Skydiving Cinematography
by Tom Sanders, SOC
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Freefall cinematography really didn’t get started
until the 1960s, and has been considered a specialty talent in
the motion picture business ever since. But to get a full appreciation
on how it’s evolved, we should travel back two hundred years
in time to Paris when the first recorded jump took place.
The date was October 27, 1797. An intrepid
airman/con artist named Andre-Jacques Garnerin was making his
living traveling around the countryside with a hot air balloon
and had been charging people to watch him ascend in it. He evidently
had a track record of not being able to get airborne, and this
date was no exception. The public felt swindled and the police
arrested him, but released him after giving him an ultimatum.
Either get up in the balloon and give the people their money’s
worth, or go back to jail. He chose to go airborne.
He arrived at Park Monceau and took off at
5:28 PM. His tethered balloon rose to 700 meters, but caught
fire! Much of the crowd turned their heads fearing the worst,
but astonishingly enough our hero descended under his homemade
parachute. It was 10 meters in diameter with 36 lines suspending
him. His ride was very unstable and air spilled uncontrollably
around the skirt of the canopy. This being the first successful
working prototype, the relief hole in the center had not been
invented yet. Fortunately, he landed safely about a kilometer
north in the Plaine Monceau and returned to meet the crowd. Today
there is still an old plaque at the park commemorating the event.
Aviation matured, and our own Union Army would
jump from tethered hydrogen balloons during the Civil War in
the 1860s, and then out of airplanes during the first world war.
However, in those days, no one really jumped out of aircraft
for fun, let alone to have the presence of mind to take pretty
black and white pictures on the way down.
Fast forward to the 1960s. All of the parachutes
used were round and bought as military surplus. Packing them
was a chore and even then, only very strong individuals could
handle the immense weight of the parachute equipment and make
the jumps. Stability in freefall was a problem then, and surviving
the very hard landings without injury was not as common as it
is today. Jumping was a big enough challenge on it’s own and
there were few freefall photographers and fewer freefall cinematographers.
Video was not even an option for the skydiving cameramen until
the early ‘80s.
The first freefall events marking the style
of jumping, we call relative work, took place in the early ‘50s
in France and Canada. It started out where two jumpers would
maneuver close enough to pass a baton from one to the other.
In 1958, the first Americans, Charles Hillard and Steve Snyder,
accomplished this at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina. These maneuvers
marked the beginning of sport skydiving and were the first time
in its history where skydivers even got close enough to each
other to take pictures of one another. The baton pass is a tradition
still carried on today. For example, when the U.S. Army’s Golden
Knights perform exhibition jumps, they pass a baton and, upon
landing, present it to a celebrity at the event.
California has some unique reputations and
we’ve all heard of the saying Only In California. Well,
to some, skydiving may seem like an odd way to enjoy one’s self,
but here in California, there were several people who pioneered
the sport and its now taken very seriously world wide.
There were three main jump areas in the ‘60s,
which included Lake Elsinore, Taft, and Arvin. As the early skydivers
developed their skills, a friendly rivalry began between the
Arvin Good Guys and the Elsinore group. They both were striving
to build the first eight-person star, which is a circle of jumpers
holding hands. When the Arvin Good Guys at Taft accomplished
it in 1965, freefall cameraman Bob Buquor was there to capture
it on stills and film.
Some of these pioneer skydivers were (and many
still are) a part of the California beach crowd, and one of the
favorite gathering places in Hermosa Beach was called the Rumbleseat
Bar. Skydivers from all the nearby Southern California DZs (drop
zones) would assemble there and screen their footage while music
played from a tape recorder. You can bet that the Rumbleseat
rocked when Bob’s history-breaking film was shown.
In 1966, Bob Buquor drowned off Malibu while
shooting the freefall footage for the feature film, Don’t
Make Waves, starring Tony Curtis and Sharon Tate. Bob and
the two other jumpers were still using the only equipment available
them, the slow and round government surplus chutes. They had
jumped too far off the coast and there was only one rescue boat
which couldn’t make it to all three of them in time. The other
two jumpers were rescued and survived.
