ofcolour, associating different colours with different emotions and story elements. Thoughhe recognised that this code for colour symbolism had emerged unconsciously fromhis earlier work, Storaro first deliberately implemented it on Bertolucci’s La Luna(1979). The technique developed and reached its pinnacle with Warren Beatty’sReds (1981) and Bertolucci’s The Last Emperor (1987), both of which won thecinematographer Academy Awards. Throughout this period he continued to shootwith ARRIFLEX 35BLs, though for Little Buddha (1993) he switched to thenew generation ARRIFLEX 535 as well as an ARRIFLEX 765 65mm camera forseveral sequences.

Vittorio Storaro is a passionate proponent of cinematography as art and lobbiestirelessly for the universal acceptance of formats and processes that will best protectthe vision of directors and cinematographers as well as deliver images of the bestpossible quality to cinema and DVD audiences. In 2001 he became the youngestrecipient of the coveted ASC Lifetime Achievement Award.

Vittorio Storaro AIC, ASC was introduced to the world offilm by his father, a projectionist at the Lux Film Studio inRome. As a young boy, Storaro would sit in the projectionbooth and watch films through the soundproof window,learning to follow the stories just by the visuals. At the ageof 11 he began studying photography at a technical schooland at 18 was accepted into the Italian CinemagraphicTraining Centre. Immediately after completing his studies, hebegan work as a focus puller on a feature and after a coupleof jobs as a camera assistant established himself as anoperator. In the early 1960s the Italian film industry slumpedand Storaro used the time to throw himself into studies ofpainting, music, literature and philosophy by readingvoraciously and visiting museums at every opportunity. Hehas been a determined and endlessly curious autodidactsince that time and still considers himself a student of artand life.

Adamant that he must concentrate on film, Storaro turneddown television work during this difficult time and when hewas finally offered another job on Before the Revolution(1964), it was as a camera assistant. Undaunted bystepping down a rung on the ladder, he accepted the offerand for the first time went to work with a director who wouldbecome one of the key collaborators of his career, BernardoBertolucci. Five years later, while working on his second film

Vittorio Storaro

Vittorio Storaro on the set of Reds. Vittorio Storaro and Bernardo Bertolucci at work together for the first time on Before the Revolution.

1989The ARRIFLEX 765 represents the world’s leading camera concept for 65mmcinematography. The 765 camera system was specifically designed toprovide the ergonomics of 35mm cameras with the ultimate image qualityof 65mm film. The 765 is a sync sound camera with a noise level of under25 db(A), while also offering an unprecedented speed range of 2 to 100fps.A bright optical viewfinder, iris compensated speed ramps and amechanically adjustable 180 degree mirror shutter are modern featuresfound in no other 65mm camera.

The ARRIFLEX 765 has significantly expanded the envelope of creativepossibilities available to film makers to produce images of unsurpassedresolution, contrast range and natural colour rendition. With the wide spreaduse of the digital intermediate process, which allows multiple formats to beeasily combined in a single project, the use of 65mm film is currently seeinga renaissance. For scanning at 4K there is no better origination medium.

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1990The ARRIFLEX 535 is a 35mm silent production camera that combines abrilliant viewfinder and highest operating convenience with the well knownARRI precision and reliability. An innovative new programmable mirrorshutter can vary the open angle while the camera is running, providing newcreative possibilities. The cinematographer can now run exposure-compensated speed ramps or simply change exposure quickly withoutaffecting the depth of field. This capability quickly became popular, and theARRIFLEX 435 and the ARRICAM system later expanded this technologywith innovations like automated speed/iris ramps and depth of field ramps.

Whity was the first of 15 collaborations between Ballhaus and Fassbinder, whorelentlessly pushed the cinematographer to create interesting images under pressure.They worked with a minimal crew at breakneck speed, usually completing films in 20days or less; award-winning feature The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant, which has arunning time of over two hours, was shot in 10 days. During this period, Ballhaus wasmaking heavy use of the ARRIFLEX 35IIC and in 1973 filmedMartha with the ARRIFLEX16BL, though the ARRIFLEX 35BL became his camera of choice after its introduction.

