American Cinematographer - February 1984 - 61

would be impossible to control
out of doors and a special stage
would have to be built to contain
it. Such an expense could not be

justified within the parameters of a
realistic budget.
It was agreed, then, that
the only practical solution would
be

to

simulate the effects in

water.

the desired effect was a column of
laminar rings, i.e., layers lying over

layers.
The crucial device to be
constructed was a cylinder and

piston for firing dye into the water.
A six-inch cylinder originally was
considered sufficiently large for
the job and it was constructed for
with

Aquarium effects occasionally are
menacing storm clouds. Karl

300-gallon tank. The
largest laminar ring generator

Brown created a tornado in
for RKO in 1930, and the

tank

which had been built for labora¬

locust
plague of The Good Earth (1937)
was staged in a tank by Arnold
Gillespie. Wally Gentleman, BSC,
created spatial cataclysms for the

tory experiments previously was a
one-inch model. After some ex¬

a

use

a

Canadian film, Universe, with

perimentation, it was conceded
that a still larger cylinder would be
necessary to get the scale that was
needed. The second cylinder was

close-up photography of chemi¬
cals placed in water. The first
made-in-Hollywood atomic blast,

inches in diameter and the tank
held 750 gallons.
"After four months of

for the black-and-white The Be¬

14-hour days, the big tank was
ready for assembling and testing,"
Producer Nancy Rushlow said. "It
was a collaborative thing and suc¬

the End?
Gillespie in a tank.

ginning

or

was

"We decided

made by

bring in
engineer with a fluid dynamics
background to advise us," said
Larry Stevens, who built the de¬
to

10

an

cessful from the start."

vices in which the effects would be

Basically, the method of
producing the mushroom clouds
was a six step operation. Initially,

the cylinder was closed tightly by a
sliding door so that no dye could
pollute the water before shooting
started. Then the piston was
drawn back, letting dye into the
cylinder. After allowing the dye to
mix with the liquid inside the cyl¬
inder, the door was opened. Then
the main piston was fired, pushing
into the tank a globular mass of
red liquid which would become
the mushroom cloud. More dye
was next fired from jets in the cen¬
ter of the cylinder to form the

Contrails

were

in

using the

a

tank

madt

device shown at left
Frame

enlargements

of the final

composites in which
familiar Kansas
locations

are

utilized

with the contrails.

of the mushroom. It was es¬
sential that the stem and the cloud
be made in separate stages, not
stem

only because of the

structure of
the mushroom but because differ¬
ent colors of dye were necessary
to each operation.
The "explosions" filmed
in the smaller tank were fired from
the bottom. The larger tank was
built with the cylinder-piston de¬
vice on top and the mushrooms
blossomed upside down. Most of
the shots were taken at 120

fps

-

five times normal cranking

created. Daniel Nosenchuck, PhD,
a Cal Tech graduate who teaches
at

Princeton, proved to be

able

source

a

valu¬

of information, ex¬

plaining that the phenomenon
they would have to produce to get

A matte

painting by

Jenna Holman
before and after it
was

composited with

live action elements.

59
American Cinematographer - February 1984

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