In honor of Bob’s accomplishment of shooting
the first eight-person star, jumpers are now awarded the Bob
Buquor Memorial Star Crest when a group of jumpers complete the
eight-person star for the first time.
Since video was not an option in the early
days of skydiving, the few freefall cameramen would shoot 16mm
film using military surplus gun cameras. They were relatively
small and very rugged and designed to be mounted on aircraft
to capture the action whenever the real guns were being fired.
These cameras, known as GSAPs (Gun Site Aiming Point cameras),
are still being used today for many uses where the 16mm format
and 50' of film is sufficient. They have a single claw pull down
with no pin registration, and frame rates are limited to 16,
32, and 64 fps without special modification.
Most freefall cinematographers removed unwanted
items, such as an overrun switch that allowed the camera to run
for a pre-determined number of seconds after the guns ceased
firing, and heating parts, not really necessary, even on a skydive
from 16,000'. This made the cameras even lighter and the battery
consumption even less. The N-9 version has the same body, but
a film magazine with 100' darkroom loads replaces the 50' cartridge
loads. Some of them also utilize 100' and 200' daylight loads,
which are preferred, since you can still buy the film directly
from Kodak or Fuji.
There were many different manufactures for
the government of these cameras, such as Bell & Howell, Perkin
Elmer, and Leitz, but they were all very similar with very minimal
improvements over the years. These cameras can be used with c-mount
lenses once the military lens mounts are removed.
There is no viewfinder and the camera can be
sighted using a bore sight positioned in place of the film load,
allowing alignment and pre-framing, which works fine for a fixed
camera location, such as on an aircraft. It’s surprising that
since 1958, these cameras have shot most of the 16mm helmet camera
footage.
An incredible step forward was introduced with
the Photosonics 1VN 16mm camera. Reliability, quality, and such
refinements as speed options from 24 to 200 fps with dual claw
and dual pin registration have made this the 16mm camera of choice
for those who want and can afford the best in a small package.
These cameras accept c-mount lenses so it is
possible to utilize the fine optics in extreme wide-angle lenses
made by Century Precision Optics and other lenses such as the
5.9mm & 10mm Angenieux. The 1VN also has an assortment of
film loads available; 50' darkroom for a super small package,
100' darkroom, 100' daylight, 200' daylight and a 200' coaxial
magazine.
In the early ‘60s freefall cinematographer
Bob Sinclair strapped on a 35mm Eyemo and began filming for such
projects as, The Daring Game for Ivan Tors Films/Paramount
and The Birds Do It, again for Ivan Tors, but at Columbia Pictures.
He shot the vast majority of Hollywood projects through the ‘60s,
such as thirty-nine episodes of the TV series RIPCORD, as well
as commercials for Kodak, Coca-Cola, and Oldsmobile, to name
a few.
In 1968, Bob trained Johnny Carson for his
famous sixty-second freefall that appeared on the Tonight
Show. Bob was holding on to Johnny during that buddy assisted
freefall while Milt Platt and George Speakman shot the 16mm helmet
cameras.
In 1968, the film Gypsy Moths with Burt
Lancaster and Gene Hackman was released. This film held the record
for the most skydiving stunts for the next 25 years, until the
recent film Drop Zone, which may equal Gypsy Moths.
During the bidding for the camerawork, the
freefall cameramen wanted to be paid stunt scale ($100.00 per
day) plus $25 per jump. MGM thought this new $25 per jump adjustment
was too much and looked for someone who might be qualified to
work for straight stunt scale. Kevin Donnelly, a very experienced
skydiver was working at MGM as an assistant director and he suggested
Carl Boenish. The studio bought some Eyemos, outfitted them with
electric motors and modified them with Arri bayonet mounts to
accept Schneider, Cooke, Zeiss, and Taylor-Hobson primes.