He started making films in America with Dear Mr. Wonderful in 1982, followed byJohn Sayles’ Baby It’s You, which got him noticed by Martin Scorsese, who subsequentlyasked him to shoot The Last Temptation of Christ. This project was delayed, so the firstfilm Ballhaus made with Scorsese was actually After Hours in 1985. Since then theyhave worked together on a further six features, including The Color of Money andGoodfellas, both shot on the ARRIFLEX 35BL series.

Ballhaus embraced the ARRIFLEX 535 when it came out, using the camera for furtherScorsese collaborations The Age of Innocence andGangs of New York, as well as otherfilms including Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula andWolfgang Peterson’s Air Force One.Most recently he has used ARRICAM cameras and the ARRIFLEX 435 on Scorsese’sThe Departed, for which he also utilised ARRI/Zeiss Variable Primes and Master Primes.

Michael Ballhaus is one of the most sought-after cinematographers in the world and hasworked with many of the most revered directors of his time. He has received three Oscarnominations, for Broadcast News, The Fabulous Baker Boys and Gangs of New York,and in 2007 was presented with the ASC International Achievement Award.

Michael Ballhaus ASC has made a point of selecting ARRIFLEXcameras throughout his distinguished career as acinematographer, making use of a wide variety of differentmodels as the product range has developed over the years.

Ballhaus was born in Berlin to a family already connected withthe dramatic arts. His uncle Carl Ballhaus was a well-knownactor of stage and screen; his parents were also performers,as well as theatre enthusiasts, who in 1947 moved the familyto a castle in Bavaria and founded the Fränkische Theatre.The castle had rooms for 20 actors and a stage where hisparents regularly put on plays. Ballhaus involved himselfto as great a degree as his schoolwork allowed, learningphotography by taking pictures of the actors.

At the age of 17, he spent a week on the set of Max Ophüls’Lola Montès, observing French Cinematographer ChristianMatras at work. After studying photography for two years hefound employment as a camera operator at a new televisionstation in Baden-Baden. By 25, he had photographed his firstfeature and was combining freelance work with teachingresponsibilities at a film school in Berlin. Working on adocumentary in Ireland in 1970, he was offered andseized the opportunity to shoot Whity for Director RainerWerner Fassbinder.

Michael Ballhaus

1991The first of the COMPACT DAYLIGHT Fresnels wasproduced. The use of single-ended lamps allowed alarge reduction in the size of the lamphead. Superioroptical performance, reliability and robustness,combined with their light weight and compact sizesoon made them an industry favourite.

Goodfellas (1990)

Martin Scorsese andcinematographer MichaelBallhaus ASC teamed up againfor this much-loved gangsterfilm, based on the bookWiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi.Ballhaus used the ARRIFLEX35BL-4S, which won a Scientificand Engineering Award at theOscars in 1991; Joe Pesci wonBest Supporting Actor for hisrole in the film at the sameceremony. Larry McConkeyoperated the famous Steadicamshot that follows Ray Liottaand Lorraine Braccothrough the bowels of theCopacabana nightclub.

Michael Ballhaus and Martin Scorsese on the set of The Departed.

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1992The ARRIFLEX 535B is lighter in weight, features a modular detachableviewfinder system and is also equipped with an innovative new grip system.

Little Buddha (1993)

Director Bernado Bertolucciworked with long-timecollaborator Vittorio StoraroAIC, ASC on this tale ofreligious enlightenment. Storaroshot mainly on 35mmanamorphic, though he usedthe new ARRIFLEX 765 65mmcamera for flashback scenesdepicting the life of Buddha,which he and Bertolucci wantedto seem visually flawless and toevoke an idyllic world. Thistechnique bucked the trend ofshooting flashback scenes withdiminished photographic clarity,using filtration or diffusion todistinguish them from scenes setin the present.

Bram Stoker’s Dracula(1992)

Francis Ford Coppola’sadaptation of Bram Stoker’sDracula was one of the firstfilms to make use of the newARRIFLEX 535. MichaelBallhaus ASC, whophotographed the film, tookadvantage of the camera’sability to change the runningspeed in shot while theexposure is automaticallycompensated. Coppola sent hisson Roman, the second unitDirector, out to investigateperiod special effects andsubsequently used a turn-of-the-century Pathé hand crankcamera for certain scenes.

