American Cinematographer - August 1987 - 82

sake of art," Benchley said, using the
refrain that had become his comic trade¬
mark during the trip.

Benchley is

no stranger to
documentaries. He has

adventure

hosted many Sportsman segments, and
other shows, while penning books and
movie scripts that focus on conservation
and the sea. In the small world of
underwater adventure filmmaking, Wa¬
and Benchley have become com¬

terman

panions: they
traditional

live

are

east coast

near one

both products of
upbringings; they

another in Princeton, NJ;

and
that

they look enough alike from behind
cameramen seeking cut-aways with
Benchley underwater are always happy
to have two options, as long as they
can keep Waterman's camera out of
frame.
"I don't know

a trip where
sharks in one
place, just buzzing us one after the
other," Waterman said to Benchley.
"It's the kind of diving that ages young

we've

Above: Howard Hall,

boots,

assisted

fraternity

by Stan

Waterman, shoots
cutaways of still
photographer
Humann using an
underwater Betacam

system. Below:
Moray eels beneath
the

sea.

or

seen

so

many

fins. Predictably enough, this

- quasi-SWAT teams who
scaled mountains, ran rivers, and glided
over forest canopies - was much

sought after by television and movie
producers. (Waterman's camera work
on the groundbreaking 1968 film Blue
Water, White Death led to countless
television

assignments and a co-director
photography credit on The Deep.)
The crews brought the pos¬
sibility of sports action and location
sync - in short, a greater immediacy of
experience - to the more traditional nat¬
ural history formats of television. For
years the major domestic showcases for
this sort of programming were Disney
adventure shows, National Geographic
Specials, and ABC's "The American
Sportsman," which moved away from
its traditional menu of hunting and fish¬
ing in the mid-1970s, claiming a num¬

of

ber of achievements in adventure
television before going off the air in
1984. The year before, Sportsman had
aired the first video transmission from

the 29,028 ft. summit of Mt. Everest,

80

7/.

■

interesting irony: the electronic Everest

fellows like

off his glasses and stared at
with mock indignation.

there had to have been 30

had received the

Emmy Award for Out¬
standing Sports Series for four consecu¬

on

tive

other

years), the coincidence forged an

American

Cinematographer

friend,

and Jaws author,

Peter

Benchley, who was hosting the Ga¬
lapagos show, and said, "Now Peter,
us,

or

40 sharks

wouldn't you agree?"

Benchley nodded. "Just an¬
day risking life and limb for the

August 1987

Human

byPPhaoutl

show still stands as the most remark¬
able television achievement in Sports¬
man's 20-year "film" library.
Waterman pulled on his pipe
and stared at the sharks in the video
monitor. He turned to his longtime

using the Panasonic half-inch Recam
system. Though the broadcast and the
subsequent cancellation of the series
were in no way connected (the show

bSBPlhoaytn

you." Benchley, 46, took
Waterman

For this project, we were
using the Sony Betacam system to pro¬
duce the first underwater tape show on
the marine life of the Galapagos Is¬
lands, located on the equator, 600
miles

west

of South America.

"The

thing that impresses me," Waterman
said, "is that you can get acceptable
footage in all sorts of light. So, effec¬
tively, you lengthen your shooting day
by a couple of hours over film, and you
can go almost til dusk."
American Cinematographer - August 1987

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - August 1987