Carl and Jay Gifford landed the freefall cinematographer
positions and David Butler and David Jones (see The Operating
Cameraman Volume 6, number 2, A History of Aerial Cinematography)
worked the aerial sequences from the helicopter. Carl bought
these Eyemos after the filming and went on to become one of the
primary freefall cinematographers until his death during a freefall
jump off a cliff in Norway in 1984.
By the ‘70s, freefall cinematographer Ray Cottingham
and skydiver Kevin Donnelly were getting a lot of film jobs.
The camera equipment was still primarily the same modified Eyemos
and Ray often added a still camera to his helmet. Kevin was featured
in the Imax film Flyers where his character had fallen
out of his airplane without a chute and another pilot (Art Scholl)
dove his plane after him. The plane caught up with Kevin and
he grabbed Art’s wing strut just in time for the plane to pull
out and miss the edge of the Grand Canyon. Although Kevin was
wearing a hidden chute, the narrow escape was real.
Another similar stunt to Kevin’s was in the
1979 movie Moonraker. James Bond’s character had been
thrown out of an Apollo Airlines plane without a chute right
after the Jaws character had left the plane with full gear. James
dove after Jaws, and the two wrestled for several thousand feet.
James stole Jaw’s chute and made a good landing, while
Jaws crashed onto a circus tent.
This opening sequence was perhaps one of the
most exciting shots of its type ever photographed to date. Rande
Deluca shot the freefall footage and David Nowell, SOC,
(assisted by Stan McClain, SOC) shot the
in-fight sequence of Mr. Bond and the bad guys in the doorway
of the Apollo plane from an open window of a DC3 using an Arri
IIC.
The stunt sequence was coordinated by three-time
World Champion skydiver, BJ Worth . BJ was the stunt double for
Roger Moore, and Jake Lombard doubled for actor Richard Kiel
(Jaws). During the actual freefall struggle, both of them had
well-hidden chutes while they fought convincingly over Jake’s
prop parachute. It took eighty-three well-planned jumps to complete
the complicated sequence.
Rande Deluca would emerge as a leading freefall
cameraman on film projects over the next seven years that included Octopussy and The
Right Stuff until he died of cancer at the young age of forty-three.
He was the first to use the Photosonics 1VN camera for his freefall
projects and he also was the first to use the Cine 35.
The Cine 35 is a one-of-a-kind 35mm pin registered
camera that uses 100' daylight loads. It was built for Freddie
Waugh who has retired as a well-respected stuntman, 2nd unit
DP, and 2nd unit director. Freddie used his Cine 35 extensively
as Spider-man’s POV on the TV series of the same name. When Freddie
wasn't shooting or directing the 2nd unit he was the "on
camera" stunt double for Spider-man. It was used by Rande
and then by myself on all of the James Bond films, countless
commercials, feature films and television shows. I still use
it today for shooting plates, as my backup, as a rigged camera
on an airplane, or attached to the belly of another jumper.
By the mid '80s, skydiving had become a mainstream
sport. It had been on ABC Wide World of Sports with freefall
videographers Ken Crabtree and Norman Kent shooting with large
u-matic decks on their chests and large video cameras on their
helmets. Many skydiving cinematographers such as myself added
non-reflex video assist to our helmet packages so we could have
playback for the director and stunt doubles, as well as to check
our own performance upon landing. The video cameras were mounted
next to the film cameras and we’d wear the recorders on our chests.
My first big movie was the James Bond movie The
Living Daylights. I shot the opening pre-title freefall
sequence over the Rock of Gibraltar and the ending sequence
where Bond fought the bad guy "Necros" on a large cargo net
that was trailing behind the open rear door of a C-130 cargo
plane. Our hero James finally kicked the villain off the net
and he fell to his death.
In 1988, I was awarded a very special project
that will forever stand out as one of my most memorable jobs.