1992The ARRIFLEX 16SR 3 can be converted to shoot in the Super 16 formatand its 54 mm PL mount accepts the wide variety of 16 and 35 format prime,zoom and specialty lenses.

1992After the Winter Olympics in Albertville, Canada and the World Exhibitionin Seville, Spain, ARRI equips the opening and closing ceremonies of theOlympic Games in Barcelona with the latest lighting technology.

1992The introduction of the ARRISUN 40/25 Daylight Parcombined a single-ended lamp with a parabolicreflector to provide a highly efficient, narrow angledspot light.

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Schindler’s List (1993)

With a running time of over three hours, Schindler’s List is a highly emotional black and white epic. Directed by Steven Spielberg with cinematographyby Janusz Kaminski ASC, it is based on the true story of Oskar Schindler, a German businessman who was instrumental in saving the lives of over onethousand Polish Jews during World War II.

Spielberg was originally attracted to the story in 1982 when Thomas Keneally’s Booker Prize winning novel, Schindler’s Ark, was published to criticalacclaim. Drawn by the emphasis on the true experiences of individual people, it would be another 10 years before Spielberg felt he was ready to makeSchindler’s List.

Filming took place over a period of 72 days in Krakow in 1993 using a fleet of ARRIFLEX 35 III and 535 cameras. Shot entirely in black and white, Kaminskiutilised hand-held to create a documentary feel, fulfilling Spielberg’s desire for the film to appear as if a journalist was recording the event.

Shooting in black and white had a direct impact on the design of the production. The walls of sets had to be painted dark so that faces did not blend intothe background and even the costumes were designed to contrast with skin tones. The entire colour palette had to be adapted in order to ensure thateverything looked perfect in black and white.

The main difference for Kaminski was that he had to create separation through his lighting. With the absence of colour he had to direct light onto thefaces of the actors while shooting so that they became the brightest object in the frame.

Schindler’s List went on to become one of the most honoured films of all time, winning an exceptional amount of prizes and multiple Academy Awards,including Best Director for Spielberg, Best Picture for Spielberg and Producers Branko Lustig and Gerald Molen, and Best Cinematography for Kaminski.

Spielberg directing Ben Kingsley on the set of Schindler’s List.

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1994The ARRIFLEX 435 is the workhorse of the film industry, the worldwidestandard for 35 mm MOS high-speed camera work that can be found onalmost every film set. In large productions such as The Lord of the Ringstrilogy it is not uncommon to find many 435 cameras working on second unitand complex effects shots. The 435 combines robust construction with asuper steady movement, 150fps high-speed capabilities and special in-camera effects like programmable ramps, single frame, motion control andhand cranking. The ARRIFLEX 435 is the most versatile MOS camera everbuilt, and with over 1,300 cameras sold can be found in almost everycountry in the world.

Fargo (1996)

Roger Deakins BSC, ASCwho had by this time becomethe Coen brothers’cinematographer of choice,won an Oscar nomination forhis work on this critically-acclaimed downbeat comedycrime movie. He selected anARRIFLEX 35BL4, which heknew could perform withoutfault through the harsh, wintershoot at locations throughoutsnow-swept Minnesota andNorth Dakota. Zeiss 32mm and40mm primes were on thecamera frequently, longerlenses than the Coens hadtended to use on previous films.

1994New developments in lenses also gained ground withthe ARRI/Zeiss Variable Primes, offering the opticalqualities of a prime lens and the ease of use of a zoom.The ARRI/Zeiss partnership would continue with theUltra Primes and more recently with the MasterPrimes, which have set new standards for high-speedprime lenses.

1996The ARRILUX POCKET PAR 125W, a small but powerful HMI with a widerange of accessories, provides a highly portable discharge light source.

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The Fifth Element (1997)

Luc Besson once stated that it was his intention to direct no more than 10 films in order to avoid the pitfalls of becoming ‘burnt out’. In 1996 he made hisseventh, the science fiction blockbuster The Fifth Element, a tale set in the strange and colourful universe of the 23rd Century.

