American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 18
Production Slate
I
Dangerous Waters
By Mark Dillon
Director Jaume Collet-Serra and cinematographer Flavio Labiano have their nets cast for summer moviegoers with the sharkthemed feature The Shallows, an aquatic nail-biter sure to make
ocean bathers think twice before going even ankle-deep in the
water. The thriller stars Blake Lively as Nancy, a Texas surfer on safari
in Mexico. Her idyllic trip takes a terrifying turn, however, when a
great white shark attacks her and a couple of fellow surfers at an
isolated beach. She ends up stranded on a rock 200 yards from
shore, with the determined shark circling her as the tide rises.
Longtime collaborators on commercials, Collet-Serra and
fellow Spaniard Labiano previously teamed on the soccer drama Goal
II: Living the Dream and the Liam Neeson action movies Unknown
and Non-Stop. "There's a chemistry between Jaume and me that
works," Labiano tells AC from Spain, where he is shooting the crime
drama El Guardián Invisible with director Fernando González Molina.
"Jaume is very respectful and smart. He listens and he's a hard
worker, and together we try to reach a different goal in every movie."
Whenever a great white is involved, comparisons to Jaws
(shot by Bill Butler, ASC; AC March '75) are inevitable, but the film18
July 2016
makers downplay any resemblance. "Jaws is not only the best shark
movie, but one of the best movies, period," Collet-Serra says. "Our
movie is a mostly one-character, one-location, survivalist thriller in
which we want to capture reality."
Regarding the decision to employ CG for The Shallows'
deadly creature, Labiano notes, "We couldn't have done it with a
mechanical shark. We were on a tight [40-day] schedule and
couldn't wait on mechanics. For most of the time, Blake was the only
actor onscreen; she's in nearly every shot in this difficult situation
with the water and waves and rocks. That was enough to put up
with."
The art department, headed by production designer Hugh
Bateup, created a shark sculpture as the basis for the digital creature
that was ultimately produced by Sweden's Important Looking Pirates
(ILP), who had impressed the filmmakers with the sharks they'd
provided for Kon-Tiki (shot by Geir Hartly Andreassen, FSF). Due to
the tight turnaround for an estimated 1,100 visual-effects shots, ILP
shared the animation load with Scanline VFX.
The production did use partial shark models to give Lively
something to react to and to create ripples in the water. "It takes a
lot of time for a visual-effects house to calculate and generate water
displacement, so they asked us to provide as many live elements as
American Cinematographer
The Shallows photos by Vince Valitutti, courtesy of Sony Pictures Entertainment.
Stalked by a
great white
shark, Nancy
(Blake Lively) is
stranded just
offshore in
the thriller
The Shallows.
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - July 2016
Contents
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - Intro
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - Cover1
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - Cover2
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 1
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 2
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 3
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 4
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - Contents
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 6
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 7
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 8
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 9
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 10
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 11
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American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 14
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 15
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American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 17
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 18
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 19
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 20
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 21
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American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 27
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American Cinematographer - July 2016 - Cover3
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - Cover4
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