Star Wars: The Clone Wars is a 2008 American 3D animated military science fiction-space opera film that takes place within the Star Wars saga, leading into a TV series of the same name produced by Lucasfilm Animation. The film is set during the three-year time period between the films Star Wars: Episode II â€" Attack of the Clones (2002) and Star Wars: Episode III â€" Revenge of the Sith (2005). Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, which also holds the home media distribution rights to both this film and the first five seasons of the television series, the film premiered on August 10, 2008 at the Grauman's Egyptian Theatre, while screening in w ide-release on August 14, 2008 across Australia, and August 15 in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. The Clone Wars served as an introduction to the television series of the same name, which debuted on October 3, 2008. The film received negative reviews from critics, and grossed $68.3 million worldwide against an $8.5 million budget.

Plot

During the Clone Wars, Jedi Knights Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi lead a small Republic clone army against the Separatist droid army on the planet Christophsis. Awaiting reinforcements, the two Jedi greet a shuttle carrying the young Jedi Ahsoka Tano, who insists that she has been assigned by Jedi Master Yoda to serve as Anakin's Padawan. Anakin begrudgingly accepts Ahsoka's apprenticeship, and the two succeed in deactivating the Separatists' energy field while Obi-Wan stalls the droid army commander, allowing a Republic victory. Ahsoka earns Anakin's respect.

Following the battle, Yoda arrives and informs the Jedi that crime lord Jabba the Hutt's son Rotta has been kidnapped. Anakin and Ahsoka are tasked with retrieving the Huttlet, while Obi-Wan is sent to Tatooine to negotiate with Jabba over a potential treaty between the Hutts and the Republic. Anakin and Ahsoka find Rotta on the planet Teth, where they are ambushed by Separatist forces led by Count Dooku's apprentice Asajj Ventress, discovering that Dooku hopes to frame the Jedi for Rotta's kidnapping. The Jedi manage to escape the trap along with R2-D2 and hijack a derelict transport with which they travel to Tatooine. Obi-Wan, alerted by Anakin, arrives on Teth and defeats Ventress in a lightsaber duel, though she manages to escape.

Meanwhile, Senator Padmé Amidala, Anakin's secret wife, learns of Anakin's mission and fears for his safety. She decides to contact Jabba's uncle Ziro in Coruscant. The Hutt refuses to cooperate, apparently believing that it is the Jedi who are responsible for the situation. However, Padmé soon discovers that Ziro has actually conspired with Dooku to have Rotta killed in order for Jabba to have Anakin and Ahsoka executed in return, which will force the Jedi Council, led by Yoda, to take Jabba into custody and allow Ziro to seize power over the Hutt clans. Padmé is discovered and detained, but a chance call by C-3PO enables her to summon a squadron of clone troopers, and Ziro is arrested.

Upon their arrival on Tatooine, Anakin and Ahsoka are shot down by MagnaGuards. Anakin devises a ruse to confront Dooku while carrying a decoy Rotta, leaving Ahsoka to take the real Rotta to Jabba's palace. While Anakin fights off Dooku, Ahsoka is ambushed by the MagnaGuards, whom she defeats. The two deliver Rotta safely to Jabba, who nonetheless orders the Jedi's execution for their supposed attempt to kidnap him. However, Padmé contacts Jabba in time and reveals Ziro and the Separatists' responsibility for the kidnapping. Acknowledging the Jedi's heroism and allowing the Republic to have Ziro punished for his betrayal, Jabba agrees to the Republic treaty while Anakin and Ahsoka are retrieved by Obi-Wan and Yoda. In the meantime during his escape, Dooku reports to his master Darth Sidious about the failure of their plot against the Jedi and Jabba, but the Sith Lord assures to him that the tide of war is still in their favor.

Cast

• Matt Lanter as Anakin Skywalker
• Ashley Eckstein as Ahsoka Tano
• James Arnold Taylor as Obi-Wan Kenobi, 4A-7
• Tom Kane as Yoda, Narrator, Admiral Yularen
• Dee Bradley Baker as Captain Rex, Commander Cody, Clone troopers
• Christopher Lee as Count Dooku / Darth Tyranus
• Samuel L. Jackson as Mace Windu
• Anthony Daniels as C-3PO
• Nika Futterman as Asajj Ventress, TC-70
• Ian Abercrombie as Palpatine / Darth Sidious
• Catherine Taber as Padmé Amidala
• Corey Burton as Whorm Loathsom, Ziro the Hutt
• David Acord as Rotta the Huttlet
• Kevin Michael Richardson as Jabba the Hutt
• Matthew Wood as Battle droid

Production

Development

Star Wars: The Clone Wars was made to serve as both a stand-alone story and a lead-in to the weekly animated TV series of the same name. George Lucas had the idea for a film after viewing some of the completed footage of the early episodes on the big screen.^[1] Those first few episodes, originally planned for release on television, were then woven together to form the theatrical release.^[2] The story of the kidnapped Hutt was inspired by the Sonny Chiba samurai film titled Shogun’s Shadow. Warner Bros. had tracked the series' development from the beginning, and Lucas decided on a theatrical launch after viewing early footage declaring "This is so beautiful, why don't we just go and use the crew and make a feature?" Lucas described the film was "almost an afterthought." Howard Roffman, president of Lucas Licensing , said of the decision, "Sometimes George works in strange ways." Producer Catherine Winder said the sudden decision added to an already large challenge of establishing a show "of this sophistication and complexity," but she felt it was a good way to start the series, and thought budgetary constraints forced the production team to think outside the box in a positive way.

Animation

Lucasfilm and Lucasfilm Animation used Autodesk software to animate both the film and the series using the Maya 3D modeling program to create highly detailed worlds, characters and creatures. The film's animation style was designed to pay homage to the stylized looks of both Japanese anime and manga, and the supermarionation of the British 1960s series Thunderbirds. At a Cartoon Network-hosted discussion, Lucas said he did not want the Clones Wars film or television series to look like such movies as Beowulf, because he wanted a stylized look rather than a realistic one. He also felt it should not look like the popular Pixar movies such as The Incredibles, because he wanted the film and characters to have its own unique style. Lucas also decided to create the animated film and series from a live-action perspective, which Winder said set it apart from other CGI films. Essentially, it "meant using long camera shots, aggressive lighting techniques, and rel ying on editing instead of storyboards." Animators also reviewed designs from the original 2003 Clone Wars series when creating the animation style for the film and the new series. In charge was Steward Lee, working as the storyboard artist during filming. Some actors from the live-action films, including Anthony Daniels, Matthew Wood, Christopher Lee and Samuel L. Jackson, returned to vocally reprise their roles of their respective characters.

Music

The musical score for Star Wars: The Clone Wars was composed by Kevin Kiner. The original motion picture soundtrack was released by Sony Classical on August 12, 2008. The disc begins with the main theme by John Williams, followed by more than 30 separate music cues composed by Kiner. Kiner is known for his work on such television series as Stargate SG-1, Star Trek: Enterprise, Superboy and CSI: Miami. The soundtrack uses some instruments never heard before in a Star Wars score, including erhus, duduks and ouds.

Marketing

Toys

Star Wars: The Clone Wars merchandise was first released on July 26, 2008. Hasbro released several 3 ³â„₄-inch Clone Wars action figures, an electronic clone trooper helmet, a customizable lightsaber, and an electronic All Terrain Tactical Enforcer (AT-TE). Toys "R" Us mounted digital clocks in all 585 of its stores that counted down to the release of the Clone Wars toys, and more than 225 of the stores opened at midnight for the debut of the Star Wars products. Two of the Toys "R" Us flagship outlets in Mission Bay, San Diego and Times Square in Manhattan, New York City held costume and trivia contests on July 26, and gave away limited-edition Star Wars toys with every purchase. A section of the Toys "R" Us website was also dedicated to The Clone Wars. The toy line continues with The Clone Wars figures being well received by collectors for their detail to the characters and vehicles.

Food

Due to Lucas's sudden decision to produce the film, Lucas Licensing did not have time to enter into agreements with previous Star Wars marketing partners like Pepsi, Burger King and Kellogg's, with which the Lucasfilm licensing company had a ten-year marketing plan for the other films. When questioned by The New York Times about Star Wars merchandising in July 2006, a Pepsi spokesperson was unaware a new Star Wars film was even being released. Target and KB Toys also devoted shelf space for Clone Wars toys, but did not hold midnight releases or pursue the branding opportunities Toys "R" Us did. On August 15, McDonald's held its first ever Happy Meal promotion for a Star Wars film and for four weeks, 18 exclusive toys came in specially designed Happy Meal boxes.

Comics and books

Dark Horse Comics published a six-issue digest-sized comic book miniseries. Randy Stradley, vice president of publishing for Dark Horse, said the sudden decision to release the Clone Wars film required the company to temporarily delay plans for two other Star Wars comic book series, Dark Times and Rebellion. The Clone Wars comics did not receive the promotional campaign it otherwise would have due to the abruptness of the theatrical and comic book releases. Topps, the trading cards company, released a series of 90 Clone Wars cards on July 26, which also included foil cards, motion cards, animation cel cards and rare sketch cards by top Star Wars artists and Lucasfilm animators. DK Publishing and the Penguin Group released books, activities and other merchandise that tied in with the film. Also released was the Clone Wars: The Visual Guide, published by DK, and Star Wars: The Clone Wars in the UK, published by Puffin an d in the U.S. by Grosset & Dunlap. The publishers also released a storybook, picture books and an activity book. At the American International Toy Fair, Lego announced a product line for the film and the TV series, to be released in July 2008 in the United States and on August 2008 in the United Kingdom.

Video games

The LucasArts video game developer adapted the film into Star Wars: The Clone Wars â€" Jedi Alliance for the Nintendo DS and Star Wars: The Clone Wars â€" Lightsaber Duels for Wii. A reviewer from PocketGamer.co.uk said his expectations for Jedi Alliance were low due to poor Clone Wars movie reviews, but he found the game "a varied and well-paced experience."

Portable media players

A Star Wars: The Clone Wars MP3 player was released in August 2008. The player includes one gigabyte of memory, which holds 200 songs or 20 hours of music and comes with three interchangeable faceplates: a green one with Yoda and a lightsaber on it, a silver one with Captain Rex and a Galactic Empire logo on it, and one with two Clone troopers on Coruscant. One review claimed it improved upon a Darth Vader MP3 player released in July 2008, which featured only 512 megabytes of memory and a dated visual display. A Star Wars iPod iSpeaker (a speaker/dock for iPods, iPhones and MP3 players) was also released. The speaker includes an image of Captain Rex and three other Clone Troopers.

Racing sponsorship

A Star Wars: The Clone Wars open wheel car for the IndyCar Series was unveiled at the 2008 San Diego Comic-Con International. The #26 car, which also included Blockbuster Inc. decals and was driven by Andretti Green Racing driver Marco Andretti, ran August 24 on the Infineon Raceway in the Sonoma Mountains in California. Andretti said, "I'm hoping that my upcoming battle at Infineon will be as exciting as anything in a Star Wars movie so I can win it for both Blockbuster and Lucasfilm." The car finished 14th at Infineon, which Andretti attributed to a slow pit stop early in the race; he added, "I just don't think it was a very good performance for us today." The Clone Wars car was the second collaboration between Lucasfilm, Blockbuster and Andretti Green Racing. It premiered as an Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull car at the Indianapolis 500 in May 2008.