Originally conceived when Besson was just a teenager, it took over twenty years for The Fifth Element to reach the big screen. Besson compared theexperience of creating the film to scaling a mountain, stating that he would never climb another like it.

Director of Photography Thierry Arbogast AFC accompanied Besson on the project, which was filmed in London at Pinewood Studios using an ARRIFLEX535B as the main camera, ARRIFLEX II C and III Cs for handheld, as well as multiple ARRIFLEX 435s for action scenes and visual effect work.

The style of the film was influenced by French graphic artists Jean Giraud (known as Moebius) and Jean-Claude Méziéres, renowned for their work in theworld of comics. They both worked closely with Besson in pre-production designing an onscreen comic-book look for The Fifth Element.

Due to the large volume of visual effect work the film was shot in Super 35, which allowed the visual effects company, Digital Domain, more freedom duringproduction and digital post production. Digital Domain’s Visual Effects Cinematographer, Bill Neil, had never previously worked with ARRI cameras butthe ARRIFLEX 435’s ability to remain rock solid at any frame rate, a trait that has seen the 435 become an industry favourite for second unit work, madean impression. Neil went on to state in an interview: “I was amazed at the performance of this camera in terms of its steadiness at all speeds. In fact, itwas rock steady, good enough for matte work from two frames to 150 frames a second, in both forward and reverse. I’ve never seen any camera madeany place in the world that could do that.”

Throughout the entire shoot Besson practised a hands-on approach of operating a camera himself. Always conscious about his schedule and maintainingpace on set he felt that it was a waste of time explaining everything to someone else when he could just do it himself. He set out to shoot 15 to 20sequences a day and spent his time rushing from one set to another, shooting with the second unit while the first was getting ready for the next take.

Altogether, The Fifth Element consists of 2431 shots, including 240 visual effects sequences, which were captured during 109 days of shooting.Besson met his deadline, but the films endless preparations and punishing shooting schedule had left him exhausted.

The Fifth Element went on to take three hundred million dollars at the box office – more than double the original estimates.

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1998The ARRI/Zeiss Ultra Primes set new standards for standard speed prime lenses.

1998ARRI manufactured editing tables, film printers andhas been a service provider in post andvideo production for decades. With this exceptionalbackground in postproduction, it was no surpriseARRI would continue to advance tools in this area.The ARRILASER, capable of 4K from its introduction,has become the industry standard for film recordingand is now available from 118 companies in 32countries. Honored with an Academy Scientific andTechnical Achievement Award in 2002, creditsinclude 4K digital intermediate projects likeSpiderman 2, The Da Vinci Code and Little Children.Filmmakers who originated with digital capture,like in the cases of Zodiac, Star Wars: PhantomMenace and Superman, also rely on the ARRILASERto bring their movies onto film for theatrical projectionand for archival purposes.

Elizabeth (1997)

Indian Director Shekhar Kapurhad made his name in the Westwith Bandit Queen in 1994and brought a fresh, outsider’sperspective to this study ofElizabeth I’s accession andearly years as Queen ofEngland. CinematographerRemi Adefarasin BSC, aveteran of the BBC, selected anARRIFLEX 535 as his principalcamera and used Zeiss primesto create images that won hima BAFTA, a BSC award, aGolden Frog and an Oscarnomination.

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Wong’s In the Mood for Love has become a cult film. Originally intended to be a quick,low-budget project it ended up taking 15 months to shoot. This meant that Doyle had toleave the project just before its completion due to other commitments. TaiwaneseCinematographer Mark Li Ping-Bing stepped in for the final month of filming.

Set in 1962, the film stars two icons of Hong Kong cinema, Tony Leung andMaggie Cheung. The story is about two neighbours who discover that both their spousesare having affairs. As they try to find out how the affairs started they themselves becomedrawn to one another, but the restrictions of sixties Chinese society and their refusal tobecome like their partners results in a tale of a love affair that never was.

Filming began in early 1999 with a camera package consisting of an ARRIFLEX 535 andARRIFLEX 35BL-4. Although the movement of the camera has always been heavilyinfluenced by music in all of Wong’s films, the style of In the Mood for Love was adeparture from his previous work, which had mainly utilised handheld. Instead, thecamera was placed so that its view was partly obscured, in a closet or at the corner ofa building, playing the part of the observer and following the characters as if it wasspying on them. A style influenced by the films of Hitchcock.

