The Production of Water Movies, Essay Example

Stereoscope technology has been in existence since 1938 and an important tool in creating three-dimensional illusions in the film industry. The first film to be produced using this technology was filmed by Lumiere brothers in 1903. Since then, many TV programs and films have embraced this technology to produce water films. Many film producers find it extremely hard to shoot film in water bodies. As a result, they use technology to create the illusion. The water films discussed below, Jaws, Waterworld, Cutthroat Island, Titanic, and the Pirates of Caribbean, show the transformations in the industry from the traditional films to the current high tech films.

Production Costs

The films, Jaws, Waterworld, Cutthroat Island, and Pirates of Carribean had a troubled shoot and their estimated costs went far over their budgets. The total cost of producing the film was $9, which was more than twice the estimated cost. Most of the problems in the production stage were attributed to Spielberg’s inexperience and incompetency in the industry. The film, Waterworld, faced many problems in its production with the main ones being under-budgeting and keeping time. Its production involved construction of enormous and expensive floating environment in Hawaii. Additionally, the film Cutthroat Island’s budget rose to $110 million from the estimated cost of $61. The deviation in the budget was caused by the unexpected problems in the sea as well as sea accidents. In the film Pirates of Caribbean, most of the scenes were filmed in remote places with undeveloped roads as well as inaccessibility due to the sea. This increased the cost the cumulative cost of production of the movie.

Problems in the Sea

The film Jaws involved shooting the film with life-size sharks (Heisner 24). The mechanical sharks often malfunctioned owing to a couple of issues such as bad weather, frames fracturing, and pneumatic horses sucking up seawater. Shooting in water of the film Waterworld was also problematic for the film makers since most of the scenes occasionally flooded. In addition, a hurricane hit Hawaii a few months before shooting of the film. Shooting the film Cutthroat Island in a sea in Thailand posed many problems since many actors got seasick, rainstorms that delayed the production, and one of the camera operators fell into the sea and broke his leg (Heisner 36). During the shooting of the film, Pirates of Caribbean,hurricanes and rainstorms caused many pauses in the production. For instance, the Hurricane Wilma destroyed many of the pumps and access ways, although there were no cases of injury or death (Heisner 43). This film Titanic employs the latest stereoscope technology in its production. As a result, the production of the film did not encounter sea problems.

Productions of films such as Cutthroat, Jaws, Waterworld, and Pirates of Caribbean were hard and expensive to produce because they were set entirely in water. For instance, in the film Jaws, a mechanical sharp was launched into the sea to act as a live shark. In addition, all the above films faced difficult conditions in the sea such as rainstorms, seasickness, and sea accidents, which delayed the production process as well as the total production, cost. Water films today are embracing technology (Heisner 24). They are set on dry land where computers are used to create the illusion of the sea. For instance, Titanic is one of the favorite water films that was created on dry land. They used computer technology to design a ship that would go vertical and sink. This technology was used to design and design a replica of the Titanic, which was 10 stories high and 90% of the original size (Heisner 40). Besides, a water tank was built around the ship. Designing a 17 million gallon tank for the ship posed series challenge for the crew. This was done to escape the dangerous conditions in the sea as well as to reduce the production cost. This film revolutionized water films with Cinesite and VIFX digital studios. Characters as well as the ship are filmed on stages in motion capture suits. They are captured at different scenes. The advantage of this technology is that is reduces production time, instead of spending months filming and emulating the dynamism of the ocean water, the film makers spent a few hours in creating an illusion of ocean water splashing. As a result, production of water films using technology has become easier than shooting the film in the sea.

From the discussion of this paper, production of water films has evolved steadily. Traditional film directors disregarded the dangers in the sea since they wanted to create a real image in their films. Most film directors today opt to set and film films on dry land and then create an illusion of the sea. This is advantageous since it eliminates possible problems in the sea such as seasickness, increasing cost of production, and natural dangers such as the hurricanes.

Work Cited

Heisner, Beverly. Production Design in the Contemporary American Film. A Critical Study of 23 Films and their Designers. North Carolina: McFarland & Company Publishers, 2008. Print.