American Cinematographer - June 2004 - 64

Taking on Water
Right: Actor Kurt
Russell (as hero
Robert Ramsey)
provides a bit of

practical
lighting as he
and his costars

endure the

rising tide.
Keeping the
water warm,

chlorinated and
clean

was a

priority
throughout the
production, but
after weeks of

being
submerged, the
flooded sets

began to
deteriorate and
mold became

an

issue. Below: A

HydroFlex unit
into play

comes

for

a sequence
in which the

survivors must
swim for their

lives.

I'd tell them, 'Even

of the picture, which we go even
further with in the third act, to the

ment.

calling out to the
operators on the radio, 'Handheld,
handheld, handheld!' They may
have been on tripods and sliders, but

because you

act

point where I

was

I wanted that 'handheld' energy.

also wanted them to

zoom

in

I

or out

depending on how the action
played. A zoom can be hidden so
easily within a little panning move¬

didn't need

to zoom,

if you

pan anyway,

don't know what's
going to happen!"'
After seeing this footage cut
together, Seale was pleased with the
visual energy this approach brought
to

the film. "Of course, the A camera

was

always the safest shot, generally

the 'wide' shot,

so it's often the first
used, maybe just two or three sec¬

onds in

a

scene,

but the rest works

beautifully. The A

camera

is the fall¬

back."

Seale's team of operators -
Gold, Greg Smith, Maurice

Dan

McGuire and several

day players

achieved the look he

was

he

credits

also

1st

-

after, and

ACs

Brad

Peterman, Mike Endler and Jay
Peterman with ensuring the roving
lenses

stayed in focus. "We were just
flying, and when you're driving
across a room into a close-up at
270mm

marks

sets are

who has

no

for much of the film,

our

on

-

an

actor

underwater, with bodies and

junk floating around - you need to
have a reliable hand pulling focus.
And they performed brilliantly. They
should win technical Academy
Awards, those boys."
Asked what kind of chance he

his 1st ACs by building up a
Seale chuckles slight¬
ly and replies, "Almost none."
Shooting in Super 35mm on Kodak
Vision2 500T 5218, the cinematog¬
rapher tried to establish at least a
gave

solid base stop,

T2.8,

but

not

much

more.

"Anamorphic would have been
much

too

slow

-

a

T4.5

was not

going to happen. I also had to have
60 June 2006



American Cinematographer - June 2004

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