American Cinematographer - July 2012 - 26

The crew prepares for the setup as Silver (right) coordinates logistics.

they were open to chroma-key work onstage for sound-recording considerations. However, we all agreed that the best visual outcome would be achieved by going out on a night location. Fortunately, the producers shared my concern about the actors seeing into the darkness of the water, and they remained open to any and all ideas of lighting techniques. I pursued my vision, guided by the memory of those full-moon summer nights and my rough storyboard ideas. After reviewing the storyboards with the director, we decided the scene coverage would be mastered both from the house view to the ocean and looking back at the house — with four cameras rolling on each direction for the dialogue. There would be a separate setup that would carry Jon to the ocean and film him swimming in the moonlight. I knew I needed to create the illusion of the full moon, and that it needed to be framed low in the sky, directly above the horizon. I booked a barge from Long Beach that had been used on Pirates of the Caribbean and planned to load a Bebee Night Light on it as our moonlight source. Because there was a limit as to how close the barge would be able to anchor offshore, I also researched the possibility of tethering Sourcemaker’s 10'x26' tube light to a ship. I noted that the weather forecast called for higher winds and a chance of rain. The rest of my research yielded little information. I decided to cancel the barge and Bebee light and book the Sourcemaker
26 July 2012

balloon and two boats, one to fly the balloon and the other to accommodate a tag line in case the wind wouldn’t allow the balloon to stay still in the night sky. The idea was to accept the boat and balloon in the frame and paint them out later, leaving in their place the reflection for a digitally created moon. In addition, I ordered a 160' Champion crane so we’d have something rigid to project from the beach if the wind came up and the balloon was a bust. The crane was reportedly able to reach 40' from where it stood; this would allow us to stretch it out over the water and shoot lights from the ocean side back at us. Leading up to the shoot, I checked the winds on Windfinder.com several times a day. At night, after very long days, I would go down to the beach and test the accuracy of the Windfinder website. I knew I might have to pull the plug at any time, cancel some of the gear I’d ordered and adjust the plan. Two days before the Malibu shoot, the weather took a promising turn. Wind reports alluded to possible low winds for a few hours during our shoot. I crossed my fingers and told production to confirm all of the equipment. When I arrived at our location, the crane was at full extension out over the ocean, and I immediately saw that the arm was about 50' too short to do the job as we’d conceived it. Fortunately, I had a contingency plan: the crane would act as our background moonlight source, projectAmerican Cinematographer

ing down the beach in both directions. For the purposes of our setup, it worked perfectly. I then turned my attention to the balloon on the boat. I asked the boat crew how close they could get to the shore because at that point, they seemed way out in the ocean. We got them in as close as possible and had them anchor up. It was still light out, and we were waiting for the wind to drop down. Whether our moonlight was going to be effective was still a question. Around 5 p.m., clouds began gathering far out at sea. The winds died down, and I instructed the techs on the boat to begin inflating the balloon, which required 13 tanks of helium and about an hour to become fully filled. I could tell before the balloon was filled that the effect would be successful. The wind cooperated and held still. Within two hours, the shoot was finished, and the producers were satisfied and on their way home. I drove home late and woke early the next morning. That was one of the most interesting weeks of my career.

TECHNICAL SPECS
1.78:1 35mm Panaflex Gold II Panavision Primo Kodak Vision2 500T 5218

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http://www.Windfinder.com

American Cinematographer - July 2012

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