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CineFilm News
Lone Wolf’s Titanic Docks at Cinefilm |
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Just how did the “unsinkable” Titanic meet its fate? New secrets have surfaced in one of history’s greatest disasters in a fascinating new HD special produced by On the Bottom Productions and Lone Wolf Documentary Group entitled Titanic’s Final Moments: Missing Pieces. The human drama and scientific mysteries of that night have haunted us for decades and several theories about the sinking have emerged since its discovery in 1985. In this two-hour special that airs on the History Channel this month, viewers will follow a team of explorers as they uncover previously unexplored wreckage from the hull, shedding new light on her breakup and sinking. The production began with principle HD photography in the depths of the North Atlantic, with the post based at Lone Wolf’s facility in South Portland, Maine, and ended with final color correction at Cinefilm in Atlanta.
The on-camera hosts and expedition leaders for this unique program are John Chatterton and Richie Kohler. Viewers will be familiar with them from another Lone Wolf series, Deep Sea Detectives, in its fifth season on the History Channel. “The scope and technical complexity of this expedition was beyond anything that we had ever attempted on Detectives,” explains Jed Rauscher, Co-Producer and Editor, “and we decided early on to shoot and master in high-def. When you are two days from the closest land and 2.5 miles below the surface of the Atlantic, you only have one chance to get it right.” And that they did.
Pre-production began in July and August of 2005 followed by eight days at sea on the Russian scientific vessel A. M. Keldysh, home of the MIR submersibles. Four dives were planned, but a storm at sea cut short their mission and only three were attempted. The goal was to find evidence to support a new hypothesis on why the Titanic sank so fast, and the team was surprised when this lead to even more startling discoveries. “Aside from the technical aspects of filming at such depths, one of the production challenges was integrating several media into a cohesive look,” Rauscher continues. “We used the HDCam 24p cameras provided by the Advanced Imaging and Visualization Lab at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution to record all the underwater footage, and small DV ‘lipstick’ cameras to record the crew inside the submersibles. Topside, we employed the new Sony HDV 1080i cameras for interviews and action shots. To that we added historic 16mm footage, archival news footage shot on BetaSP, CGI models of the Titanic’s impact, and dramatic re-enactments. We input all our material at 1080i, 59.94 into an Avid Adrenaline HD system for the edit and final output to DVCProHD.”
“The challenge for Cinefilm was to weave this ‘patchwork quilt’ of sources into a seamless visual tapestry,” Rauscher adds with a wry smile. “It may sound odd that a company from Maine would travel to Atlanta for color correction, but we’ve had a long relationship of trust with Ron.” Senior Colorist Ron Anderson took the DVCProHD master, using the daVinci 2K with Colorist Toolbox, and worked with Jed on creating the look and moods he wanted. “The murky waters on the ocean floors tended to absorb the colors of the wreck,” notes Anderson, “so we were able to enhance the contrasts and restore the dynamic range of what is a very colorful algae-and-rust-covered hull. Jed had some dramatic re-enactments of passengers trapped in the waters that night that were shot at a local pool, believe it or not. We created a ‘day for night’ look and added an ethereal ‘glow’ to the people that added a haunting, dream-like tone of realism.”
In addition to the more artistic enhancements to certain scenes, Anderson had to balance the look of dives that took place on different days, under different light conditions and white-balances to maintain continuity when intercut. “Overall our goal was to create more of a ‘cinematic feel’ as a TV special rather than a flat documentary tone, remarked Anderson, “Aside from our color work, which should go un-noticed, I think the viewers will be stunned as I was at the quality and drama of this incredible footage. The story behind this expedition and the historical revelations of the human drama it depicts, not to mention the mysteries it uncovers are fascinating. Cinefilm was excited to be a part of it.”
Lone Wolf created the special in high-def although initial showings for the History Channel will be in standard def. Executives there are thrilled with the look and feel of the HD special as will be viewers beginning the last week of February. We will all see the Titanic, as only the History Channel …and Lone Wolf, can present it. |
This HD hull shot from the History Channel 2-hour special shows the challenge of color correction in the murky depths of the ocean floor. Cinefilm colorist Ron Anderson was able to bring out the amber hues of the algae and corrosions using the daVinci 2K suite. |