Doyle has stated that he considers it better than average to achieve one image per filmthat actually works. In the Mood for Love has that image, a scene that is regularly recalledby moviegoers. It sees the male lead descend some stairs and exit screen left. Severalseconds pass as the camera lingers on the staircase, then the female lead enters fromthe same direction and a close-up of her legs as she climbs the stairs follows. The vieweris left wondering whether they spoke as they passed each other off screen. The sequencehas no dialogue, its strength lies in its imagery. Doyle once stated, ‘Who’s going toforget Maggie Cheung walking up those stairs?’

The final film was completed just in time for Cannes 2000 and went on to be awardedthe Grand Prix Technique, which was shared by Doyle, Li and also William ChangSuk-Ping, the Production Designer/Editor.

Thought by many to be one of the most influential modern-dayfilmmakers, Wong Kar-Wai is a pioneer of Asian cinema.Famous for working without scripts or schedules, his methodsare spontaneous and random while shooting.

Best known of his collaborators is CinematographerChris Doyle HKSC, with whom he has produced an impressivecollection of visually rich films. Both prefer to ‘find thefilm’ while working, letting the story evolve throughintuitive improvisation.

In the Mood for Love (2000)

Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999)

Sixteen years after Episode III: The Return of the Jedi, George Lucas released the first of his Star Wars prequels toa fanfare of publicity. He had not actually directed a film since Episode IV: A New Hope in 1977, though he hadbeen a prolific producer and writer during the intervening years. Cinematographer David Tattersall BSC, whohad worked with Lucas on various Young Indiana Jones projects, shot with ARRIFLEX 535 cameras, a DataCapture system especially developed by ARRI for Lucas, and the newly developed Hawk anamorphic lenses.

1999The ARRIFLEX 16SR 3 Advanced shines with a 70% brighter viewfinder,ARRIGLOW, improved video assist and interfaces for modern ARRIaccessories. Thus all speeds can be set directly on the camera, and modernin-camera effects like speed/iris ramps are possible. A new film guide withsapphire rollers improves steadiness, while an optimized movement leadsto smoother and quieter operation.

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2000ARRI and Moviecam, now a member of the ARRI Group, joined forces todesign the most advanced camera system in the world. The ARRICAM systemsoon became a best seller. The ARRICAM Studio and ARRICAM Lite camerasjoined the ARRIFLEX 435 to become the most popular and widely usedcameras in the feature film industry.

The ARRICAM system is the ultimate sync sound camera system, combiningtwo lightweight bodies, the ARRICAM Studio and the ARRICAM Lite, withinnovative features, quiet operation and user friendly ergonomics. TheARRICAM’s bright optical viewfinder continues to be unsurpassed foroperators. For the first time in a motion picture camera, an automatedsystem, the Lens Data System, has been integrated into lenses and camerasto simplify operation and provide full lens information. The extensive rangeof mechanical and electronic accessories, including four magazines andfour viewfinders that work on both cameras, allow great flexibility for thefilmmaker. Both cameras have gone on to become the camera of choice onthousands of films such as: Troy, Casino Royale, Children of Men, Munich,The Black Dahlia and The Departed.

Amelie (2000)

Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s charmingstory of a quirky Parisian girl’sexplorations of life and lovewas photographed by BrunoDelbonnel AFC. He shot withan ARRIFLEX 535 andoccasionally a 435ES, withUltra Primes and VariablePrimes. The film was putthrough a Digital Intermediateand recorded back out to filmon an ARRILASER. Thispostproduction process alloweddirector Jeunet full control overthe colour chemistry, inparticular the harmonising ofgolds and greens with a rangeof other colours.

Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

Peter Jackson’s three Lord of the Rings films, of which The Fellowshipof the Ring was the first, were shot back-to-back in New Zealandbetween 1999 and 2004. Cinematographer Andrew Lesnie ACS,ASC had a kit which included up to four ARRIFLEX 535s and up toseven ARRIFLEX 435s, complemented by Ultra Prime lenses. At timesthere were up to nine units shooting simultaneously. The film wasdigitally graded and recorded to film with the ARRILASER, which PeterJackson purposely bought for the production. Lesnie won the BestCinematography Oscar for this film; the third and final installmentwould go on to win 11 Academy Awards, a feat matched only byBen-Hur (1959) and Titanic (1997).

Chicago (2002)

Director and Choreographer Rob Marshall translated this stageshow to the screen by locating all of its musical numbers in atheatre called the Onyx, which represented the fantasy world ofa principal character. Dion Beebe ACS, ASC who was Oscarnominated for his photography, combined theatrical and filmlights to create a highly versatile lighting scheme. He choseARRICAM Lite and Studio cameras, mainly because oftheir manoeuvrability.

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2003With such a reputation for motion picture film cameras, it became apparent to ARRI in the newmillennium that digital image acquisition was becoming a viable way of shooting.The ARRIFLEX D-20 film-style digital camera has now worked on many feature films andtelevision productions such as Hogfather, Afrika Mon Amour and The Company, Tin Man,Grey’s Anantomy, The Bank Job, RocknRoller, Silent Witness and many more.

2003The ARRIFLEX 235, a compact and lightweight 35mmMOS camera designed for handheld and remoteapplications is introduced. Its small size has allowedunique angles and positioning, from handheldto Steadicam, car rigs, bicycle mounts, underwaterapplications, crash housing and aerial photography.Films like Letters from Iwo Jima, Children of Men andKing Kong have all taken advantage of the 235’sergonomic design.

2004With the introduction of the ARRISCAN film scanner in 2004, ARRI createda range of new possibilities for postproduction workflows.

The ARRISCAN bridges the gap between the analogue and digital worlds,between film and data. Using a single CMOS sensor and LED illumination,it captures the extraordinary resolution of 16mm and 35mm film stocks, aswell as their full dynamic range and colorimetry. Digital data output from theARRISCAN is unsurpassed in quality, enabling postproduction facilities torely on perfectly scanned images and concentrate on manipulating themcreatively. The final edited and graded work can then be printed back to35mm film on the ARRILASER, preserving the full quality of these digitalintermediate processes.

The complete ARRISCAN to ARRILASER chain has been used on filmsincluding King Kong, Live Free or Die Hard 4.0 and Transformers.

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King Kong (2005)

Andrew Lesnie ACS, ASCfollowed his work on the Lord ofthe Rings trilogy with anotherPeter Jackson film, King Kong.Taking full advantage of thenew generation of ARRIcameras, he utilised twoARRICAM Lites, an ARRICAMStudio, two ARRIFLEX 435s andwas one of the first to use thenew ARRIFLEX 235. The ‘A’camera tended to be on aSteadicam and the ‘B’ cameraroved around looking for tightercoverage. Lesnie frequentlyworked on a crane-mounted‘C’ camera, designing andexecuting shots himself.

2004The ARRIFLEX 435 Conquers Everest. Shots weretaken from the highest point on earth 29,028 feet(8,847 metres), a world first for cinema and a worldfirst for the ARRIFLEX 435. Before all the equipmentcould be taken to Everest it all had to be winterized.The ARRIFLEX 435 withstood every test and made thetrip all the way to the summit without anymodifications, proving the reliability and robustconstruction ARRI cameras are renown for.

2004The ARRI Wireless Remote System is completelyoverhauled to meet the growing needs of workingprofessionals on the set. The result is a smaller, lighterand even more flexible system for lens and cameraremote control. New components and its modularityprovide a plethora of configuration options, allowingjust the right system for the job to be easily andquickly assembled.

2004The ARRI Ceramic series offers the advantage of tungsten colour temperaturefrom a discharge lamp, providing a cool solution for studio use. The 250Wfixtures are just as bright as 1kW tungsten sources, while requiring only onequarter of the power. Besides the efficient operation both fixtures can alsowork with a MSR 250 HR lamp providing daylight colour temperature.

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2005The ARRI/Zeiss Master Primes are a revolutionaryand unique new generation of high-speed primelenses. With more resolution, more contrast andvirtually no breathing, this complete set of 14 primelenses provide unequalled performance in anylighting situation.

