American Cinematographer - May 1993 - 32

Eii

anywhere from 150 frames down to
six. "When you shoot a moving
object in water, it takes on a differ¬
ent perspective at six frames than it
does at 150/' he notes. "I like com¬
binations. I like to take something
that happened in one second of
time and turn it into 20 seconds. I
love those kind of shots - some¬

thing your eye would never see be¬
cause it
happened so fast, a height¬
ened awareness." Taking the eye
where it's never been is the key as¬
pect of de Lespinois' style as a film¬
maker.

Christiaansen,

whose

practiced eye has lit many a car
spot, has his own approach to
lenses: bring everything you can,
because you never know what you
might want. "You have to set your¬
self up in order to maximize your
opportunities," he advises. "And
when you're off the coast of Bimini
with

clouds and

no

matter what you

no

wind,

planned

or

no

dis¬

for the first time. Two un¬
derwater safety housings were
built in the Bahamas so the camera
camera

could shoot the interface between
the sea and air, and "dive" several
hundred feet down to look up at
the jet skis as they passed through
the water. The tiny
mounted on a boom

250u
SEPAR

Available
with Magnetic
or

Square

Wave

Ballast

it's a 16mm unit

advantage. "We'd use it for
blasts of action here and there,"
Christiaansen says. Since the 7245
stock in bright daylight makes all of
the optics as sharp as optics can be,
the

perfect negative intercut
seamlessly with the 35mm. "And
besides," he adds, "the spot was
going to air on television."

Despite the physical risk
"Kawabunga's" locations pre¬

sented,

no

actual calamities befell

times

cameras.

ful in his choice of tools and inno¬
use of them. His work
in 16mm brought him into contact
with the high-speed (up to 200

vative in his

frames) Photosonics 1-VN, the di¬
minutive, military-designed wingmount

camera.

"It could have been

nightmare working with different
crews and
equipment in each area,"
a

Christiaansen admits. "But it actu¬

ally turned out to be one of the in¬
teresting aspects of the job." So did

ers,

though, when de Lespinois,

who has shot several TV specials on

sharks, told his colleagues that the
waters in back of Bimini

were

shark-infested. "One night at din¬
ner I mentioned that
you can some¬
many as 1,000 sharks
mating there," the director says.
Once he'd planted the seed, every¬
thing that moved in the water be¬
see as

shark. The fear

came a

was

espe¬

cially significant for the "focal point
people." When the director pre¬
pared to shoot the speeding skis, he
put crew members in a line in the
water as focal points for the camera
lens. When the camera operator
looked through the viewfinder and

thought he saw a fin, eight panicstricken PAs made a mass exit to
the shore; the "fin" turned out to be
a

rock.

"They were New Yorkers,"

"proved to be a handy little device"

laughs de Lespinois. "They'll walk
down 42nd Street at night with all

despite the fact that it does have

the confidence in the world, but ask

some

limitations in terms of main¬

stream feature

3500 West Magnolia Boulevard

(818) 843-4560

that

different

the Photosonics 1-VN, which

Burbank, California 91505

turned out to be

the cameras or crew members. Fear
lurked in the hearts of the filmmak¬

Lespinois' background
in sports and high-adventure
shooting taught him to be resource¬

The One They
Ask For By Name

-

an

certainly ready on the "Kawabunga" shoot. "I brought every¬
thing, including the kitchen sink,"
he explains. The 1-VN only used Cmount lenses, and his only concern
about the wide range of 35mm
lenses he'd brought was that they
be interchangeable on all five of the
De

IT
SILVER
BULLET

was

in the

splash housing, on the skis and the
cycle, "which provided a heck of a
lot of flexibility in terms of perspec¬
tive and gave me a whole new way
to get into tight spots and move as
fast as the flip of a hand." The 1VN's only drawback-the fact that

cussed with the director, there's al¬

ways an opportunity that you have
to be ready for." Christiaansen was

1-VN
arm

Christiaansen

was

work¬

ing with the double-pin registered

in CA (800) 692-6700
Nationwide (800) 325-7674

May 1993

them to sit in the water for
minutes and

shooting.

death!"

a

few

they're scared to
▲
American Cinematographer - May 1993

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