FEATURE UNDERWATER FILMING
BBC’s Clare Pizey, her moment of inspiration came when she was standing next to a much larger body of water. The head of factual enter- tainment was desperately looking for “unmissable” content for this year’s Sport Relief fundraising event; the struggle was to come up with an alternative take on Strictly Come Dancing that would create a “water-cooler” moment. “Strictly has been fantastic over the years but it’s already got celeb- rities, so it can be hard to make it stand out,” says Pizey. It was during a BBC Academy Visionary Leadership course tour of Pinewood and the facility’s under- water stage that she came up with the idea of shooting Strictly under- water. After receiving assurances that it could be done – for a price – a production team was assembled and former BBC cameraman-turned- underwater director of photography Mike Valentine was recruited. “The underwater world has high
production values,” explains Valen- tine, who is used to dealing with sub- merged stars, having worked on the Bourne franchise, a host of Bond films
IN AT THE DEEP END A
rchimedes had his eureka moment in the bath. For the
and TV series including Doctor Who, EastEnders and New Tricks. “It’s my job to make the underwater world look exciting, dangerous and real.” Harry Judd, the winner of the
2011 series of Strictly, together with runner-up Chelsee Healey and their professional dance partners, swapped the confines of Television Centre’s TC1 for the depths of Pine- wood’s U stage. Over the course of a week, a 20 ft stage was built, com- plete with lighting rig and speakers, culminating in a day spent shooting the dance-off.
The kit Valentine shot Strictly Underwater with an Arri Alexa Plus, which he had started using just over six months previously. Since purchasing a Plus, he has also bought an Alexa Studio. “It’s not just the image quality but the ethos of the camera system that appeals to me. I don’t dislike the Red but the camera was prone to overheating and it uses more power than the Alexa. “The kit reflects you and is an
extension of you so it’s got to work. As an end user, I have to be able to offer a reliable solution. If you are making short films, the Red is fine,
Shooting underwater brings an element of danger and excitement to the screen – but creates complications for production teams. George Bevir looks at the challenges presented by two very different productions
but this is showbusiness, and time is the most valuable asset. No one can afford to have actors standing around when they shouldn’t be because the kit isn’t working.” Valentine says that with the cam-
‘It’s my job to make the underwater world look exciting, dangerous
and real Mike Valentine
era’s LUT, he is able to dial in the look he wants so that the production team on the set can see the effect he is striving for. The codex recorder for the Alexa also fits in the camera’s underwater housing so he can record RAW footage at up to 60fps. “Together with the workflow of
the Arri, I like having the support of an established company. When I was filming 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea with the Arri 35-3, there was a fire in the underwater housing, but Arri managed to get me a new cam- era within 24 hours.” Valentine designed and built the
Kino Flo lights: adapted by Valentine for use underwater
underwater camera housing he uses, which can accommodate an Arri 435, Alexa or a Red camera. “It’s essential to be able to do everything under- water that you can do on the surface, and it must be easy to move the camera through the water,” he says. “By using a digital cable from the surface, the focus puller can control the aperture and focus. The video output means footage can be viewed on the surface and we can also run underwater playback so the actors can see the take without going up to the surface.” Valentine compares working
underwater to shooting in a smoke- filled room. “You have to get in closer to the subject and we use a wider-angle lens than on the surface. The optical viewing system is really important, and I use a dome port to remove the distortion of a wide- angle lens. For Strictly, the lenses I
36 | Broadcast TECH | March/April 2012
www.broadcastnow.co.uk/techfacils
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