Lights, camera, blast-off! Making IMAX movies in space

Toni Myers
Producer/Director
IMAX Corporation

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Duncan Hall, McMurtry Auditorium
7:00 pm

Reception – 6:30 pm

ABSTRACT
On April 4, 2012, the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. received a special donation to the nation’s permanent collection of space memorabilia: 2 unique 70mm IMAXÒ cameras. The two cameras flew a combined total of 20 space shuttle missions from 1984 to 1998.  The IMAX team trained 99 astronauts in all aspects of IMAX movie making. The crew members proved to be star pupils, and captured stunning never-before-seen views of our planet, breath-taking spacewalks, along with space exploration milestones such as the release of the Hubble Space Telescope and the first ever view of the shuttle against the backdrop of Earth.  The IMAX team then used the footage the astronauts brought back to produce 4 films:  THE DREAM IS ALIVE, BLUE PLANET, DESTINY IN SPACE and MISSION TO MIR.

Following the phenomenal success of the first four films, 46 more astronauts and cosmonauts were trained to use IMAXÒ3D cameras to make SPACE STATION 3D and HUBBLE3D.

Producer/Director/Writer/Editor Toni Myers, a key member of the production team, will take us on a journey that begins with the first rock videos in London, England prior to the invention of the IMAX technology, and continues to the present day in which more than 100 million people have traveled to space with IMAX.

BIOGRAPHY
Born and raised in Toronto, Canada, TONI MYERS is a veteran IMAX^® filmmaker, credited in more than 18 IMAX films spanning a multi-faceted career of over 40 years.  She was editor and writer of  IMAX’s groundbreaking space trilogy: THE DREAM IS ALIVE, BLUE PLANET, and DESTINY IN SPACE.  With the advent of IMAX^®3D, Myers wrote, edited, and co-produced the award-winning DEEP SEA3D, and UNDER THE SEA3D with Howard and Michele Hall.  She was Producer/Director/Writer/Editor of SPACE STATION3D, and HUBBLE3D, each awarded Best Film by the Giant Screen Cinema Association, and among the most successful IMAX documentaries ever made.

Myers has enjoyed a long and productive association with NASA as a key member of the IMAX team that has trained 145 astronauts and cosmonauts in IMAX film making for 24 missions flown over 25 years.  She has worked closely with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Space Telescope Science Institute, and the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois, marrying data from space-based observatories with pioneering computer techniques to allow audiences of all ages to explore the wonders of the cosmos in IMAX.  To date, over 100 million people have seen the IMAX space films worldwide.

In addition to her IMAX work, Myers has many television drama and feature films to her credit, including pioneering music films with John Lennon and Yoko Ono, and Santana.

Her music skills were later utilized as Associate Producer and Supervising Editor on the IMAX film ROLLING STONES AT THE MAX.