[Frameworks] NASA footage from the 1967 Apollo mission

Thu Dec 9 18:29:24 UTC 2021

Jared,

I am not aware of any local Toronto filmmakers who have dabbled with the
exception of me. I would like to get the tiny 16mm 50ft Photo-Sonics
working but my main focus has been making operational the larger 16mm
cousins, the Photo-Sonics Actionmaster 500 cameras which are twin-pin
registered twin pulldown 500 fps cameras that NASA once used to surround
the Apollo Saturn gantry. Upwards of 30 cameras from various angles
including 35mm variations. It has been a long journey to get them
operational but they are now equipped with 30 volt LiPO batteries that are
amazingly consistent and rarely need charging. I am bit of a Photo-Sonics
"nutbar" as I also had one converted to a PL-Mount. I have multiple 200/400
ft magazines. They even made a crazy 1200 ft version. And yes, it can burn
through footage like no one. But my goal is actually a much more modest pin
sharp frameline absent any perf weave at a standard chugalug 24 fps. :)

But the real find and  it is currently non-operational is the very rare
14-perf 70mm handheld sequence camera that tops out at 20fps. That is 1
perf short of an IMAX frame. :) Takes "tiny" 150ft polyester based 70mm
film and weighs less than 15 lbs.  My intention was to test offset 14-perf
70mm footage on my friend's brand new 15-perf 70mm IMAX projector but he
had it recently scrapped. :(  Full kit with racks of amps, timecode
processor , CD timecode, giant subwoofer sound system, 70mm splicer, you
name it. It was and is an incredible story how it came into his life. The
Russians in Saint Petersburg cancelled their brand new purchase by refusing
to have it shipped and it sat at Canada Customs unclaimed for decades. All
shrink wrapped on pallets in a warehouse. He bought 7x pallets worth of
IMAX projector gear for $5,000 CAN.

I am an active telecommunication technologist and modest experimental
filmmaker. I also designed and introduced the ultrawide Bolex UltraPan8
camera systems. There are two variations. One uses Regular 8mm (full 16mm
width) and the other Double Super 8 (full 16mm width. Non-anamorphic. The
R8 version exposes a 2.8:1 aspect ratio and the DS8 version a 3.1 aspect
ratio. One hundred foot daylight spools of R8 or DS8 last 5 minutes or more
doubling the run time. The respective Bolex viewfinders are also the same
aspect ratio absent a squeezed image. We have built approximately 17x to
date.

Cheers!

Nicholas
Toronto

On Wed, 8 Dec 2021 at 18:34, jared ashburn <ashburn.jared at gmail.com> wrote:

> Nicholas, wow! That is some piece of history that you have there! I've
> been looking into Photo-Sonics today and these cameras are fascinating. Do
> you know if they were ever used by artists? Are you also an "active"
> Photo-Sonics technician?
>
> Warren, no, that's not what I am looking for but thank you for that idea.
>
> I was just rereading some work on Belson by MacDonald (CC3) and Youngblood
> (Exp Cin) and it looks like JB used stock footage on "Re-entry" and
> "Momentum." For "Re-entry," Belson says that, "[...] You wouldn't recognize
> it, but there's a shot of the earth rolling by, as seen from a camera in a
> rocket" ("Expanded Cinema" P. 166).  He also uses audio from Glenn's radio
> conversation from his spacecraft to earth.
>
> For "Momentum," GYB writes, "[i]t begins with stock footage of a Saturn
> rocket whose afterburners blaze in rainbow fury" ("Expanded Cinema" P. 176).
>
> I haven't seen either of these films in over 20 years so I don't know if
> it is Belson's work that I was thinking of, but, does anyone here know? If
> it isn't the exact image sequence I am thinking about, can anyone tell me
> more about Belson's (or any of the West Coast experimental "animators") use
> of NASA or JPL footage?
>
> Thank you, Jared
>
>
>
> On Wed, Dec 8, 2021 at 2:07 PM Adam Hyman <adam at lafilmforum.org> wrote:
>
>> That’s not from the 60s or 70s.
>>
>>
>>
>> On 12/8/21, 10:54 AM, "Frameworks on behalf of Warren Cockerham" <
>> frameworks-bounces at film-gallery.org on behalf of
>> warrencockerham at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>> Is it Penny Lane’s THE VOYAGERS?
>>
>>
>>
>> On Dec 8, 2021, at 1:41 PM, Nicholas Kovats <nkovats at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> 
>>
>> Hi Jared.
>>
>>
>>
>> I can't help you with the title but I could not help mention that I
>> actually have one of the stage cameras used by NASA to briefly film the
>> jettison of the Apollo stages. A tiny indestructible Photo-Sonics 16mm
>> camera weirdly shaped  with a tiny 50 ft daylight spool capacity. I suspect
>> I could throw the camera off a building and the 50ft magazine would remain
>> intact. I am aware of two others owned by the last remaining 'active'
>> Photo-Sonics tech in the US.
>>
>>
>>
>> :)
>>
>>
>>
>> On Tue, 7 Dec 2021 at 23:27, jared ashburn <ashburn.jared at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>> I'm sorry, I don't know what happened to the text in that email. This is
>> my question:
>>
>>
>>
>> Can anyone remember the title of an experimental film from the late 60s
>> or 70s that uses a few seconds of NASA footage from the 1967 Apollo
>> mission? I'm not quite sure how to describe this footage but it is "the
>> jettison of the interstage ring, or skirt." The moment I am talking about
>> occurs at 2:23 and it'll probably look familiar to you.
>>
>>
>>
>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieIqGedO-zg&t=21s
>>
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Dec 7, 2021 at 9:01 PM jared ashburn <ashburn.jared at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>> Dear Frameworkers,
>>
>>
>>
>> Can anyone remember the title of an experimental film from the late 60s
>> or 70s that uses a few seconds of
>>
>>
>>
>> ? I'm not quite sure how to describe this footage but it is "the jettison
>> of the interstage ring, or skirt." The moment I am talking about occurs at
>> 2:23 and it'll probably look familiar to you.
>>
>>
>>
>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieIqGedO-zg&t=21s
>>
>>
>>
>> I do remember that Marker uses a few seconds of this same footage in
>> "Sans Soleil." It looks like this:
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Thank you. -Jared
>>
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>>
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