2005In order to use cameras, filmmakers have alwaysneeded light to expose properly and throughout theyears ARRI has been known for its robust, well-madelighting products. The company’s newest and brightestfixture, the ARRIMAX 18/12, has taken lighting tonew levels. Fifty percent brighter than a 12K PAR, theARRIMAX uses a unique reflector concept for beamcontrol, eliminating the need for spread lenses. It hasbeen lighting sets all over the world and used formany other applications needing an extremelypowerful source of illumination. Sometimes mimickingthe sun or exposing a large area of space at night, theARRIMAX’s work can be seen in Indiana Jones 4,Batman: The Dark Knight and The Chronicles ofNarnia: Prince Caspian.

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2005The ARRI/Zeiss Ultra Prime 8R, an extremewide angle lens with a unique look, furtherextends the focal range of the Ultra Primes to atotal of 16 lenses from 8mm to 180mm.

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2006The resilience of the 16mm film format was demonstrated in 2006 whenARRI released the ARRIFLEX 416. Providing the ergonomics and operationalcharacteristics found in ARRI 35mm cameras, the 416 is now at work ontelevision and many other productions that appreciate its advanced featuresand silent operation. Coupled with the new high-speed Ultra 16 lensesspecifically developed for the 16 format, the 416 offers cinematographersand producers ARRI’s superior technology in an affordable and compactpackage. New film stocks and the digital intermediate process have alsoenhanced the 16mm image, making the medium better than ever.

Sunshine (2007)

Cinematographer Alwin KuchlerBSC chose to shoot DannyBoyle’s science fiction thrillerwith a combination of formats,making use of Ultra Primespherical lenses and also HawkAnamorphics. He selectedARRICAMs and the ARRIFLEX235 because their modulardesign and compactness wereuseful on the tight interior sets.For scenes set in a virtual reality‘earth room’ he shot plates in65mm with the ARRIFLEX 765and on several occasionsutilised the new Ultra Prime 8Rfor distortion-free wideangle filming.

2006The MaxMover, an automated stirrup, offers remotepan, tilt and focus for a wide range of lighting fixtures,including the ARRIMAX 18/12.

2006Inspired by the ARRIFLEX 235 and ARRICAM Lite, thecompact ARRI/Zeiss Lightweight Zoom 15.5 - 45 wasdeveloped as the ideal companion for hand-held,Steadicam and remote work.

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AchievementsARRI has always maintained a commitment that lies beyond the usual commercial considerations by continuingto lead the industry in developing products that have defined state-of-the-art in motion picture camera technologyand thus furthering the craft of filmmaking. This dedication has been recognized and rewarded time and againby the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences as well as other numerous prizes.

2002Academy Award of Merit (Oscar Statue) for continuing development and innovation in the designand manufacturing of advanced camera systems.

2002Emmy (Academy of Television Arts and Sciences) for over 50 years of outstanding achievementin engineering development.

2002Scientific and Engineering Award (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) for the designand development of the ARRILASER Film Recorder.

1999Scientific and Engineering Award (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) for the conceptand optical design of the Carl Zeiss/ARRIFLEX Variable Prime Lenses.

1999Scientific and Engineering Award (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) for the conceptand development of the ARRIFLEX 435 camera system.

1996Scientific and Engineering Award (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) for thedevelopment of the ARRIFLEX 535mm series of cameras for motion picture cinematography.

1993Scientific and Engineering Award (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) for the design anddevelopment of the ARRIFLEX 765 camera system, for 65mm motion picture photography.

1992Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Gordon E.Sawyer Award to Erich Kaestner(ARRI’s chief engineer from 1932-1982).

1991Scientific and Engineering Award (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) for the continueddesign improvements of the ARRIFLEX BL camera system culminating in the 35BL-4S model.

1989Scientific and Engineering Award (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) for the conceptand engineering of the ARRIFLEX 35 - 3 motion picture camera.

1982Academy Award of Merit (Oscar Statue) for the concept and engineering of the first operational35mm, hand-held, spinning-mirror reflex shutter for motion picture camera.