Home media

The film's two-disc DVD and Blu-ray Disc was released on November 11, 2008 in the United States and on December 8, 2008 in the United Kingdom. The film was released as a single-disc DVD, two-disc Special Edition DVD, and Blu-ray Disc. The standard-definition versions include the film in widescreen format with Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround EX sound, and with feature-length audio commentary.

Novelization

Reception

Critical response

Star Wars: The Clone Wars received an 18% approval rating based on 157 reviews compiled by Rotten Tomatoes. The site's critical consensus reads: "Mechanical animation and a less-than stellar script make The Clone Wars a pale shadow of George Lucas' once great franchise." This constituted the lowest Rotten Tomatoes rating of any Star Wars film; the previous six theatrical films ranged from 57% to 97%, and the made-for-television Ewok films and the Star Wars Holiday Special garnered higher ratings, although their averages encompassed far fewer reviews. At Metacritic, the film scored 35% based on 30 reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews."

Entertainment Weekly listed Star Wars: The Clone Wars as one of the five worst films of 2008 with critic Owen Gleiberman saying,

It's hard to tell the droids from the Jedi drones in this robotic animated dud, in which the George Lucas Empire Strikes Backâ€"at the audience. What wears you out is Lucas' immersion in a Star Wars cosmology that has grown so obsessive-compulsively cluttered yet trivial that it's no longer escapism; Because this movie has bad lightsaber duels and the lack of the original cast, it's something you want to escape from.

Ain't It Cool News posted two reviews of the film during the week before its release, but pulled them down due to an embargo placed on those attending the screening its writers attended. The same reviews were re-posted on the site, on the day of the film's release. The retraction prompted some readers to allege a conspiracy by Lucasfilm to keep negative press out of circulation until the release of the film, but although the review by site creator Harry Knowles was negative, Drew McWeeny said that his review was positive and that no such conspiracy existed.

Several critics compared The Clone Wars to a Saturday morning cartoon and described it as little more than a plug for the upcoming animated series. Linda Barnard, of the Toronto Star, said the movie "pretty much drives a stake into the heart of every loyal fan of the movies. And now [George Lucas is] out to stick it to those too young to know about Jar Jar Binks." Variety magazine reviewer Todd McCarthy said, "This isn't the Star Wars we've always known and at least sometimes loved." Joe Neumiar, of the New York Daily News, wrote, "If this were a true Star Wars film, right about now somebody would say, '...I've got a bad feeling about this.'" In his review for Entertainment Weekly, critic Owen Gleiberman gave the film an F grade and wrote, "George Lucas is turning into the enemy of fun." Carrie Rickey, of The Philadelphia Inquirer, said, "The best that can be said about the movie is that it's harmless and mostly charmless. The Clone Wars is to Star Wars what karaoke is to pop music."

The main criticism toward the film was the animation. Many criticized it as cheap, wooden, non-engaging, and out-of-date; some reviewers drew negative comparisons to 1960s marionette-based shows Thunderbirds and Fireball XL5, although George Lucas previously said the animation style was a deliberate homage to such shows. Tom Long of The Detroit News said the animation "is downright weak compared to what's generally seen on screens these days" and said the characters are so stiff they look like they were "carved by Pinocchio's father." Roger Ebert said "the characters have hair that looks molded from Play-Doh, bodies that seem arthritic, and moving lips on half-frozen facesâ€"all signs that shortcuts were taken in the animation work." McCarthy said "the movements, both of the characters and the compositions, look mechanical, and the mostly familiar characters have all the facial expressiveness of Easter Island statues." But some of the same reviewers who critic ized the animation acknowledged some positive elements about it; McCarthy said it allowed for "somewhat more dramatic compositions and color schemes," and Carrie Rickey, of The Philadelphia Inquirer, said the scenery and backgrounds were "vivid and alive", although she said the characters "move as you would imagine the statues at a waxworks might."

Reviewers also criticized the dialogue, which Ebert said was limited to "simplistic declamations" and Claudia Puig of USA Today described as "stilted and overblown, a problem also in some of the live-action incarnations." Many critics also said that the battle scenes were repetitive and lacked tension; McCarthy described the action sequences as "a little exposition, an invasion; some more exposition, a lightsaber fight; a bit more blah-blah, a spaceship dogfight, and on and on." Linda Stasi, of the New York Post, also described the lack of character development in the film, writing that whereas the original Star Wars films dedicated time to allowing viewers to get to know the characters, "Director Dave Filoni is so concentrated on the action that we're never given the chance to care who lives and who is blown into spare parts." Jason Anderson, of the Globe and Mail, wrote that although The Clone Wars is intended for younger audiences, "parents ma y be perturbed by the film's relentless violence." Ebert also found protagonist Ahsoka Tano "annoying," and Michael Rechtshaffen, of The Hollywood Reporter, said the attempts of humor amid the bickering between Tano and Anakin Skywalker are "strained". Puig said she enjoyed the character, and that "her repartee with Anakin enlivens things."

Box office

The Clone Wars earned $68,282,844 worldwide, including $35,161,554 in North American domestic box office grosses and $33,121,290 in international grosses. The film earned $14,611,273 on 3,452 screens in its opening weekend, including $6,228,973 on its opening day, August 15. It was the third-highest earning film of the weekend, behind Tropic Thunder and The Dark Knight, which earned $25.8 million and $16.3 million, respectively. Dan Fellman, head of distribution for Warner Bros., said the box office performance met expectations because two-thirds of the audience were families and the budget for the film was $8.5 million, frugal considering it was a CGI film, and because the film was meant to introduce the animated series. Fellman said, "It was targeted to a specific audience for specific reasons. We accomplished that mission, and it will continue in another medium." When The Clone Wars dropped to $5.6 million in its second week of release, ContactMusic. com described it as "the first bona fide Star Wars flop." The film also earned $23,428,376 from DVD sales in the US.

Awards

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The Impossible Project is a company that manufactures instant photographic materials.

History

The Impossible Project was founded in 2008 after Polaroid announced in February 2008 that it would stop producing film for Polaroid cameras. The founders are Dr. Florian Kaps, André Bosman and Marwan Saba. In June 2008, Kaps and Bosman met at the Polaroid factory’s closing event and decided to found a company to produce materials for Polaroid cameras. In October 2008, Impossible bought the production machinery from Polaroid for $3.1 million dollars and leased a building, called Building Noord, which was formerly part of the Polaroid plant in Enschede, Netherlands. The company has offices in Vienna, Berlin, New York and Tokyo. It leased the Polaroid production plant and developed new instant film products for use in some existing Polaroid cameras, beginning mass production and sales in 2010. They generated USD270,000 in profit on USD4 million in revenue and sold 500,000+ units.

In January 2012, the company announced that it and Polaroid would launch a range of collectible products, called The Polaroid Classic range, that originate from different periods of Polaroid's history. Between six and ten products will be released each year. In July 2013, Florian Kaps announced his 'retirement' from the project and Creed O'Hanlon took over the role as CEO.

In December 2014, The Impossible Project announced that Oskar Smolokowski would be their new CEO and Creed O'Hanlon would become the Executive Chairman of Impossible's management board.

Impossible has licensed its name to stores in Germany, Spain and London.

Film

Polaroid SX-70

Polaroid 600

Polaroid Image/Spectra

Impossible Hardware

8x10 Film

Future and other formats

The Impossible Project has stated that they cannot produce 4x5, Type 100, or Type 80 films, Polaroid 500 film and I-Zone film even if they wanted as they do not have the production machinery. These were disassembled along with the factories that used to produce the film when Polaroid filed for Chapter 11.

They have said that after Fuji discontinued FP3000b and FP100b they had periodic discussions with them and others in the industry about popular formats that are at risk. They have approached Fuji on this (regarding purchasing their machinery) and have yet to receive a solid response. They have stated their preference to focus on doing a limited number of things very well, so their focus is Integral rather than peel away (although they offer a 8x10 peel away solution).

Hardware

Instant Lab

In October 2013, the company began sale of the Instant Lab, a new camera-like device that could expose digital images from an iPhone onto analog instant film. It supports the iPhone 4, 4s, 5, 5c and 5s, as well as the iPod Touch.

The device was produced after a successful crowd-funding campaign on Kickstarter. It also introduced a new battery-less film cartridge design for use with the Instant Lab, whichâ€"unlike vintage Polaroid camerasâ€"is internally powered.

The cartridge itself is a 600-type cartridge stripped of the battery, so that it can use 600-type film.

Customers will have the opportunity to exchange their current Instant Lab cradle for a new one that supports many phone sizes in one.

Instant Lab 2.0

In September 2014, The Impossible Project announced at Photokina that they would release a second generation device.

The biggest, if only, change appears to be that it now supports more than iPhone 4 through 5s as iPod Touch 4 and 5. iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus will be supported along with iPad with Retina Display, the Samsung Galaxy S III through S5, and Galaxy Note II and 3.

Impossible I-Type

In 2016, Impossible started manufacturing its own instant camera, the Impossible I-Type.

References

External links

• Official website

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Nikon Corporation (株式会社ニコン, Kabushiki-gaisha Nikon) (UK /ˈnɪkÉ'n/ or US /ˈnaɪkÉ'n/ ;  listen [nikoÉ´]), also known just as Nikon, is a Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, specializing in optics and imaging products.

Its products include cameras, camera lenses, binoculars, microscopes, ophthalmic lenses, measurement instruments, rifle scopes, spotting scopes, and the steppers used in the photolithography steps of semiconductor fabrication, of which it is the world's second largest manufacturer. The companies held by Nikon form the Nikon Group. Among its products are Nikkor imaging lenses (for F-mount cameras, large format photography, photographic enlargers, and other applications), the Nikon F-series of 35 mm film SLR cameras, the Nikon D-series of digital SLR cameras, the Coolpix series of compact digital cameras, and the Nikonos series of underwater film cameras. Nikon's main competitors in camera and lens manufacturing include Canon, Sony, Fujifilm, Panasonic, Pentax, and Olympus.

Founded on July 25, 1917 as Nippon Kōgaku Kōgyō Kabushikigaisha (日本光学工業株式会社 "Japan Optical Industries Co., Ltd."), the company was renamed to Nikon Corporation, after its cameras, in 1988. Nikon is a member of the Mitsubishi group of companies (keiretsu).

History

Nikon Corporation was established on 25 July 1917 when three leading optical manufacturers merged to form a comprehensive, fully integrated optical company known as Nippon Kōgaku Tōkyō K.K. Over the next sixty years, this growing company became a manufacturer of optical lenses (including those for the first Canon cameras) and equipment used in cameras, binoculars, microscopes and inspection equipment. During World War II the company operated thirty factories with 2,000 employees, manufacturing binoculars, lenses, bomb sights, and periscopes for the Japanese military.