I was asked to shoot five groups of skydivers dressed in blue,
yellow, black, green and red jump suits for the opening ceremonies
at the Seoul Olympics. Each group joined together and created "The
Olympic Rings" and descended into the arena below filled with
thousands of spectators. The primary responsibility was to provide
a LIVE freefall video feed to the big screen scoreboard below
and to the worldwide television audience. All of our practicing
paid off, as there was no take two, and the performance was executed
flawlessly. For this specialty jump. I wore four cameras, which
included a 35mm film camera, 35mm still camera, Hasselblad still
camera, and a Canon video camera with a live transmitter.
In all jumps, custom batteries for the cameras
are worn inside my jumpsuit and a remote switch is held in my
left hand for triggering the movie and still cameras. On the
once-in-a-lifetime events, like the Olympics jump and this year’s
skydive by President George Bush, I wear four cameras for maximum
coverage. On a normal commercial or feature film, I wear only
three, leaving the Hasselblad behind.
In the 1990s, there has been a continued rise
in the use of skydiving for advertising, TV, and feature productions.
In 1991, Ray Cottingham and I got to shoot the skydiving sequences
for Point Break, starring Patrick Swayzee. We worked under
the supervision of aerial coordinator, Kevin Donnelly.
This was particularly enjoyable for me because
both Ray and Kevin were instrumental in my success in this industry.
They taught me cinematography skills every step of the way as
well as how to say no when a stunt is too dangerous or choreographed
incorrectly. Ray jumped with a crystal controlled Eyemo and I
jumped with the Cine 35. We both provided video playback and
production stills.
Point Break increased public awareness
in the sport of skydiving, and student enrollment at parachute
centers in the U.S. tripled for the next few years.
Two more films featuring substantial skydiving
sequences were produced just four years later: Terminal Velocity and Drop
Zone. Along with Norman Kent, I was fortunate enough to work
on both films.
On the three-month’s shooting of Drop Zone,
I jumped with an Arri III, with a 200' magnesium magazine and
heavy Panavision anamorphic lenses. It wasn’t until half way
through the picture that I received a one-of-a-kind Panavision
magnesium 40mm lens. But even with the magnesium components,
it was the heaviest system I had ever skydived with. Norman jumped
a Russian camera with 170' loads and it proved to be quite reliable.
Both of us always jumped with an additional still camera and
an 8mm video camera.
On one particularly memorable jump I had to
follow skydiver Jake Brake under our open parachutes onto a 30'x30'
landing pad on top of a skyscraper at night! Stan McClain, SOC was
the 2nd unit DP and lit the landing area for my camera and the
rooftop cameras but also had to accommodate us so we weren’t
blinded by any of the fixtures, even for a split second.
I remember at the helicopter just before take-off
that I could NOT hold up the weight and momentum of the camera
for very long. (In freefall, the 125 mph wind helps to support
the weight.) Fortunately, after I opened my parachute, I found
that I could rest the bottom of my custom helmet on my chest
and reduce the weight on my neck.
The jump went perfect. Jake, a world champion
and former U.S. Army Golden Knight, landed "dead center" on
the extremely small rooftop target. I followed him under my parachute
with this aerial dolly shot for about 30 seconds until I landed
on the target three seconds after him. The shot was the best
we could possibly do! We did several one-take shots during our
filming, but I was really glad about this one because I did not
want to do that again for any amount of money.
On another night sequence over downtown Miami
and at the water’s edge, I was filming four bad guys and in freefall.
I was directly above them, revealing the city lights below. In
order to get an exposure we needed, three additional jumpers
with lights mounted on their helmets were added. Stan worked
with us on the ground to develop a lighting setup. One "glow
worm," as we called the divers with the lights, flew next
to me to provide a moonlight fill-light. The other two flew below
the four stunt doubles and well out of my frame, with their lights
aiming up to give a realistic rim light, as though the city lights,
several thousand feet below us, were supplying the light source.
Everyone’s distances from each other were critical. Proper framing,
focus (wide open), and exposure were pre-determined by the rehearsals
on the ground. The lights had a pre-determined distance from
the talent for exposure, and I had a to be at a pre-determined
distance from the talent for framing with a set focus. Everyone
had to be on his or her "invisible" marks because we
had zero tolerance for error. In all, eight jumpers and a Bell
212 helicopter were needed to make the jump.
