From islands in the Pacific to the coastline of Alaska;
and from the Magellan Straits to the Red Sea, giant screen audiences have
toured the world's oceans through the lens of MacGillivray Freeman Films. At
least one-third of their nearly two-dozen large-format films contain sequences
on or in the ocean.
For Dolphins and
their other underwater film projects, MacGillivray Freeman mounted the
large-format camera on boat bows, sterns and masts. Film teams also mount
cameras on the front of "scooters," torpedo-shaped vehicles steered
by a camera operator. The scooters, which travel about three miles per hour,
are narrow, so the camera can move through tighter spaces and get closer to the
surface of reefs, giving audiences the feeling that they're "soaring"
through the water environment. Most of the underwater camera movement in any
one film, however, is accomplished by the cinematographer himself. And to the
cinematographer and his crew, the large-format camera is affectionately named,
"the pig."
Large-format cameras weigh 100 pounds. Filming underwater
adds another 150 pounds for the camera's waterproof housing. True, filming
underwater lightens the load, but the sheer bulk of the camera makes it very
difficult to maneuver. Size generates momentum and currents and waves buffet
the camera, making it harder to control than smaller cameras.
The film magazines, which each weigh 10 pounds, contain
only three minutes of film. Greg MacGillivray, the Producer/Director ofDolphins, chose to film several of the
underwater sequences in slow motion to capture the beauty of dolphin physiology
and movement. This actually speeds up the film going through the camera.
Instead of 24 frames per second, the film charges through the camera at 48
frames per second. A three-minute film magazine now yields just 90 seconds of
action.
Those logistical nightmares are present no matter where a
large-format cinematographer is shooting. Dolphins complicate everything.
MacGillivray Freeman cinematographer and technology director Brad Ohlund says,
"Dolphins are fast-moving, elusive animals. Filming them means you're in a
situation that requires rapid deployment of the camera." Normally,
large-format cinematographers use winches to get the 250-pound camera in and
out of the water, but a winch is too slow for dolphin photography, so the film
team built ramps on the boats to push the camera into the water.
One of the most memorable moments for cinematographer Bob
Talbot was not when he photographed a beautifully poised dolphin in dramatic
lighting; it was when the camera and housing slid down the boat transom, into
the water, narrowly missing the waiting cinematographer's head! "I could
only think...wow, wouldn't that have been a classic way for me to go," he
later joked (much later).
Another challenge for the underwater film team in the
Bahamas was to be in clear water with cloudless skies so there would be enough
light for the scene. "We were jumping in holes between clouds,"
described Talbot. Fortunately, most of the cinematography for the film occurred
within 30 feet of the ocean's surface. Because natural lighting extends to
those depths, artificial lighting was not necessary. Dolphins would be
virtually impossible to track with light beams anyway, as their movement
through the water is quick and unpredictable.
Off the coast of Argentina, another experienced
underwater cinematographer, Paul Atkins and his sound recordist, producer and
wife Grace Atkins, declared a new-found respect for the large-format underwater
camera: Miss Piggy. "Filming in the large-format is dramatically different
than 16mm or 35mm," shared Grace. "The bulkiness of the format
requires more than twice the cases and equipment than the smaller film formats.
When you're traveling to remote locations and filming underwater, the details
of the shoot become mind-numbing."
After searching twelve hours each day for wild dolphins,
and battling "Miss Piggy" in 90-second increments, the crew then
spends four or more hours each evening cleaning the salt and sand off of all of
the equipment to prepare for the next day. Film teams followed this routine for
four weeks at each location in the film. They'll all say it's worthwhile. Each
underwater cinematographer knows that their exquisitely beautiful images will
appear on the biggest screens in the world, immersing audiences in an
environment that these cinematographers love, want to share, and have dedicated
their lives to help preserve.
