American Cinematographer - June 2003 - 28

Director of

being pulled by a fishing boat." The
whale descends, then resurfaces, and
was

photography
Leon

Narbey

on

close-up of Pai. Dripping wet,

we see a

location in New

Zealand.

she looks toward the heavens before the

whale descends

again. "We were really

worried when the time

shots, because it
and

came

was

sunny,"

to do those

suddenly bright
"We couldn't
days for over¬

says Narbey.
afford to wait another few

shot the scene anyway.
bright, sunny moment
matched the emotion, which was a sort
cast

skies,

so we

We felt that the

of ecclesiastical transcendence."

Another

tough shot appears in
which shows a
large "waka" (canoe) gliding through the

the film's final sequence,
water with

the others, climbs atop the lead whale's
back and kicks it gently. With Pai still on

top, the creature turns and heads for the
open sea, silently calling to the other
whales to follow.
To help stage the sequence,
production designer Grant Major and
modelmaker
Justin
Buckingham

crane

to the deck."

used

an enormous

constructed whale models made of

"logskidder" in local parlance. With its 5'high wheels in the waves, the tractor
frequently sank into the sand along with
the trailer, requiring the crew to reposi¬
tion the vehicle and start again. Often, the

malleable rubber. After
with different

experimenting
lighting, Narbey deter¬

mined that the models looked most real¬
istic

overcast day. Scheduling
juggling act for first AD Liz Tan;
every time the weather turned gray, the
on

became

cast

an

a

and

crew

complete the

would

attempt to

For these scenes, the camera was

remote head is unusual in that it has a

tripod

pan

handle,

like I would
of

so I can

operate it just

a camera on a

tripod. Instead

a camera,

I have

a

small monitor

on

top of the tripod."
The question was how to get
over-the-shoulder

To

position the trailer, the

crew

tractor, known as a

lifted the entire trailer. "I'd shout

angles of the girl on
the whale and still get the sense of the
waves and the beach surrounding her.
"Initially, I thought the only way to do
this was to get a large, floating barge,
but motorizing it and anchoring it in the

and

Pai, Koro and 40

oarsmen

sitting in it. The camera was
crane, which was balanced
on a small boat that was moving parallel
to the waka. "We started out just ahead
of the waka, then slowed down enough
to let it come into shot," Narbey details.
"We must have been going about 15 or
20 miles per hour. The camera was
above the rowing, looking down.
Although I had control of the zooming
and framing, Kevin was operating the
crane. The camera came down parallel
on

women

the

Foxy

to Keisha and Rawiri and zoomed in on

them. For

moment we held

swing it around, which allowed us to
relatively mobile shots in fairly deep
water," recalls Narbey. "The moment the

parallel to
maintaining a kind of rhythm
together. Then the camera boat slowed
down, allowing the waka to overtake us.
As I pivoted on Keisha and did a 180

whale started to

around the back of the canoe, the crane

waves

at Kevin to raise or lower the crane, or

he'd

do

sequence.

usually on a small Foxy Panther operated
by key grip Kevin Donovan. Flexible and
relatively lightweight, the Panther can
rise to a height of 23' with a Filmech
remote head. The Filmech's designer,
grip Brian Harris, has worked with
Narbey over the years, and helped with
these setups. Narbey explains, "The

24 June 2003

would have been

impossible,"
Narbey says. "Instead, Kevin suggested
using a large agricultural trailer with a
high deck. In the end, he modified a large
boat trailer and then secured the Foxy

waves

did

move

off the beach, we

counter move. Keisha was

sitting on
the whale's head, which had been
a

constructed [at full size] for the close-ups.
or 15 people in wetsuits rotated the

Ten

head

clockwise

while

the

a

the canoe,

up again, this time to its highest
point. Trying to hold the camera steady in
the midst of a rough swell was difficult."
Narbey has been shooting docu¬
rose

camera

mentaries and narrative films for close to

opposite direction,
her move a dynamism. I was
on a long lens, and focus puller Paul
Samuels did a fantastic job. We were
overcranking that footage at 48 fps; later

30 years, and also has directed docu¬
mentaries and features. But he felt a

editor David Coulson slowed it down

way out on

people," he reflects. "This film was
unique in that we were embraced by the
local Ngati Konohi people, who granted
us permission to share their story and to

harbor. "Grant

shoot in and beside locations that

counter-arced in the
which gave

on,

even more

with

The

an

scene

optical."
of Pai and the whale

the ocean was filmed in a
designed a small whale
back that was about 4 meters long by 3
meters wide," says Narbey. "It floated
and had rubbers and flaps underneath

that controlled its rate of descent while it

special
on

of

sense

of responsibility working

Whale Rider. "I have done
documentaries

sacred

with

a

number

the

Maori

are

places where the spirits of
incredibly
privileged to have worked on this story."
-

their ancestors reside. I felt

>-
American Cinematographer - June 2003

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