Openwheel Productions Inc. / The Stephen Low Company

Openwheel Productions Inc., the producer of Super Speedway, draws its technical resources and talents from The Stephen Low Company, an established Montreal-based team of motion picture professionals dedicated to the conception, production, distribution and marketing of leading-edge, giant-screen film experiences.

History

Established in 1986 under the direction of filmmaker Stephen Low, The Stephen Low Company has developed powerful cinema events for major corporations, world expositions, museums and science centres. The company is a key user of the world's most advanced cinema technologies: giant-screen IMAX® and IMAX® 3D motion picture systems.

Filmography

In pursuit of unparalleled imagery and dramatic subjects, The Stephen Low Company has put IMAX® cameras into formation with flying geese, paddled them about the underwater habitat of a family of beavers, and navigated them through the wreckage of the steamship Titanic two and a half miles below the surface of the Atlantic.

The company has been directly responsible for the realization of six IMAX films: Across the Sea of Time (IMAX 3D for Columbia Pictures and Sony New Technologies, 1995); Titanica (IMAX® for Imax ® Corporation, 1993); Flight of the Aquanaut (IMAX®, 1993); The Last Buffalo (IMAX 3D for Imax Corporation and the Sentry Pavilion at Osaka, 1990); Beavers (IMAX® for Dentsu Inc., Japan, 1987); and Skyward (IMAX® for Imax Corporation and Tsukuba Expo '84). Super Speedway is its latest large-format production.

Team Members

The key members of the company's production group are: Stephen Low, Director/Producer; Pietro L. Serapiglia, Producer/Distributor; and Goulam Amarsy, Executive Producer. In addition, every film involves new creative and technical alliances and the assembly of capable teams appropriate to the demands of the project. Members of the company's established resource pool provide a comprehensive range of motion picture services, including specialists in underwater photography, deep-sea systems, aerial photography, wildlife photography and wildlife management, camera systems engineering, specialized equipment rigging, camera gyro-stabilization, stereo imaging (IMAX® 3D technology), spatial sound design for IMAX® and IMAX® 3D cinema, and optical and digital effects.

Research & Development

Always at the cutting edge of large-format cinema, The Stephen Low Company, in conjunction with select associates, is involved in ongoing research and development efforts such as the creation of original film concepts and the application and testing of new motion picture technologies and techniques. Examples of this work include: development of unique new applications for IMAX 3D imaging, including the adaptation of archival stereo photography for the giant screen (1995-1997); application of digital enhancement and computer animation technologies to the giant screen (ongoing); screen-testing of the Personal Sound Environment (1993-1994), a revolutionary spatial sound system being developed by Sonics Associates of Alabama; development and testing of a deep-sea HMI lighting system (applied during the filming of Titanica in 1991); trial underwater application of the Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV), or robot Jason (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute) to IMAX filming (Hamilton Scourge shipwreck filming, Lake Ontario, 1990).

In Production

The Stephen Low Company is currently in production on Mark Twain's America (IMAX 3D). Created for Columbia Pictures and Sony New Technologies, Mark Twain's America revives the spirit of one of the world's greatest personalities and literary figures. Through Twain's own words, audiences will relive the hilarity and horrors of his life and experience the day-to-day reality of the nineteenth century. They will accompany Twain on his journey of discovery and with him will uncover truths about life that are mirrored in their own stories and in the dynamic, ever-changing face of modern America.

 

Production Notes | Meet the Team | Participating Organization
In Conversation with ... | The Stephen Low Company