Reception outside Japan

After the war Nippon Kōgaku reverted to producing its civilian product range in a single factory. In 1948, the first Nikon-branded camera was released, the Nikon I. Nikon lenses were popularised by the American photojournalist David Douglas Duncan. Duncan was working in Tokyo when the Korean War began. Duncan had met a young Japanese photographer, Jun Miki, who introduced Duncan to Nikon lenses. From July 1950 to January 1951, Duncan covered the Korean War. Fitting Nikon optics (especially the NIKKOR-P.C 1:2 f=8,5 cm) to his Leica rangefinder cameras produced high contrast negatives with very sharp resolution at the centre field.

Names and brands

Founded in 1917 as Nippon Kōgaku Kōgyō Kabushikigaisha (日本光学工業株式会社 "Japan Optical Industries Corporation"), the company was renamed Nikon Corporation, after its cameras, in 1988. The name Nikon, which dates from 1946, is a merging of Nippon Kōgaku (日本光学: "Japan Optical") and Zeiss's brand Ikon. This would cause some early problems in Germany as Zeiss complained that Nikon violated its trademarked camera. From 1963 to 1968 the Nikon F in particular was therefore labeled 'Nikkor'.

The Nikkor brand was introduced in 1932, a westernised rendering of an earlier version Nikkō (日光), an abbreviation of the company's original full name (Nikkō coincidentally means "sunlight" and is the name of a Japanese town.). Nikkor is the Nikon brand name for its lenses.

Another early brand used on microscopes was Joico, an abbreviation of "Japan Optical Industries Co". Expeed is the brand Nikon uses for its image processors since 2007.

The rise of the Nikon F series

The Nikon SP and other 1950s and 1960s rangefinder cameras competed directly with models from Leica and Zeiss. However, the company quickly ceased developing its rangefinder line to focus its efforts on the Nikon F single-lens reflex line of cameras, which was successful upon its introduction in 1959. For nearly 30 years, Nikon's F-series SLRs were the most widely used small-format cameras among professional photographers, as well as by the U.S. space program.

Nikon popularised many features in professional SLR photography, such as the modular camera system with interchangeable lenses, viewfinders, motor drives, and data backs; integrated light metering and lens indexing; electronic strobe flashguns instead of expendable flashbulbs; electronic shutter control; evaluative multi-zone "matrix" metering; and built-in motorized film advance. However, as autofocus SLRs became available from Minolta and others in the mid-1980s, Nikon's line of manual-focus cameras began to seem out of date.

Despite introducing one of the first autofocus models, the slow and bulky F3AF, the company's determination to maintain lens compatibility with its F-mount prevented rapid advances in autofocus technology. Canon introduced a new type of lens-camera interface with its entirely electronic Canon EOS cameras and Canon EF lens mount in 1987. The much faster lens performance permitted by Canon's electronic focusing and aperture control prompted many professional photographers (especially in sports and news) to switch to the Canon system through the 1990s.

Digital photography

Nikon created some of the first digital SLRs (DSLRs, Nikon NASA F4) for NASA, used in the Space Shuttle since 1991. After a 1990s partnership with Kodak to produce digital SLR cameras based on existing Nikon film bodies, Nikon released the Nikon D1 SLR under its own name in 1999. Although it used an APS-C-size light sensor only 2/3 the size of a 35 mm film frame (later called a "DX sensor"), the D1 was among the first digital cameras to have sufficient image quality and a low enough price for some professionals (particularly photojournalists and sports photographers) to use it as a replacement for a film SLR. The company also has a Coolpix line which grew as consumer digital photography became increasingly prevalent through the early 2000s.

Through the mid-2000s, Nikon's line of professional and enthusiast DSLRs and lenses including their back compatible AF-S lens line remained in second place behind Canon in SLR camera sales, and Canon had several years' lead in producing professional DSLRs with light sensors as large as traditional 35 mm film frames. All Nikon DSLRs from 1999 to 2007, by contrast, used the smaller DX size sensor.

Then, 2005 management changes at Nikon led to new camera designs such as the full-frame Nikon D3 in late 2007, the Nikon D700 a few months later, and mid-range SLRs. Nikon regained much of its reputation among professional and amateur enthusiast photographers as a leading innovator in the field, especially because of the speed, ergonomics, and low-light performance of its latest models. The mid-range Nikon D90, introduced in 2008, was also the first SLR camera to record video. Since then video mode has been introduced to many more of the Nikon DSLR cameras including the Nikon D3S, Nikon D7000, Nikon D5100, Nikon D3100, Nikon D3200 and Nikon D5100. More recently, Nikon has released a photograph and video editing suite called ViewNX to browse, edit, merge and share images and videos.

Film camera production

Once Nikon introduced affordable consumer-level DSLRs such as the Nikon D70 in the mid-2000s, sales of its consumer and professional film cameras fell rapidly, following the general trend in the industry. In January 2006, Nikon announced it would stop making most of its film camera models and all of its large format lenses, and focus on digital models. Nevertheless, Nikon is the only major camera manufacturer still making film SLRs. The remaining model is the professional Nikon F6 with the last amateur model, FM10, having been discontinued.

Movie camera production

Although few models were introduced, Nikon made movie cameras as well. The R10 and R8 SUPER ZOOM Super 8 models (introduced in 1973) were the top of the line and last attempt for the amateur movie field. The cameras had a special gate and claw system to improve image steadiness and overcome a major drawback of Super 8 cartridge design. The R10 model has a high speed 10X macro zoom lens. Interestingly and contrary to other brands, Nikon never attempted to offer projectors and accessories.

Thai operations

Nikon has shifted much of its manufacturing facilities to Thailand, with some production (especially of Coolpix cameras and some low-end lenses) in China and Indonesia. The company constructed a factory in Ayuthaya north of Bangkok in Thailand in 1991. By the year 2000, it had 2,000 employees. Steady growth over the next few years and an increase of floor space from the original 19,400 square meters (208,827 square feet) to 46,200 square meters (497,300 square feet) enabled the factory to produce a wider range of Nikon products. By 2004, it had more than 8,000 workers.

The range of the products produced at Nikon Thailand include plastic molding, optical parts, painting, printing, metal processing, plating, spherical lens process, aspherical lens process, prism process, electrical and electronic mounting process, silent wave motor and autofocus unit production.

As of 2009, all of Nikon's Nikon DX format DSLR cameras and the D600, a prosumer FX camera, are produced in Thailand, while their professional and semi-professional Nikon FX format (full frame) cameras (D700, D3, D3S, D3X, D4, D800 and the retro-styled Df) are built in Japan, in the city of Sendai. The Thai facility also produces most of Nikon's digital "DX" zoom lenses, as well as numerous other lenses in the Nikkor line.

Cultural activities

In Japan, Nikon runs the Nikon Salon exhibition spaces, runs the Nikkor Club for amateur photographers (to whom it distributes the series of Nikon Salon books), and arranges the Ina Nobuo Award, Miki Jun Award and Miki Jun Inspiration Awards.

Sponsorship

As of November 19, 2013, Nikon is the "Official Camera" of Walt Disney World Resort and Disneyland Resort.

Nikon is the official co-sponsor of Galatasaray SK Football Team.

In 2014 Nikon sponsored the Copa Sadia do Brasil 2014 and the AFC Champions League.

Nikon-Essilor Co. Ltd.

In 1999, Nikon and Essilor have signed a Memorandum of understanding to form a global strategic alliance in corrective lenses by forming a 50/50 joint venture in Japan to be called Nikon-Essilor Co. Ltd.

The main purpose of the joint venture is to further strengthen the corrective lens business of both companies. This will be achieved through the integrated strengths of Nikon's strong brand backed up by advanced optical technology and strong sales network in Japanese market, coupled with the high productivity and worldwide marketing and sales network of Essilor, the world leader in this industry.

Nikon-Essilor Co. Ltd. started its business in January 2000, responsible for research, development, production and sales mainly for ophthalmic optics.

Recent development

The Company developed the first lithography equipment from Japan which is essential for semiconductor manufacturing. Devices from Nikon enjoyed high demand from global chipmakers, including Intel, and Nikon became the world's leading producer of semiconductor lithography systems until the 1990s. In recent years, AMSL, a dutch company, has grabbed over 80 percent of the global market in 2015 by adopting an open innovation method of product development. Nikon saw a sharp drop in its market share from less than 40 percent in early 2000s. The Company has been losing an estimated ¥17 billion a year in its precision instruments unit. Furthermore, revenue from its camera business has dropped 30% in three years prior to fiscal 2015. In 2013, it forecast the first drop in sales from interchangeable lens cameras since Nikon's first digital SLR in 1999. The Company's net profit has fallen from a peak of ¥75.4 billion (fiscal 2007) to ¥18.2 billion fo r fiscal 2015. Nikon plans to reassign over 1,500 employees resulting in job cuts of 1,000 by 2017 as the Company shifts focus to medical and industrial devices business for growth.

Cameras

In January 2006 Nikon announced the discontinuation of all but two models of its film cameras, focusing its efforts on the digital camera market. It continues to sell the fully manual FM10, and still offers the high-end fully automatic F6. Nikon has also committed to service all the film cameras for a period of ten years after production ceases.

Film 35 mm SLR cameras with manual focus

High-end (Professional - Intended for professional use, heavy duty and weather resistance)

• Nikon F series (1959, known in Germany for legal reasons as the Nikkor F)
• Nikon F2 series (1971)
• Nikon F3 series (1980)

Midrange

• Nikkorex series (1960)
• Nikkormat F series (1965, known in Japan as the Nikomat F series)
• Nikon FM (1977)
• Nikon FM2 series (1982)
• Nikon FM10 (1995)
• Nikon FM3A (2001)

Midrange with electronic features

• Nikkormat EL series (1972, known in Japan as the Nikomat EL series)
• Nikon EL2 (1977)
• Nikon FE (1978)
• Nikon FE2 (1983)
• Nikon FA (1983)
• Nikon F-601M (1990, known in North America as the N6000)
• Nikon FE10 (1996)

Entry-level (Consumer)

• Nikon EM (1979)
• Nikon FG (1982)
• Nikon FG-20 (1984)
• Nikon F-301 (1985, known in North America as the N2000)

Film APS SLR cameras

• Nikon Pronea 600i / Pronea 6i (1996)
• Nikon Pronea S (1997)

Film 35 mm SLR cameras with autofocus

High-end (Professional - Intended for professional use, heavy duty and weather resistance)

• Nikon F3AF (1983, modified F3 body with Autofocus Finder DX-1)
• Nikon F4 (1988) - (World's first professional auto-focus SLR camera and world's first professional SLR camera with a built-in motor drive)
• Nikonos RS (1992) (Professional when reviewed in underwater conditions) - (World's first underwater auto-focus SLR camera)
• Nikon F5 (1996)
• Nikon F6 (2004)

High-end (Prosumer - Intended for pro-consumers who want the main mechanic/electronic features of the professional line but don't need the same heavy duty/weather resistance)

