After a 2 year wait, this 4-part science program I shot in 3D with British director Ian Hunt finally gets its 3D air date on Sky 3D and Sky 1 HD in the UK. National Geographic aired their 2D version of it over a year ago – but since we went to great lengths to shoot in full in-camera 3D, I have waited all this time to watch it for the first time.
We shot mostly in Ontario, and a bit in Middlesborough, UK. In Canada we used 3D camera rigs from the 3D Camera Company – we always had 2 rigs going, one with 2 Red MX’s and a lightweight rig for steadicam with 2 Red Epics. In the UK we used a 3D system from a company called Paradise FX. We used a combination of Cooke Mini S4 3D matched primes and matched Angenieux zooms. Also employed were 3D GoPro Rigs.
Each of the 4 episodes covers a different type of natural disaster – flood, wind, avalanche and earthquake. Our production designer Andy Berry had the task of building full scale home for every episode which by the end would be destroyed by the element in question. It was a pretty amazing thing to witness – the highlight being the last one we shot in the UK at the Tees Barrage – where we destroyed the home with raging flood waters.
We also interviewed survivors of the various disasters in a 3D, shot in a partially destroyed house set… probably the first time 3D has been used in this way to tell the stories of real people’s struggles to survive in the face of a natural disaster.
Here’s a gallery of my behind the scenes stills from the UK flood shoot:
[RFG_gallery id=’19’]
