American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 43
Unit photography by David Lee, courtesy of Summit Entertainment.
Opposite: Mike
Williams (Mark
Wahlberg) fights
to survive aboard
a burning deepwater oil-drilling
rig in the feature
Deepwater
Horizon, based
on the events
that transpired
on the rig of the
same name in
2010. This page,
top, from left:
Don Vidrine (John
Malkovich),
Andrea Fleytas
(Gina Rodriguez),
Jimmy Harrell
(Kurt Russell) and
Williams stand on
the rig's bridge.
Bottom:
Cinematographer
Enrique Chediak,
ASC.
needs only," says Chediak. "Only for my
needs - one department. Imagine all
the other departments!"
Working with production
designer Chris Seagers, the team moved
everything they could to the ground,
with Chediak providing input on sun
orientation and myriad other details.
The original armature was outfitted like
a real oil rig up to the first level, which
included a functional helipad; that set,
surrounded by a water tank that held
more than 3 million gallons, was used
for all scenes in the sea looking back
toward the rig - during the final evacuation, for instance. The main deck was
a separate ground-level set, and the drill
floor was constructed 10' off the ground
to accommodate special-effects apparatus for the blowout. The bridges of
Deepwater Horizon and the supply
ship Damon B. Bankston were built in an
old grocery store turned stage, as were
the rig's living quarters.
Chediak and Berg wanted a
naturalistic, immersive film, one that
stayed close to its characters - especially electrical engineer Mike
Williams, played by Mark Wahlberg. "I
call it 'enhanced reality,'" says Chediak.
"You have to really feel the rig, the
people, the heat, the sweat - so it has
to be very naturalistic. If you start
making things too beautiful or cinematic, you lose the audience."
Ultimately, there was very little
location work - just five days at the
beginning of the 13-week shoot and
about that much at the end. Chediak
reports that the production shot one day
in the Louisiana city of Gretna for the
house of Andrea Fleytas (Gina
Rodriguez), "one day in Slidell for Mike
Williams' house, one day in Port
Fourchon for the beginning of the
movie, one day in Galliano for the helicopter terminal - and a day in the
www.theasc.com
Crowne Plaza [in Kenner, La.] for the
end scenes; this is the actual hotel were
they brought the crew of the Deepwater
Horizon after the disaster."
When first thinking about the
production's visual design, three things
came to Chediak's mind. "First of all,"
he says, "[I thought about] the fluorescent aspect of the beginning of the
movie - all the industrial light sources
these rigs have."
Second, the cinematographer
cites the black-and-white photos of
Kuwait's burning oil fields, taken by
Sebastião Salgado on assignment for
The New York Times Magazine in 1991,
October 2016
43
http://www.theasc.com
American Cinematographer - October 2016
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - October 2016
Contents
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - Intro
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - Cover1
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - Cover2
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 1
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 2
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - Contents
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 4
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 5
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 6
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 7
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 8
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 9
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 10
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 11
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 12
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 13
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 14
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 15
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 16
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 17
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 18
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 19
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 20
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 21
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 22
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 23
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 24
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 25
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 26
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 27
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 28
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 29
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 30
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 31
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 32
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 33
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 34
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 35
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 36
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 37
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 38
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 39
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 40
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 41
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 42
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 43
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 44
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 45
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 46
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 47
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 48
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 49
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 50
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 51
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 52
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 53
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 54
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 55
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 56
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 57
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 58
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 59
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 60
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 61
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 62
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 63
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 64
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 65
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 66
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 67
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 68
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 69
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 70
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 71
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 72
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 73
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 74
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 75
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 76
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 77
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 78
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 79
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 80
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 81
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 82
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 83
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 84
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 85
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 86
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 87
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 88
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - Cover3
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - Cover4
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