• Nikon F-501 (1986, known in North America as the N2020)
• Nikon F-801 (1988, known in the U.S. as the N8008)
• Nikon F-801S (1991, known in the U.S. as the N8008S)
• Nikon F90 (1992, known in the U.S. as the N90)
• Nikon F90X (1994, known in the U.S. as the N90S)
• Nikon F80 (2000, known in the U.S. as the N80)
• Nikon F100 (1999)

Mid-range (Consumer)

• Nikon F-601 (1990, known in the U.S. as the N6006)
• Nikon F70 (1994, known in the U.S. as the N70)
• Nikon F75 (2003, known in the U.S. as the N75)

Entry-level (Consumer)

• Nikon F-401 (1987, known in the U.S. as the N4004)
• Nikon F-401S (1989, known in the U.S. as the N4004S)
• Nikon F-401X (1991, known in the U.S. as the N5005)
• Nikon F50 (1994, known in the U.S. as the N50)
• Nikon F60 (1999, known in the U.S. as the N60)
• Nikon F65 (2000, known in the U.S. as the N65)
• Nikon F55 (2002, known in the U.S. as the N55)

Professional Rangefinder cameras

• Nikon I (1948)
• Nikon M (1949)
• Nikon S (1951)
• Nikon S2 (1954)
• Nikon SP (1957)
• Nikon S3 (1958)
• Nikon S4 (1959) (entry-level)
• Nikon S3M (1960)
• Nikon S3 2000 (2000)
• Nikon SP Limited Edition (2005)

Compact cameras

Between 1983 and the early 2000s a broad range of compact cameras were made by Nikon. Nikon first started by naming the cameras with a series name (like the L35/L135-series, the RF/RD-series, the W35-series, the EF or the AW-series). In later production cycles, the cameras were double branded with a series-name on the one and a sales name on the other hand. Sales names were for example Zoom-Touch for cameras with a wide zoom range, Lite-Touch for ultra compact models, Fun-Touch for easy to use cameras and Sport-Touch for splash water resistance. After the late 1990s, Nikon dropped the series names and continued only with the sales name. Nikon's APS-cameras were all named Nuvis.

The cameras came in all price ranges from entry-level fixed-lens-cameras to the top model Nikon 35Ti and 28Ti with titanium body and 3D-Matrix-Metering.

Movie cameras

Double 8 (8mm)

• NIKKOREX 8 (1960)
• NIKKOREX 8F (1963)

Super 8

• Nikon Super Zoom 8 (1966)
• Nikon 8X Super Zoom (1967)
• Nikon R8 Super Zoom (1973)
• Nikon R10 Super Zoom (1973)

Professional Underwater cameras

• Nikonos I Calypso (1963, originally known in France as the Calypso/Nikkor)
• Nikonos II (1968)
• Nikonos III (1975)
• Nikonos IV-A (1980)
• Nikonos V (1984)
• Nikonos RS (1992) (World's first underwater Auto-Focus SLR camera)

Digital cameras

Nikon's raw image format is NEF, for Nikon Electronic File. The "DSCN" prefix for image files stands for "Digital Still Camera - Nikon."

Digital compact cameras

The Nikon Coolpix series are digital compact cameras produced in many variants: Superzoom, bridge, travel-zoom, miniature compact and waterproof/rugged cameras. The top compact cameras are several "Performance" series indicated by a "P...".

Larger sensor compact cameras

Coolpix series since 2008 listed.

• Nikon Coolpix P6000, 2008-08-07 (CCD, 14 megapixels, 4x zoom)
• Nikon Coolpix P7000, 2010-09-08 (CCD, 10.1 megapixels, 7x zoom)
• Nikon Coolpix P7100, 2011-08-24 (roughly same specifications as predecessor)
• Nikon Coolpix P7700
• Nikon Coolpix A, 2013-03-05 (16MP DX-CMOS sensor)
• Nikon Coolpix P7800

Light-weight fast lens compact cameras

• Nikon Coolpix P300
• Nikon Coolpix P310
• Nikon Coolpix P330
• Nikon Coolpix P340

Bridge cameras

• Nikon Coolpix L810, Feb, 2012-16 MP, 26x optical zoom, no wi-fi,fixed LCD, ISO 80-1600
• Nikon Coolpix L820, Jan, 2013-16 MP, 30x optical zoom, no wi-fi, fixed LCD, ISO 125-3200
• Nikon Coolpix L830, Jan, 2014-16 MP, 34x optical zoom with 68x Dynamic Fine Zoom, no wi-fi, tilting LCD, ISO 125-1600 (3200 in Auto)
• Nikon Coolpix P500, Feb, 2011-12.1 MP, 36x optical zoom, tilt LCD, ISO 160-3200
• Nikon Coolpix P510, Feb, 2012-16.1 MP, 41.7x optical zoom (24â€"1000mm), no wi-fi, vari-angle LCD, ISO 100-3200
• Nikon Coolpix P520, Jan, 2013-18.1 MP, 42x optical zoom, optional wi-fi, vari-angle LCD, ISO 80-3200
• Nikon Coolpix P530, Feb, 2014-16.1 MP, 42x optical zoom & 84x Dynamic Fine Zoom, opt wi-fi, fixed LCD, ISO 100-1600 (ISO 3200, 6400 in PASM mode)
• Nikon Coolpix P600, Feb, 2014-16.1 MP, 60x optical zoom and 120 Dynamic Fine Zoom, built in wi-fi, vari-angle LCD, ISO 100-1600 (ISO 3200, 6400 in PASM mode)

• Nikon Coolpix P610
• Nikon Coolpix P900

Mirrorless interchangeable-lens cameras

Nikon 1 series - CX sensor, Nikon 1 mount lenses

• Nikon 1 J1, September 21, 2011, : 10 MP
• Nikon 1 V1, September 21, 2011, : 10 MP
• Nikon 1 J2, August 10, 2012, : 10 MP
• Nikon 1 V2, October 24, 2012, : 14 MP
• Nikon 1 J3, January 8, 2013, : 14 MP
• Nikon 1 S1, January 8, 2013, : 10 MP
• Nikon 1 AW1, : 14 MP
• Nikon 1 V3, : 18 MP, tilt LCD
• Nikon 1 J4, : 18 MP
• Nikon 1 J5, : 20 MP

Digital single lens reflex cameras

High-end (Professional - Intended for professional use, heavy duty and weather resistance)

• Nikon D1, DX sensor, June 15, 1999 - Discontinued
• Nikon D1X, DX sensor, February 5, 2001 - Discontinued
• Nikon D1H, DX sensor, high speed, February 5, 2001 - Discontinued
• Nikon D2H, DX sensor, high speed, July 22, 2003 - Discontinued
• Nikon D2X, DX sensor, September 16, 2004 - Discontinued
• Nikon D2HS, DX sensor, high speed, February 16, 2005 - Discontinued
• Nikon D2XS, DX sensor, June 1, 2006 - Discontinued
• Nikon D3, FX/Full Frame sensor, August 23, 2007 - Discontinued
• Nikon D3X, FX/Full Frame sensor, December 1, 2008 - Discontinued
• Nikon D3S, FX/Full Frame sensor, October 14, 2009 - Discontinued
• Nikon D4, FX/Full Frame sensor, January 6, 2012 - Discontinued
• Nikon D4S, FX/Full Frame sensor, February 25, 2014 - Discontinued
• Nikon D5, FX/Full Frame sensor, January 5, 2016

High-end (Prosumer - Intended for pro-consumers who want the main mechanical/weather resistance and electronic features of the professional line but don't need the same heavy duty)

• Nikon D100, DX sensor, February 21, 2002 - Discontinued
• Nikon D200, DX sensor, November 1, 2005 - Discontinued
• Nikon D300, DX sensor, August 23, 2007 - Discontinued
• Nikon D300S, DX sensor, July 30, 2009 - Discontinued
• Nikon D700, FX/Full Frame sensor, July 1, 2008 â€" Discontinued
• Nikon D800, FX/Full Frame sensor, February 7, 2012 - Discontinued
• Nikon D800E, FX/Full Frame sensor, April 2012 - Discontinued
• Nikon D600, FX/Full Frame sensor, September 13, 2012 - Discontinued
• Nikon D610, FX/Full Frame sensor, October 2013
• Nikon Df, FX/Full Frame sensor, November 2013
• Nikon D810, FX/Full Frame sensor, June 2014
• Nikon D750, FX/Full Frame sensor, September 11, 2014
• Nikon D810A, FX/Full Frame Sensor, February 2015
• Nikon D500, DX sensor, January 5, 2016

Midrange and professional usage cameras with DX sensor

• Nikon D70, January 28, 2004 - Discontinued
• Nikon D70S, April 20, 2005 - Discontinued
• Nikon D80, August 9, 2006 - Discontinued
• Nikon D90, August 27, 2008 - Discontinued
• Nikon D7000, September 15, 2010 - Discontinued
• Nikon D7100, February 21, 2013
• Nikon D7200, March 2, 2015

Upper-entry-level (Consumer) - DX sensor

Along with the D750 and D500 above, these are the only Nikon DSLR's with the articulated (tilt-and-swivel) display.

• Nikon D5000, April 14, 2009 - Discontinued
• Nikon D5100, April 5, 2011 - Discontinued
• Nikon D5200, November 6, 2012
• Nikon D5300, October 17, 2013
• Nikon D5500, January 5, 2015
• Nikon D5600

Entry-level (Consumer) - DX sensor

• Nikon D50, April 20, 2005 - Discontinued
• Nikon D40, November 16, 2006 - Discontinued
• Nikon D40X, March 6, 2007 - Discontinued
• Nikon D60, January 29, 2008 - Discontinued
• Nikon D3000, July 30, 2009 â€" Discontinued
• Nikon D3100, August 19, 2010 - Discontinued
• Nikon D3200, April 19, 2012
• Nikon D3300, January 7, 2014
• Nikon D3400, August 17, 2016

Photo optics

Lenses for F-mount cameras

The Nikon F-mount is a type of interchangeable lens mount developed by Nikon for its 35 mm Single-lens reflex cameras. The F-mount was first introduced on the Nikon F camera in 1959.

• See Nikon F-mount â†' Nikkor
• Lenses with integrated motors: List of Nikon F-mount lenses with integrated autofocus motors

Other lenses for photography and imaging

Electronic flash units

Nikon uses the term Speedlight for its electronic flashes. Recent models include the SB-R200, SB-300, SB-400, SB-600, SB-700, SB-800, SB-900, SB-910 and R1C1.

Film scanners

Nikon's digital capture line also includes a successful range of dedicated scanners for a variety of formats, including Advanced Photo System (IX240), 35 mm, and 60 mm film.

