least 2000. Special effects usage In 1975, a small group of artists and technicians (including Richard Edlund who was to receive two Academy Awards for his work) revived the long-dormant format to create the special effects shots for George Lucas's space epic Star Wars. A retooled VistaVision camera dubbed the Dykstraflex (named for special effects master John Dykstra) was used by the group (later called Industrial Light & Magic) in complex process shots. For more than two decades after this, VistaVision was often used as an originating and intermediate format for shooting special effects since a larger negative area compensates against the increased grain created when shots are optically composited. By the early 21st century, computer-generated imagery, advanced film scanning, digital intermediate methods and film stocks with higher resolutions optimized for special effects work had together rendered VistaVision mostly obsolete even for special effects work. Nevertheless, in 2008, ILM was still using the format in some production steps, such as for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and a VistaVision camera was used in the semi-trailer flip scene in The Dark Knight when there were not enough IMAX cameras to cover all the angles needed for the shot. More recently, certain key sequences of the film Inception were shot in VistaVision, and in the film Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, shots that needed to be optically enlarged were shot in VistaVision. Technical specifications VistaVision (8/35) spherical lenses, usually adapted and re-mounted Leica full-frame Rangefinder™ camera lenses; SOM Berthiot made a special zoom just for VistaVision applications, but it saw very little use. 8 perforations per frame. horizontal pulldown, from right to left (viewed from emulsion side). slightly less depth of field than vertical pulldown 35 mm. camera aperture: 1.485 inches (37.72 mm) by 0.981 inches (24.92 mm). Films shot in VistaVision White Christmas was the first Paramount film to utilize the VistaVision method, but perhaps the most well-known film to be shot completely on VistaVision is Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo. Legacy The camera numbered VistaVision #1, used on Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments, films by Alfred Hitchcock, and others, was offered at auction on September 30, 2015, by Profiles in History with an estimated value of US$30,000 to $50,000, with a winning bid of US$65,000. Also offered at the same auction was VistaVision High Speed #1 (VVHS1), which was used to film the parting of the Red