f/0.7 and 800-Foot Sliders: The Insane Cinematography Gymnastics of 'Barry Lyndon'

The 1976 Oscar winner for Best Cinematography was "Barry Lyndon" (John Alcott) and deservedly so, as the sheer technical achievement and aesthetic quality of the film is astounding. This great video takes you behind the scenes of a film set that used 800-foot sliders and lenses from NASA.

Coming to you from CinemaTyler, this great video takes you behind the scenes of Stanley Kubrick's "Barry Lyndon." The film has a certain fame among photographers and videographers for its use of 50mm f/0.7 lenses obtained from NASA, and while that's certainly a neat aspect of it (and it allowed Kubrick to film scenes lit only by candlelight), the cinematography goes much, much deeper than just those lenses. Alcott went to incredible lengths of effort and ingenuity, employing an 800-foot slider for the battle scene and often using massive lights outside the filming locations to shine light through the windows and mimic natural light rather than setting them up inside the room. Even with all this attention to detail, Kubrick and Alcott often had to change things on the fly, as constantly shifting conditions continually challenged their ability to ensure a consistent aesthetic throughout the film. Check out the video above for a neat look at this incredible achievement.