• (1988) LS-3500 (4096x6144, 4000 dpi, 30 bits per pixel) HP-IB (requires a third-party NuBus card; intended for Mac platforms, for which there is a Photoshop plug-in).
• (1992) Coolscan LS-10 (2700 dpi) SCSI. First to be named "Coolscan" to denote LED illumination.
• (1994) LS-3510AF (4096x6144, 4000 dpi, 30 bits per pixel) Auto-focus SCSI (usually employed on Mac platforms with a Photoshop plug-in; TWAIN is available for PC platforms).
• (1995) LS-4500AF (4 x 5 inch and 120/220 formats, 1000x2000 dpi, 35mm format 3000x3000). 12bit A/D. SCSI. Fitted with auto-focus lens.
• (1996) Super Coolscan LS-1000 (2592x3888, 2700 dpi) SCSI. scan time cut by half
• (1996) Coolscan II LS-20 E (2700 dpi) SCSI
• (1998) Coolscan LS-2000 (2700 dpi, 12-bit) SCSI, multiple sample, "CleanImage" software
• (1998) Coolscan III LS-30 E (2700 dpi, 10-bit) SCSI
• (2001) Coolscan IV LS-40 ED (2900 dpi, 12-bit, 3.6D) USB, SilverFast, ICE, ROC, GEM
• (2001) Coolscan LS-4000 ED (4000 dpi, 14-bit, 4.2D) Firewire
• (2001) Coolscan LS-8000 ED (4000 dpi, 14-bit, 4.2D) Firewire, multiformat
• (2003) Coolscan V LS-50 ED (4000 dpi, 14-bit, 4.2D) USB
• (2003) Super Coolscan LS-5000 ED (4000 dpi, 16bit, 4.8D) USB
• (2004) Super Coolscan LS-9000 ED (4000 dpi, 16bit, 4.8D) Firewire, multiformat

Nikon introduced its first scanner, the Nikon LS-3500 with a maximum resolution of 4096 x 6144 pixels, in 1988. Prior to the development of 'cool' LED lighting this scanner used a halogen lamp (hence the name 'Coolscan' for the following models). The resolution of the following LED based Coolscan model didn't increase but the price was significantly lower. Colour depth, scan quality, imaging and hardware functionality as well as scanning speed was gradually improved with each following model. The final 'top of the line' 35mm Coolscan LS-5000 ED was a device capable of archiving greater numbers of slides; 50 framed slides or 40 images on film roll. It could scan all these in one batch using special adapters. A single maximum resolution scan was performed in no more than 20 seconds as long as no post-processing was also performed. With the launch of the Coolscan 9000 ED Nikon introduced its most up-to-date film scanner which, like the Minolta Dimage scanners were the only film scanners that, due to a special version of Digital ICE, were able to scan Kodachrome film reliably both dust and scratch free. LaserSoft Imaging's scan software SilverFast features a similar technique (iSRD) since end of 2008, that allows every Nikon film scanner to remove dust and scratches from Kodachrome scans. In late 2007 much of the software's code had to be rewritten to make it Mac OS 10.5 compatible. Nikon announced it would discontinue supporting its Nikon Scan software for the Macintosh as well as for Windows Vista 64-bit. Third-party software solutions like SilverFast or Vuescan provide alternatives to the official Nikon drivers and scanning software, and maintain updated drivers for most current operating systems. Between 1994 and 1996 Nikon developed three flatbed scanner models named Scantouch, which couldn't keep up with competitive flatbed products and were hence discontinued to allow Nikon to focus on its dedicated film scanners.

Sport optics

Binoculars

Nikon Metrology

Nikon has a Metrology division that produces hardware and software products for 2D & 3D measurement from nano to large scale measurement volumes. Products include Optical Laser Probes, X-ray computed tomography, Coordinate-measuring machine (CMM),Laser Radar Systems (LR), Microscopes, Portable CMMs, Large Volume Metrology, Motion Measurement and Adaptive Robotic Controls, Semiconductor Systems, Metrology Software including CMM-Manager, CAMIO Studio and Auto Measure. Measurements are performed using tactile and non-contact probes, measurement data is collected in software and processed for comparison to nominal CAD (Computer-aided design) or part specification or for recreating / reverse engineering physical work pieces.

Other products

Nikon also manufactures ophthalmic equipment, loupes, monoculars, binocular telescopes, microscopes, laser rangefinders, cameras for microscopy, optical and video-based measurement equipment, scanners and steppers for the manufacture of integrated circuits and liquid crystal displays, and semiconductor device inspection equipment. The steppers and scanners represent about one third of the income for the company as of 2008. Nikon has also manufactured eyeglasses, sunglasses, and glasses frames, under the brands Nikon, Niji, Nobili-Ti, Presio, and Velociti VTI.

Cultural references

• Singer Paul Simon referenced Nikon Cameras in his 1973 song "Kodachrome."
• Dexter Morgan, main character of the Showtime series Dexter, can be seen using a Nikon camera throughout the show.
• In the movie Hackers, the character "Lord Nikon" got his alias because of his photographic memory.
• In the lyrics to the Oak Ridge Boys song "American Made", a reference to Nikon Cameras is made ( "I got a Nikon camera, a Sony color tv").
• In the movie "The French Connection", the drug dealer gives his girl friend a Nikon F.
• In the file "The Most Beautiful" by Akira Kurosawa, the "East Asian Optical Company" scenes were filmed at the Nippon Kogaku factory in Totsuka, Yokohama, Japan.

Awards and recognition

Nikon was ranked 134th among India's most trusted brands according to the Brand Trust Report 2012, a study conducted by Trust Research Advisory. In the Brand Trust Report 2013, Nikon was ranked 28th among India's most trusted brands and subsequently, according to the Brand Trust Report 2014, Nikon was ranked 178th among India's most trusted brands.

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Red is a 2010 American action comedy film inspired by the limited comic book series of the same name created by Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner and published by the DC Comics imprint Homage. The film stars Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, Mary-Louise Parker, Helen Mirren and Karl Urban, with German film director Robert Schwentke directing a screenplay by Jon Hoeber and Erich Hoeber. In the film version, the title is derived from the designation of former CIA Agent Frank Moses (Bruce Willis), meaning "Retired, Extremely Dangerous".

The film was released on October 15, 2010. The film grossed $199 million worldwide. In 2011, the film received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Musical or Comedy Film. A sequel, Red 2, was released on July 19, 2013. Another sequel, Red 3, is in development.

Plot

Frank Moses, retired black-ops CIA agent, lives alone in Cleveland, Ohio. Lonely, Frank often chats on the phone with Sarah Ross, a worker at the General Services Administration's Pension Office in Kansas City, Missouri. He creates opportunities to talk to her by tearing up his pension checks and calling her to say they had never arrived.

One night, a "wetwork" (assassination) squad raids Frank's house and attempts to kill him, but he easily wipes them out. Knowing they have tapped his phone, he believes Sarah will be targeted. In Kansas City, as Sarah refuses to go with him, he forcibly ties her up and gags her with duct tape. Meanwhile, CIA agent William Cooper is assigned by his boss, Cynthia Wilkes, to hunt down and kill Frank.

To find out who is targeting him, Frank tracks down his old associates for help. He goes to New Orleans, Louisiana and visits his C.I.A. mentor, Joe Matheson, who now lives in a nursing home. Joe tells Frank that the same hit squad murdered a reporter for The New York Times. Locked in a motel by Frank, Sarah escapes. Another agent, posing as a police officer, tries to kidnap her, but Frank returns in time. Cooper attacks them, but Frank tricks the police into arresting Cooper and escapes with Sarah. The two head to New York City and find clues left behind by the deceased reporter, which leads them to a hit list.

They then find Marvin Boggs, another former black ops agent and a paranoid conspiracy theorist. Marvin tells them the people on the list, including Frank and Marvin, are connected to a secret 1981 mission in Guatemala. Another person on the list, Gabriel Singer, is still alive. The trio tracks down Singer, who tells them that the mission involved extracting a person from a village. Singer is then assassinated by a helicopter-borne machine-gunner, and the team escapes as Cooper closes in.

Frank goes to ex-Russian secret agent Ivan Simanov, who helps him infiltrate CIA headquarters. In the CIA archive, the records keeper, who has much respect for Frank, simply hands him the Guatemala file. Frank confronts Cooper in his office and the two have a vicious fight. Though victorious, Frank is shot during his escape. Having escaped an attempt on his life, Joe arrives and helps extract the team. They hide out in the home of former wetwork agent Victoria (Helen Mirren), who treats Frank's wound and joins the team.

The file gives them clue to the next lead, Alexander Dunning, an illegal arms dealer. Frank, Marvin and Joe enter Dunning's mansion, with Joe posing as a buyer, while Victoria and Sarah keep watch outside. They interrogate Dunning, who reveals the target for extraction was the nowâ€"Vice President Robert Stanton (Julian McMahon). Stanton ordered the hit on the people involved in the mission to hide the fact that he massacred village civilians.

Cooper and the FBI surround Dunning's mansion. Cooper tries to negotiate Frank's surrender, and Frank tells him about the Vice President's treachery. The terminally ill Joe pretends to be Frank, walks outside, and is killed by sniper from the Vice President's personal hit squad. The confusion, as well as Victoria's cover fire, buys the team enough time to leave the mansion, but Sarah is captured. They escape with the help of Ivan, who is Victoria's old flame. Frank calls Cooper from his family's phone and warns him against harming Sarah.

The team, along with Ivan, kidnaps Stanton. Frank calls Cooper, offering to trade Stanton for Sarah. At the meeting point, Dunning arrives. After a short dialogue, Dunning injures Stanton, revealing himself and Cynthia Wilkes to be masterminds behind the assassinations. Disgusted with Wilkes' corruption, Cooper pretends to arrest Frank, but shoots Wilkes. Marvin and Victoria kill Dunning's bodyguards, and Frank kills Dunning by crushing his windpipe. Cooper lets Frank's team go. As they leave the scene, Frank and Sarah are eager to start a new life together.

Ivan reminds Frank of his favor. A few months later, Frank and Marvin are in Moldova with a stolen nuclear device. They flee from Moldovan Army troops with Marvin wearing a dress and in a wooden wheelbarrow being pushed by Frank.

Cast

• Bruce Willis as Francis "Frank" Moses
• Morgan Freeman as Joe Matheson
• John Malkovich as Marvin Boggs
• Helen Mirren as Victoria Winslow
• Karl Urban as William Cooper
• Mary-Louise Parker as Sarah Ross
• Rebecca Pidgeon as Cynthia Wilkes
• Brian Cox as Ivan Simanov
• Richard Dreyfuss as Alexander Dunning
• Julian McMahon as Vice President Robert Stanton
• Ernest Borgnine as Henry, The Records Keeper
• James Remar as Gabriel Singer

Production

Gregory Noveck, a representative of DC Comics working in Hollywood to get their titles made into films, wanted the comic developed but Warner Brothers was not interested. The creators of the comic exercised their right to go elsewhere but this required approval from all divisions of Warner including television before it could be approved. After several years, in 2008 Noveck was allowed to take the project elsewhere, to Mark Vahradian at Di Bonaventura Productions. Unusually this made it the first film from DC not produced by Warner Bros., post-purchase.