At the end of the shot, the on-camera jumpers
opened their parachutes one at a time. I had to hold the shot
through the entire sequence. (We were falling at 200' per second.)
After the last on-camera jumper deployed I had to let his parachute
exit frame, clear myself from the other three "glow worms" and
then open my parachute.
In essence, I was the last and the lowest to
open my parachute. Now it gets fun. It's at night, I am actually
over the water at Miami Harbor, several hundred feet from land
and my main parachute opens in a violent spin. I know that I
have only one option: disconnect from the main chute, and pull
the reserve.
The cut-away went fine. I pulled the reserve,
it opened fine but very fast and hard as they are designed to
do. Then I had to fly straight back to the concrete area surrounding
a fountain at the edge of the harbor. The cut-away chewed up
an additional 400'-500' of altitude and by the time I reached
dry land (barely) I had all my cables disconnected in case I
landed in the ocean. I had a very hard landing due to the reserve
chute’s smaller size, but I received no injuries, just a lot
of spent adrenaline.
As a part of our safety meeting days before
the actual jump we required a helicopter with a search light
and rescue boats with divers to be deployed during the jump.
On every day of filming we had at least one ambulance at the
drop zones. It’s this kind of planning that can remedy any "short
falls" if they arise. Although the extra expense can add
up on a three-month job, this is an area where financial corners
cannot be cut; and they weren’t. Fortunately, all of the pre-production
planning and safety meetings paid off, for we never had to activate
any of our rescue or emergency crew.
The last two weeks of the job took place at
Warner Center in Woodland Hills, CA, which doubled as the FBI
Headquarters in Washington D.C. where we had more night landings
on a building top. Once in L.A., Stan added two more SOC camera
operators, Mike Ferris and Bill Waldman, and SOC associate assistant,
Mark Leins.
This was the climax scene where our bad guys
jump onto the FBI building at night to steal computer files,
and once again we had a very demanding itinerary. I would never
say this kind of work is routine, however, all of the jumps were
executed as planned.
There are still a few freefall cameramen who
use Eyemos with video cameras mounted next to them but that can
be a real disadvantage. The different focal length lenses and
formats, such as anamorphic, cannot be represented with a consumer
video camera. It is also impossible to guarantee if the camera
is rolling during the shot and if the talent is framed correctly.
Combined with the inherent problems of parallax, the Eyemos and
non video tap systems are on their way out.
Last year I bought a highly modified Arri IIC
from SL Cine in Santa Monica.
The body is made of titanium and modern plastics.
The electronic components, built by Cinematography Electronics,
provide crystal speeds from 1 to 50 fps, and are housed in a
lightweight plastic housing. The 200' low profile magazines are
made of magnesium. Unique to only my camera, is a built-in reflex
video tap and recorder utilizing the new Sony PC-7 digital video
system.
This camera can easily be switched from either
PL or Panavision mounts. The entire package is lighter than the
standard Arri III used on Drop Zone and heavier than an
Eyemo with video but has features that make it a significant
advancement after all these years of using Eyemos and video cameras
mounted next to the movie camera.
The new setup has been working nicely and I
just finished using it on the new James Bond Film,Tomorrow
Never Dies. It balanced well, which in turn, allowed me to
maneuver around the talent with great ease.
Another part of my equipment which is pertinent
to skydiving cinematography is a custom jump suit, which has
an extra flat triangular-shaped panel that starts at the arm
pits and extends to my wrists and joins at my waist. By spreading
my arms out, the "wings" catch air, which in turn slow
down my rate of decent, or I can place my arms at my side to
collapse the wings and accelerate. Just like an airplane’s aileron,
I use the wings to control my turns. (See cover photo)
With this added control I can fine-tune any
shot. If I need to lower the subject in frame, I extend my arms
out a few inches to slow my speed, until the subject appears
lower, then I assume my original posture.