1974Scientific or Technical Class II Award (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) for the designand development of the ARRIFLEX 35 BL portable motion picture production camera.

1966Scientific or Technical Class II Award (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) for the designand development of the ARRIFLEX 35mm portable motion picture reflex camera.©

A.M

.P.A.S.®

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ARRI TODAY AND TOMORROW

In the very beginning innovation, reliability and durability were Arnold and Richter’sbusiness principles and that same mind-set remains today.

In order to best serve creative professionals ARRI has always adapted to the latest trendsand has developed the appropriate technology accordingly. In a rapidly evolving industryARRI not only provides state-of-the-art products, but equally as important, worldwide serviceand support.

Despite all the awards and accolades in recognition of technical achievements, ARRIbelieves that it is about empowering creative professionals to realize their imagination andvision. That philosophy still stands today and will continue to remain for the next ninetyyears and beyond.

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AcknowledgementsARRI would like to thank the following for their contribution to this commemorative book: Michael Ballhaus,Elfi Bernt, Roman Gadner, Jan Harlan, Mark Hope-Jones, Constanze Knoesel, Marita Müller, Timo Müller, Judith Petty,Thomas Popp, Marc Shipman-Mueller, Michelle Smith, Vittorio Storaro, Jochen Thieser, An Tran, Max Welz

ARRI would like to thank the following image sources: BFI Stills and The Ronald Grant Archive.

Image CreditsWe regret that in some cases it was not possible to identify photographers and we apologise for any errorsor omissions.

Courtesy Adolfo BartoliPage 23

Courtesy American ZoetropePage 32Apocolypse Now © 1979 American Zoetrope. All Rights Reserved

Courtesy Columbia PicturesPage 24Easy Rider © 1969, renewed 1997 Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. All Rights ReservedPage 33Das Boot © 1981 Bavaria Atelier GmbH and Radiant Film. All Rights ReservedPage 42Bram Stoker’s Dracula © 1992 Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Courtesy Contemporary Films, LondonPage 19Photo by Bishno D. Pradha

Courtesy David BreashearsPage 58Photo by Jimmy Chin

Courtesy MGMPage 22The Good, the Bad and the Ugly © 1966 United Artists Corporation. All Rights ReservedPage 29Bound for Glory © 1976 United Artists Corporation. All Rights ReservedPage 32The Last Waltz © 1978 United Artists Corporation. All Rights ReservedPage 46Fargo © 1996 MGM. All Rights Reserved

Courtesy Recorded Picture CompanyPage 38The Last Emperor © 1987 Recorded Picture Company. All Rights Reserved

Courtesy Stanley Kubrick EstatePage 30© 1999 Warner Bros, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Photos by Manuel Harlan

Courtesy Swedish Film InstitutePage 35The Sacrifice © 1986 Svenska FilminstitutetPage 35Fanny and Alexander © 1982 Svenska Filminstitutet / AB Svensk Filmindustri. Photo by Arne Carlsson

Courtesy Universal Studios Licensing LLLPPage 44Schindler’s List © 1993 Universal City Studios, Inc. and Amblin Entertainment, Inc. All Rights ReservedPage 50Elizabeth © 1998 Universal City Studios, Inc. All Rights ReservedPage 59King Kong © 2005 Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved

Courtesy Vittorio StoraroPage 38

Courtesy Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc.Page 14Dark Passage © 1947 Turner Entertainment Co. A Warner Bros. Entertainment Company. All Rights ReservedPage 25A Clockwork Orange © 1971 Warner Bros, Inc. and Polaris Productions Inc. All Rights ReservedPage 29The Shining © 1980 Warner Bros, Inc. All Rights ReservedPage 31© 1980 Warner Bros, Inc. All Rights ReservedPage 37Full Metal Jacket © 1987 Warner Bros, Inc. All Rights ReservedPage 40Goodfellas © 1990 Warner Bros. Inc. All Rights Reserved

Courtesy of Warner Bros. PicturesPage 41Photos by Andrew Cooper

Page 48The Fifth Element © 1997 Gaumont. All Rights ReservedPage 55Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring © 2001 New Line Productions Inc. All Rights Reserved

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