In June 2008, Summit Entertainment announced plans to adapt Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner's Red. Red was adapted for the big screen by brothers Erich and Jon Hoeber, who also wrote the adaptations of Whiteout and Alice. The project was produced by Lorenzo di Bonaventura (GI Joe, Transformers).

By April 2009, Bruce Willis was reportedly in discussions with Summit to take the starring role of Frank Moses. It was reported in July 2009 that Morgan Freeman was in talks to co-star alongside Bruce Willis in the film. Also in July 2009, Robert Schwentke, the director of The Time Traveler's Wife and Flightplan, was in negotiations to direct Red. In August 2009 Schwentke confirmed to MTV News that he was on board. He stated that he loved the script but there are differences between the comic and the movie stating; "It's very funny, which the comic book isn't ... It's not as violent as the comic book," and that "The script that I've read is obviously different from the comic, because I don't think the comic gives you enough for a two-hour movie."

In November 2009, it was reported that Helen Mirren would work alongside Freeman and Willis in the film. It was also reported in November 2009 that John C. Reilly and Mary-Louise Parker were in negotiations to join the cast. Reilly would play a retired CIA agent who is paranoid that everyone is out to kill him. Parker would play the romantic interest, a federal pension worker who becomes embroiled in the Willis character's struggle to stay alive. In the same month Julian McMahon, Ernest Borgnine, Richard Dreyfuss and Brian Cox entered negotiations to join the cast.

In December 2009, creator Warren Ellis stated on his mailing list that "(I) Read the RED script. Not bad. Not the book, but not bad. Funny. Especially when you know the casting. Very tight piece of work. Talked to the producers last week. They're all kind of giddy over the casting coups. Who wouldn't want to see Helen Mirren with a sniper rifle?" Also in December 2009 Summit Entertainment announced a release date of October 22, 2010. The same month James Remar was cast in an unspecified role, in addition to Karl Urban as "Cooper". In January 2010 it was reported that John Malkovich had signed to star opposite Bruce Willis, replacing John C. Reilly, who exited the role in late December.

Principal photography began on January 18, 2010 in Toronto, Canada. Red was shot in and around the Toronto metropolitan area for nine weeks before moving on to the road and ending in New Orleans in late March for the final two weeks of principal photography. Filming in the French Quarter of New Orleans commenced in March 2010. Additional photography was shot for a post-credits scene in Louisiana in August 2010.

Release

A teaser trailer for Red was released in June 24, 2010. The first full trailer debuted in July 22, 2010 at the San Diego Comic-Con International. The film premiered at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, California on October 11, 2010. Red was released on Blu-ray and DVD on January 25, 2011.

Reception

Critical response

Red has a 72% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 193 reviews and an average rating of 6.4/10. The consensus reads: "It may not be the killer thrill ride you'd expect from an action movie with a cast of this caliber, but Red still thoroughly outshines most of its big-budget counterparts with its wit and style." Metacritic gave the film a score of 61/100 based on a normalized rating of 37 reviews. Justin Chang of Variety stated Red is "An amusing, light-footed caper about a team of aging CIA veterans rudely forced out of retirement". John DeFore of The Hollywood Reporter stated "Although tailor-made for genre fans, it benefits from flavors of humor and romance that keep its appeal from being fanboy-only".

Conversely, Roger Ebert gave the film two stars out of four, stating that it is "neither a good movie nor a bad one. It features actors that we like doing things we wish were more interesting." A. O. Scott of The New York Times said, "It is possible to have a good time at RED, but it is not a very good movie. It doesn't really try to be, and given the present state of the Hollywood economy, this may be a wise choice". Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times said, "It's not that it doesn't have effective moments, it's that it doesn't have as many as it thinks it does. The film's inescapable air of glib self-satisfaction is not only largely unearned, it's downright irritating".

Box office

On its opening weekend Red earned an estimated $22.5 million on around 4,100 screens at 3,255 locations, coming in second behind Jackass 3-D. The film closed in theaters on February 3, 2011, grossing over $90 million in the United States and $108.6 million in foreign markets. The film received an overall gross of $199 million worldwide.

Accolades

Sequel

The film's financial success surpassed producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura's expectations. In October 2011, Summit Entertainment officially announced that Red 2 would be released on August 2, 2013, with Jon and Erich Hoeber rehired to write the screenplay. In March 2013, the film's release date was moved from August 2, 2013 to July 19, 2013. The sequel fared less than its predecessor both critically and financially. The film received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $148.1 million worldwide.

References

External links

• Official website
• Red at the Internet Movie Database
• Red at AllMovie
• Red at the TCM Movie Database
• Red at Box Office Mojo
• Red at Rotten Tomatoes

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The Ramoji Film City (Telugu: రామోజీ ఫిలిం సిటీ) in India is located in Hyderabad. At 1633 acres, it is the largest integrated film city in the world. It holds the Guinness World Records for being the largest film studio complex in the world and measures 674 ha. 2000 acres)

It is also a popular tourism and recreation centre, containing natural and artificial attractions including an amusement park. The Outer Ring Road Phase 2 has acquired lands at the entrance and is set to intersect the city.

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Vertigo is a 1958 American film noir psychological thriller film directed and produced by Alfred Hitchcock. The story was based on the 1954 novel D'entre les morts (From Among the Dead) by Boileau-Narcejac. The screenplay was written by Alec Coppel and Samuel A. Taylor.

The film stars James Stewart as former police detective John "Scottie" Ferguson. Scottie is forced into early retirement because an incident in the line of duty has caused him to develop acrophobia (an extreme fear of heights) and vertigo (a false sense of rotational movement). Scottie is hired by an acquaintance, Gavin Elster, as a private investigator to follow Gavin's wife Madeleine (Kim Novak), who is behaving strangely.

The film was shot on location in San Francisco, California, and at Paramount Studios in Hollywood. It is the first film to utilize the dolly zoom, an in-camera effect that distorts perspective to create disorientation, to convey Scottie's acrophobia. As a result of its use in this film, the effect is often referred to as "the Vertigo effect."

Vertigo received mixed reviews upon initial release, but is now often cited as a classic Hitchcock film and one of the defining works of his career. Attracting significant scholarly criticism, it replaced Citizen Kane (1941) as the best film ever made in the 2012 British Film Institute's Sight & Sound critics' poll. In 1996, the film underwent a major restoration to create a new 70mm print and DTS soundtrack. It has appeared repeatedly in polls of the best films by the American Film Institute, including a 2007 ranking as the ninth-greatest American movie of all time.

Plot

After a rooftop chase, where his fear of heights and vertigo result in the death of a policeman, San Francisco detective John "Scottie" Ferguson retires. Scottie tries to conquer his fear, but his friend and ex-fiancée Midge Wood says that another severe emotional shock may be the only cure.

An acquaintance from college, Gavin Elster, asks Scottie to follow his wife, Madeleine, claiming that she is in some sort of danger. Scottie reluctantly agrees, and follows Madeleine to a florist where she buys a bouquet of flowers, to the Mission San Francisco de Asís and the grave of Carlotta Valdes, and to Legion of Honor art museum where she gazes at the Portrait of Carlotta. He watches her enter the McKittrick Hotel, but on investigation she does not seem to be there.

A local historian explains that Carlotta Valdes tragically committed suicide. Gavin reveals that Carlotta (who he fears is possessing Madeleine) is Madeleine's great-grandmother, although Madeleine has no knowledge of this, and does not remember the places she has visited. Scottie tails Madeleine to Fort Point and, when she leaps into the bay, he rescues her.

The next day Scottie follows Madeleine; they meet and spend the day together. They travel to Muir Woods and Cypress Point on 17-Mile Drive, where Madeleine runs down towards the ocean. Scottie grabs her and they embrace. Madeleine recounts a nightmare and Scottie identifies its setting as Mission San Juan Bautista. He drives her there and they express their love for each other. Madeleine suddenly runs into the church and up the bell tower. Scottie, halted on the steps by his acrophobia, sees Madeleine plunge to her death.

The death is declared a suicide. Gavin does not fault Scottie, but Scottie breaks down, becomes clinically depressed and is in a sanatorium, almost catatonic. After release, Scottie frequents the places that Madeleine visited, often imagining that he sees her. One day, he notices a woman who reminds him of Madeleine, despite her different appearance. Scottie follows her and she identifies herself as Judy Barton, from Salina, Kansas.

A flashback reveals that Judy was the person Scottie knew as "Madeleine Elster"; she was impersonating Gavin's wife as part of a murder plot. Judy drafts a letter to Scottie explaining her involvement: Gavin had deliberately taken advantage of Scottie's acrophobia to substitute his wife's freshly killed body in the apparent "suicide jump". But Judy rips up the letter and continues the charade, because she loves Scottie.

They begin seeing each other, but Scottie remains obsessed with "Madeleine", and asks Judy to change her clothes and hair so that she resembles Madeleine. After Judy complies, hoping that they may finally find happiness together, he notices her wearing the necklace portrayed in the painting of Carlotta, and realizes the truth. He insists on driving her to the Mission.

There, he tells her he must re-enact the event that led to his madness, admitting he now understands that "Madeleine" and Judy are the same person. Scottie forces her up the bell tower and makes her admit her deceit. Scottie reaches the top, finally conquering his acrophobia. Judy confesses that Gavin paid her to impersonate a "possessed" Madeleine; Gavin faked the suicide by throwing the body of his wife from the bell tower.

Judy begs Scottie to forgive her, because she loves him. He embraces her, but a shadowed figure rises from the trapdoor of the tower, startling Judy, who steps backward and falls to her death. Scottie, bereft again, stands on the ledge, while the figure, a nun investigating the noise, rings the mission bell.

Cast

• James Stewart as John "Scottie" Ferguson
• Kim Novak as Judy Barton/Madeleine Elster
• Barbara Bel Geddes as Midge Wood
• Tom Helmore as Gavin Elster
• Henry Jones as the coroner
• Ellen Corby as the manager of the McKittrick Hotel
• Konstantin Shayne as bookstore owner Pop Leibel
• Raymond Bailey as Scottie's doctor
• Lee Patrick as the car owner mistaken for Madeleine

Uncredited

• Margaret Brayton as the Ransohoff's saleslady
• Paul Bryar as Capt. Hansen (accompanies Scottie to coroner's inquest)
• Dave McElhatton as the radio announcer (alternative ending)
• Fred Graham as Scottie's police partner (falls from rooftop)
• Nina Shipman as the girl mistaken for Madeleine at the museum
• Sara Taft as nun during closing scene

Alfred Hitchcock makes his customary cameo appearance walking in the street in a gray suit and carrying a trumpet case.

Themes

Critics have interpreted Vertigo variously as "a tale of male aggression and visual control; as a map of female Oedipal trajectory; as a deconstruction of the male construction of femininity and of masculinity itself; as a stripping bare of the mechanisms of directorial, Hollywood studio and colonial oppression; and as a place where textual meanings play out in an infinite regress of self-reflexivity."