Besides working face down, I find it very comfortable
to work on my back in a reclined position, especially when looking
up for extended periods. Quite often I have to perform 360¡ dolly
shots around the talent. These maneuvers are not included in
the Skydiving 101 lessons, as they take several years to master.
In essence, like any learned skill, one reaches a state of Zen,
then all you have to do is "think" the move wanted,
and it happens. Do not try this at home.
In addition to shooting freefall scenes where
we jump from planes and helicopters, I also get calls for BASE-jumping.
Base is an acronym for objects that we can freefall from. Rather
than out of an aircraft, these jumps are made off Buildings,
Antennas, Spans (bridges) and Earth objects (cliffs).
Base jumping with a movie camera is much more
demanding and dangerous than skydiving with the same equipment.
In skydiving we normally quit filming at about 3000' above the
ground. In BASE-jumping we normally will start the jump at 1000'
to 2000' above the ground. On a jump from 1000', such as the
ones for some Mountain Dew commercials I did last year, it is
eight seconds from exit to impact. The shot must be made within
the first four seconds. Within these few seconds there are three
danger factors, which cannot be compromised or miscalculated.
You must make sure that you don’t hit the object you are jumping
from; don’t collide with the subject jumper before or after he
pulls his parachute; and don’t pull your own chute a split second
too late. And, by the way, you can’t forget why you jumped in
the first place, you have to concentrate on filming too!
The helmet camera is a very versatile tool
and more 2nd unit directors are becoming aware of the potential
uses. A few years ago I was hired to shoot the skydiving sequence
for the Chuck Norris film, Delta Force, in the Philippines.
Before the project was over, I was able to demonstrate my versatility
with the helmet camera to 2nd unit director Dean Ferandini. In
the process, I shot several POVs from inside cars during chase
sequences; a helicopter pilot’s POV, flying over the villages
being bombed; mountain climbing shots that were too difficult
to get a regular camera to the location; and a car chase from
the helicopter skids when time did not permit the installation
of the Tyler Mount before dark.
I get calls all the time to rent out helmet
cameras, but I don’t think most of these production assistants
realize that this is a tool much like a Steadicam; a skilled
operator will make all the difference in getting the shot an
getting it done right. Just strapping on a helmet camera does
not guarantee that they will get what they want, and we haven’t
even begun to discuss the safety aspects of conducting high precision
work with non-movie oriented jumpers. I have to respectfully
pass, on these types of requests.
In the last year, I have added communications
to my helmet so that I can talk to the pilots or jumpers in certain
situations. I’ve also begun testing a small video screen which
is mounted in the front edge of my helmet to assist in framing
and which is in addition to the Newton ring sight that is used
by all professional skydiving cinematographers. The Newton ring
is a special glass-targeting device that has concentric circles
like a bull’s eye. With experience, a helmet camera operator
knows where to aim his sight finder and how close to get to the
subject to get the desired framing for the shot.
Composition must also be taken into account
without having the benefits of actually seeing the edges of the
frame. This is a learned skill, one which traditional camera
operators never experience, since they are always looking through
the ground glass.
Not actually looking through a viewfinder is
imperative when you are caught in the middle of action sports,
such as skydiving and BASE-jumping. This allows you to perform
the sport with accurate depth perception and unobstructed vision
while at the same time getting the shot.
The thing I like the most about my profession
is the fact that I love being a cameraman and also being a participant
in these activities. With the helmet camera work I am hired to
do, I get the best of both worlds.
About the author:
Tom Sanders, SOC began
skydiving in 1979. He was one of the first skydivers to jump
with the so-called "portable" video systems in theearly ‘80s.
His company, Aerial Focus, has coordinated and shot the majority
of the skydiving and BASE-jumping cinematography done for television,
feature films, and commercials for the past ten years. He produced,
directed, and filmed the one-hour aerial extreme sports film"Over
The Edge," which won nine first place awards in the nine
contests entered. Recent credits include; AT&T "Rad Mom",
Phillips Cellular Phone, The James Bond movie "Tomorrow
Never Dies" and President Bush’s skydive.
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