Rolling Stones: Live at the Max was the first feature-length film ever to be filmed in
IMAX format. Imaging fed to the jumbotrons at concerts came from trucks where switching equipment was used to control live feeds from an army of video cameras. Midway through post-production, the request came to use some of this video that had been recorded on 3/4" tape in the final IMAX film. This required a series of tests to improve the fidelity of this video footage so that it could be mixed in with the footage captured on IMAX 70 mm film without a significant drop in quality. Test negatives were processed in
New York and prints were returned to Toronto for screening at the IMAX theatre at
Ontario Place. After many tries, a process was created to improve the video enough to be used. The final release included approximately 6 minutes of this footage. Originally shot with 8 IMAX cameras outfitted with the first long load film magazines, 5 concerts were recorded in 3 cities. The band's repertoire was so extensive and the setlist so variable that it was impossible to ensure that every song would be played in every show, despite the large number of magazines and the difficulty of loading them. Trying to cut the film on a traditional flatbed editor proved impossible, so an Edit Droid, an early digital non-linear editing system developed, and custom configured by
Lucasfilm, was used. 35mm work prints were assembled, transferred to video, and recorded to laser video discs that the Edit Droid could work from. The 8-headed Droid could load all databases and imaging for a single song in all concert locations. The editors could jump to any point in a song, see what was available (or not), and then jump to the same spot in all subsequent concerts. == Home video ==