Critic James F. Maxfield suggested that Vertigo can be interpreted as a variant on the Ambrose Bierce short story "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" (1890), and that the main narrative of the film is actually imagined by Scottie, whom we had seen left dangling from a building at the end of the opening rooftop chase. This theory is supported by the fact that the first draft of the Vertigo script that Taylor wrote is entitled "From among the Dead, or There'll Never Be Another You, by Samuel Taylor and Ambrose Bierce."

Production

Development

The screenplay is an adaptation of the French novel D'entre les morts (From Among the Dead) by Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac. Hitchcock had attempted to buy the rights to the previous novel by the same authors, Celle qui n'était plus, but he failed, and it was made instead by Henri-Georges Clouzot as Les Diaboliques. Although François Truffaut once suggested that D'entre les morts was specifically written for Hitchcock by Boileau and Narcejac, Narcejac subsequently denied that this was their intention. However, Hitchcock's interest in their work meant that Paramount Pictures commissioned a synopsis of D'entre les morts in 1954, before it had even been translated into English.

Hitchcock originally hired playwright Maxwell Anderson to write a screenplay, but rejected his work, which was entitled Darkling, I Listen, a quotation from Keats's Ode to a Nightingale. A second version, written by Alec Coppel, again left the director dissatisfied. The final script was written by Samuel A. Taylorâ€"who was recommended to Hitchcock due to his knowledge of San Franciscoâ€" from notes by Hitchcock. Among Taylor's creations was the character of Midge. Taylor attempted to take sole credit for the screenplay, but Coppel protested to the Screen Writers Guild, which determined that both writers were entitled to a credit.

Vera Miles, who was under personal contract to Hitchcock and had appeared on both his television show and in his film The Wrong Man, was originally scheduled to play Madeleine. She modeled for an early version of the painting featured in the film. Following delays, including Hitchcock becoming ill with gallbladder problems, Miles became pregnant and so had to withdraw from the role. The director declined to postpone shooting and cast Kim Novak as the female lead. Ironically, by the time Novak had tied up prior film commitments and a vacation promised by Columbia Pictures, the studio that held her contract, Miles had given birth and was available for the film. Hitchcock proceeded with Novak, nevertheless. Columbia head Harry Cohn agreed to lend Novak to Vertigo if Stewart would agree to co-star with Novak in Bell, Book and Candle, a Columbia production released in December 1958.

In the book, Judy's involvement in Madeleine's death was not revealed until the denouement. At the script stage, Hitchcock suggested revealing the secret two-thirds of the way through the film, so that the audience would understand Judy's mental dilemma. After the first preview, Hitchcock was unsure whether to keep the "letter writing scene" or not. He decided to remove it. Herbert Coleman, Vertigo's associate producer and a frequent collaborator with Hitchcock, felt the removal was a mistake. However, Hitchcock said, "Release it just like that." James Stewart, acting as mediator, said to Coleman, "Herbie, you shouldn't get so upset with Hitch. The picture's not that important." Hitchcock's decision was supported by Joan Harrison, another member of his circle, who felt that the film had been improved. Coleman reluctantly made the necessary edits. When he received news of this, Paramount head Barney Balaban was very vocal about the edits and ordered Hitchcock to "Put the pic ture back the way it was." As a result, the "letter writing scene" remained in the final film.

Filming

Vertigo was filmed from September to December 1957. Principal photography began on location in San Francisco in September 1957 under the working title From Among the Dead (the literal translation of D'entre les morts).

The scene in which Madeleine falls from the tower was filmed at Mission San Juan Bautista, a Spanish mission in San Juan Bautista, California. Associate producer Herbert Coleman's daughter Judy Lanini suggested the mission to Hitchcock as a filming location. A steeple, added sometime after the mission's original construction and secularization, had been demolished following a fire, so Hitchcock added a bell tower using scale models, matte paintings, and trick photography at the Paramount studio in Los Angeles. The original tower was much smaller and less dramatic than the film's version. The tower's staircase was later assembled inside a studio.

Following 16 days of location shooting, the production moved to Paramount's studios in Hollywood for two months of filming. Hitchcock preferred to film in studios as he was able to control the environment. Once sufficient location footage had been obtained, interior sets were designed and constructed in the studio.

Hitchcock popularized the dolly zoom in this film, leading to the technique's sobriquet, amongst several others, "the Vertigo effect". This "dolly-out/zoom-in" method involves the camera physically moving away from a subject whilst simultaneously zooming in (a similar effect can be achieved in reverse), so that the subject retains its size in the frame, but the background's perspective changes. Hitchcock used the effect to look down the tower shaft to emphasise its height and Scottie's disorientation. Following difficulties filming the shot on a full-sized set, a model of the tower shaft was constructed, and the dolly zoom was filmed horizontally.

The "special sequence" (Scottie's nightmare sequence) was designed by artist John Ferren. The painting of Carlotta was created by Italian artist Manlio Sarra.

The rotating patterns in the title sequence were done by John Whitney, who used a mechanical computer called the M5 gun director, AKA the Kerrison Predictor, which was used during World War II to aim anti-aircraft cannons at moving targets. This made it possible to produce an animated version of shapes (known as Lissajous curves) based on graphs of parametric equations by mathematician Jules Lissajous.

Hitchcock and costume designer Edith Head used color to heighten emotion. Grey was chosen for Madeleine's suit because it is not usually a blonde's colour, so was psychologically jarring. In contrast, Novak's character wore a white coat when she visited Scottie's apartment, which Head and Hitchcock considered more natural for a blonde to wear.

Alternate ending

A coda to the film was shot that showed Midge at her apartment, listening to a radio report (voiced by San Francisco TV reporter Dave McElhatton) describing the pursuit of Gavin Elster across Europe. Midge switches the radio off when Scottie enters the room. They then share a drink and look out of the window in silence. Contrary to reports that this scene was filmed to meet foreign censorship needs, this tag ending had originally been demanded by Geoffrey Shurlock of the U.S. Production Code Administration, who had noted: "It will, of course, be most important that the indication that Elster will be brought back for trial is sufficiently emphasized."

Hitchcock finally succeeded in fending off most of Shurlock's demands (which included toning down erotic allusions) and had the alternative ending dropped. The footage was discovered in Los Angeles in May 1993, and was added as an alternative ending on the laserdisc release, and later on DVD releases.

Music and titles

The score was written by Bernard Herrmann. However, the score was conducted by Muir Mathieson and recorded in Europe because there was a musicians' strike in the U.S.

In a 2004 special issue of the British Film Institute's (BFI) magazine Sight & Sound, director Martin Scorsese described the qualities of Herrmann's famous score:

Hitchcock's film is about obsession, which means that it's about circling back to the same moment, again and again ... And the music is also built around spirals and circles, fulfilment and despair. Herrmann really understood what Hitchcock was going for â€" he wanted to penetrate to the heart of obsession.

Graphic designer Saul Bass used spiral motifs in both the title sequence and the movie poster, emphasizing what the documentary Obsessed with Vertigo calls, "Vertigo's psychological vortex".

Filming locations

Filmed from September to December 1957, Vertigo uses location footage of the San Francisco Bay Area, with its steep hills and tall, arching bridges. In the driving scenes shot in the city, the main characters' cars are almost always pictured heading down the city's steeply inclined streets. In October 1996, the restored print of Vertigo debuted at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco with a live on-stage introduction by surviving cast member Kim Novak, providing the city a chance to celebrate itself. Visiting the San Francisco film locations has something of a cult following as well as modest tourist appeal. Such a tour is featured in a subsection of Chris Marker's documentary montage Sans Soleil.

In March 1997, the cultural French magazine Les Inrockuptibles published a special issue titled Vertigo's about the film locations in San Francisco, Dans le décor, which lists and describes all actual locations.

Areas that were shot on location (not recreated in a studio):

• Scottie's apartment (900 Lombard Street) is one block downhill from the "crookedest street in the world". Although the door has been repainted, the entrance is easily recognizable save for a few small changes to the patio. The doorbell and the mailbox, which Madeleine uses to deliver a note to Scottie, are exactly the same as they were in the film. A spite wall was erected in 2012 by the current owner of the property. The wall encloses the whole entrance area on the Lombard side of the building.
• The Mission San Juan Bautista, where Madeleine falls from the tower, is a real place, but the tower had to be matted in with a painting using studio effects; Hitchcock had first visited the mission before the tower was torn down due to dry rot, and was reportedly displeased to find it missing when he returned to film his scenes. The original tower was much smaller and less dramatic than the film's version.
• The Carlotta Valdes headstone featured in the film (created by the props department) was left at Mission Dolores. Eventually, the headstone was removed as the mission considered it disrespectful to the dead to house a tourist attraction grave for a fictional person. All other cemeteries in San Francisco were evicted from city limits in 1912, so the screenwriters had no other option but to locate the grave at Mission Dolores.
• Madeleine jumps into the sea at Fort Point, underneath the Golden Gate Bridge.
• The gallery where Carlotta's painting appears is the California Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco. The Carlotta Valdes portrait was lost after being removed from the gallery, but many of the other paintings in the background of the portrait scenes are still on view.
• What purports to be Muir Woods National Monument in the film is in fact Big Basin Redwoods State Park; however, the cutaway of the redwood tree showing its age was copied from one that can still be found at Muir Woods.
• The coastal region where Scottie and Madeleine first kiss is Cypress Point, along the 17 Mile Drive near Pebble Beach. However, the lone tree they kiss next to was a prop brought specially to the location.
• The domed building Scottie and Judy walk past is the Palace of Fine Arts.
• Coit Tower appears in many background shots. Hitchcock once said that he included it as a phallic symbol. Also prominent in the background is the tower of the San Francisco Ferry Building.
• The exterior of the sanatorium where Scottie is treated was a real sanatorium, St. Joseph's Hospital, located at 355 Buena Vista East, across from Buena Vista Park. The complex has been converted into condominiums and the building, built in 1928, is on the National Register of Historic Places.
• Gavin and Madeleine's apartment building is "The Brocklebank" at 1000 Mason Street on Nob Hill, which still looks essentially the same. It is across the street from the Fairmont Hotel, where Hitchcock usually stayed when he visited and where many of the cast and crew stayed during filming. Shots of the surrounding neighborhood feature the Flood Mansion and Grace Cathedral. Barely visible is the Mark Hopkins hotel, mentioned in an early scene in the movie.
• The "McKittrick Hotel" was a privately owned Victorian mansion from the 1880s at Gough and Eddy Streets. It was torn down in 1959 and is now an athletic practice field for Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory School. The St. Paulus Lutheran Church, seen across from the mansion, was destroyed in a fire in 1995.
• Podesta Baldocchi is the flower shop Madeleine visits as she is being followed by Scottie. The shop's location at the time of filming was 224 Grant Avenue. The Podesta Baldocchi flower shop now does business from a location at 410 Harriet Street.
• The Empire Hotel is a real place, called the York Hotel, and now (as of January 2009) the Hotel Vertigo at 940 Sutter Street. Judy's room was created, but the green neon of the "Hotel Empire" sign outside is based on the actual hotel's sign (it was replaced when the hotel was renamed).
• Ernie's Restaurant (847 Montgomery St.) was a real place in Jackson Square, one mile from Scottie's apartment. It is no longer operating.
• One short scene shows Union Square at dawn, with old-fashioned "semaphore" traffic lights. Pop Leibel's bookstore, the Argosy, was not a real location, but one recreated on the Paramount lot in imitation of the real-life Argonaut Book Store, which still exists near Sutter and Jones.
• A possible discrepancy between the movie and then-contemporary San Francisco neighborhood designation is Elster's Mission District Shipping Company (the Mission being described as "Skid Row"). At the time, the designation "South of the Slot" applied to the waterfront, including its working piers located to the south of Market Street and east of Eleventh Street, encompassing today's South Beach and north of today's Mission Bay. In the 1950s, the area south of Market was inhabited by poor maritime workers, their families, and related support industries, it was torn down by redevelopment in the 1960s to clear the way for the Yerba Buena Redevelopment Area: Convention Center, Garden, Arts Center.

Reception

Contemporaneous reception

Vertigo premiered in San Francisco on May 9, 1958 at the Stage Door Theater at Mason and Geary (now the Ruby Skye nightclub). While Vertigo did break even upon its original release, earning $2.8 million in gross rental in the United States alone against its $2,479,000 cost, it earned significantly less than other Hitchcock productions. Reviews were mixed. Variety said the film showed Hitchcock's "mastery", but was too long and slow for "what is basically only a psychological murder mystery". Similarly, the Los Angeles Times admired the scenery, but found the plot "too long" and felt it "bogs down" in "a maze of detail"; scholar Dan Auiler says that this review "sounded the tone that most popular critics would take with the film". However, the Los Angeles Examiner loved it, admiring the "excitement, action, romance, glamor and [the] crazy, off-beat love story". New York Times film critic Bosley Crowther also gave Vertigo a positive r eview by explaining that "[the] secret [of the film] is so clever, even though it is devilishly far-fetched."

Additional reasons for the mixed response initially were that Hitchcock fans were not pleased with his departure from the romantic-thriller territory of earlier films and that the mystery was solved with one-third of the film left to go. Orson Welles disliked the film, telling his friend the director Henry Jaglom that the movie was "worse" than Rear Window, another film that was not a favorite of Welles. In an interview with François Truffaut, Hitchcock stated that Vertigo was one of his favourite films, with some reservations. Hitchcock blamed the film's failure on the 50-year-old Stewart looking too old to play a convincing love interest for the 25-year-old Kim Novak.

Hitchcock and Stewart received awards at the San Sebastián International Film Festival, including a Silver Seashell for Best Director (tied with Mario Monicelli for Big Deal on Madonna Street (aka Persons Unknown) and Best Actor (also tied, with Kirk Douglas in The Vikings). The film was nominated for two Academy Awards, in the technical categories Best Art Direction - Black-and-White or Color (Hal Pereira, Henry Bumstead, Samuel M. Comer, Frank McKelvy) and Best Sound (George Dutton).

Re-evaluation

In the 1960s, the French Cahiers du cinéma critics began re-evaluating Hitchcock as a serious artist rather than just a populist showman. However, even François Truffaut's important 1962 book of interviews with Hitchcock (not published in English until 1967) devotes only a few pages to Vertigo. Dan Auiler has suggested that the real beginning of Vertigo's rise in adulation was the British-Canadian scholar Robin Wood's Hitchcock's Films (1968), which calls the film, "...Hitchcock's masterpiece to date and one of the four or five most profound and beautiful films the cinema has yet given us."

Adding to its mystique was the fact that Vertigo was one of five Hitchcock-owned films removed from circulation in 1973. When Vertigo was re-released in theaters in October 1983, and then on home video in October 1984, it achieved an impressive commercial success and laudatory reviews. Similarly adulatory reviews were written for the October 1996 showing of a restored print in 70mm and DTS sound at the Castro Theater in San Francisco.

In 1989, Vertigo was recognized as a "culturally, historically and aesthetically significant" film by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in the first year of the registry's voting. As of 2016, on Rotten Tomatoes the film has a "certified fresh" rating of 97%.

Among international film critics, the film has experienced a similar re-evaluation. Every ten years since 1952, the British Film Institute's film magazine Sight & Sound has asked the world's leading film critics to compile a list of the 10 best films of all time. Not until 1982 did Vertigo enter the list, and then in 7th place. By 1992 it had advanced to 4th place, by 2002 to 2nd. Vertigo was voted in first place in Sight & Sound's 2012 poll of the greatest films of all time, both in the crime genre and in general, displacing Orson Welles' Citizen Kane from the position it had occupied since 1962. Commenting upon the 2012 results, the magazine's editor Nick James said that Vertigo was "the ultimate critics' film. It is a dream-like film about people who are not sure who they are but who are busy reconstructing themselves and each other to fit a kind of cinema ideal of the ideal soul-mate." In recent years, critics have noted that the featuring of James Stewart as a character who becomes obsessive and disturbed was a daring choice of casting that enhances the film's unconventionality and effectiveness as suspense, since Stewart had been known to audiences as an actor of warmhearted and sympathetic roles.

In his 2004 book Blockbuster, however, British film critic Tom Shone suggested that Vertigo's critical re-evaluation has led to excessive praise, and argued for a more measured response. Faulting Sight & Sound for "perennially" putting the film on the list of best-ever films, he wrote that, "Hitchcock is a director who delights in getting his plot mechanisms buffed up to a nice humming shine, and so the Sight and Sound team praise the one film of his in which this is not the case â€" it's all loose ends and lopsided angles, its plumbing out on display for the critic to pick over at his leisure."

In 2005, Vertigo came in second (to Goodfellas) in British magazine Total Film's book 100 Greatest Movies of All Time. In 2008, an Empire poll of readers, actors, and critics named it the 40th greatest movie ever made.

American Film Institute recognition

• AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies #61
• AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills #18
• AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores #12
• AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions #18
• AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) #9
• AFI's 10 Top 10 #1 Mystery

The San Francisco locations have become celebrated amongst the film's fans, with organised tours across the area. In March 1997, the cultural French magazine Les Inrockuptibles published a special issue titled Vertigo's about the film locations in San Francisco, Dans le décor, which lists and describes all actual locations. In October 1996, the restored print of Vertigo debuted at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco with a live on-stage introduction by Kim Novak, providing the city a chance to celebrate itself.

Director Martin Scorsese has listed Vertigo as one of his favorite films of all time.

Home media

In 1996, director Harrison Engle produced a documentary about the making of Hitchcock's classic, Obsessed with Vertigo. Narrated by Roddy McDowell, the film played on American Movie Classics, and has since been included with DVD versions of Vertigo. Surviving members of the cast and crew participated, along with noted filmmaker Martin Scorsese and Alfred's daughter, Patricia Hitchcock. Engle first visited the Vertigo shooting locations in the summer of 1958, just months after completion of the film.

Vertigo was first released on DVD in March 1998. It was subsequently released on Blu-ray in October 2012 as part of Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection, in June 2013 as part of Alfred Hitchcock: The Essentials Collection, and finally in May 2014 as a stand-alone Blu-ray edition. Some of the home video releases also carry the original mono audio track.

Restoration

In October 1983, Rear Window and Vertigo were the first two films re-released by Hitchcock's estate after his death. These two films and three others -- The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), The Trouble With Harry (1955), and Rope (1948) -- had been kept out of distribution by Hitchcock since 1968. Cleaning and restoration were performed on each film when new 35mm prints were struck.

In 1996, the film was given a lengthy and controversial restoration by Robert A. Harris and James C. Katz and re-released to theaters. The new print featured restored color and newly created audio, utilizing modern sound effects mixed in DTS digital surround sound. In October 1996, the restored Vertigo premiered at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco, with Kim Novak and Patricia Hitchcock in person. At this screening, the film was exhibited for the first time in DTS and 70mm, a format with a similar frame size to the VistaVision system in which it was originally shot. When restoring the sound, Harris and Katz wanted to stay as close as possible to the original, and had access to the original music recordings that had been stored in the vaults at Paramount. However, as the project demanded a new 6-channel DTS stereo soundtrack, it was necessary to re-record some sound effects using the Foley process. The soundtrack was remixed at the Alfred Hitchcock Theatre at Universal Stu dios. Aware that the film had a considerable following, the restoration team knew that they were under particular pressure to restore the film as accurately as possible. To achieve this, they used Hitchcock's original dubbing notes for guidance of how the director wanted the film to sound in 1958. Harris and Katz sometimes added extra sound effects to camouflage defects in the old soundtrack ("hisses, pops, and bangs"); in particular they added extra seagull cries and a foghorn to the scene at Cypress Point. The new mix has also been accused of putting too much emphasis on the score at the expense of the sound effects. The 2005 Hitchcock Masterpiece Collection DVD contains the original mono track as an option. Significant color correction was necessary because of the fading of original Technicolor negatives. In some cases a new negative was created from the silver separation masters, but in many instances this was impossible because of differential separation shrinkage, and b ecause the 1958 separations were poorly made. Separations used three individual films: one for each of the primary colors. In the case of Vertigo, these had shrunk in different and erratic proportions, making re-alignment impossible. As such, significant amounts of computer assisted coloration were necessary. Although the results are not noticeable on viewing the film, some elements were as many as eight generations away from the original negative, in particular the entire "Judy's Apartment" sequence, which is perhaps the most pivotal sequence in the entire film. When such large portions of re-creation become necessary, then the danger of artistic license by the restorers becomes an issue, and the restorers received some criticism for their re-creation of colors that allegedly did not honor the director's and cinematographer's intentions. The restoration team argued that they did research on the colors used in the original locations, cars, wardrobe, and skin tones. One breakt hrough moment came when the Ford Motor Company supplied a well-preserved green paint sample for a car used in the film. As the use of the color green in the film has artistic importance, matching a shade of green was a stroke of luck for restoration and provided a reference shade.

In October 2014, a new 4K restoration was presented at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco. This version gives credit to Harris and Katz at the end of the film, and thanks them for providing some previously unknown stereo soundtracks. This version, however, removes some of the "excessive" Foley sound that was added in the 1996 restoration.

Derivative works

• Kalangarai Vilakkam, a Tamil language adaptation of Vertigo
• Woh Kaun Thi?, a Bollywood adaptation of Vertigo
• High Anxiety, a 1977 film by Mel Brooks, is a parody of suspense films directed by Alfred Hitchcock, but leans on Vertigo in particular.
• Obsession, a 1976 film by Brian De Palma, is heavily influenced by Vertigo, while his 1984 thriller Body Double combines the plot elements of both Vertigo and Rear Window.
• The Testament of Judith Barton, a 2012 novel by Wendy Powers and Robin McLeod, tells the back-story of Kim Novak's character.
• Harvey Danger's song "Carlotta Valdes," from the album Where Have All the Merrymakers Gone?, summarizes the plot of the film.
• Chris Marker's 1983 video-essay Sans Soleil makes reference to the movie, declaring it the only film "capable of portraying impossible memory" over footage of Vertigo's shooting locations and stills from the film.

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