Storm-tossed cinema leads to Academy Award
| • | Atkins involved in indie, MTV and PBS projects |
By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Writer
A Hawai'i-based cinematographer, armed with cameras and a thirst for adventure, sailed around Cape Horn for 42 treacherous days and nights last March. His ship and crew encountered four storms, which he caught on film and video, and the ultimate reward was the Academy Award for cinematography given last week to "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World."
John Anderson
"Director Peter Weir had a crazy idea — to shoot an actual storm off Cape Horn so that the footage would look organic and realistic in his movie, as opposed to the digital effects in 'The Perfect Storm,' " said Paul Atkins, a Honolulan who was director of photography for the Cape Horn unit of the 20th Century Fox-Universal-Miramax film.
Paul Atkins shoots Cape Horn from the bark Endeavour in an early-morning calm just before a big storm hit — with visually stunning 50-foot seas, up to 85-mph winds and snow. That was what Atkins was there for.
"He knew about a ship that rounds Cape Horn — the Endeavour (a museum-quality replica of the bark skippered by Capt. James Cook) — and it was sailing around the tip of South America in what is considered the most dangerous waters in the world."
In the Oscar-winning movie, Capt. Jack Aubrey (played by Russell Crowe) sails his vessel — the American tall ship Rose, home-ported in Rhode Island, was purchased and used for the movie — through a storm in these waters.
Atkins was hired by director of photography Russell Boyd to oversee the filming of the treacherous seas, based on the Islander's work in nature documentaries, including some water work.
Weir figured that it would take the real deal to make a big splash.
But hiring someone was a problem. How and where to do it was another.
"No one in Hollywood would do a job like that," said Atkins, who with wife, Gracie, runs Moana Productions, which has done camera work for National Geographic, PBS, the Discovery Channel and the BBC.
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| Paul Atkins, documenting killer whales in Alaska, has done a variety of nature filming.
Grace Niska Atkins |
He had two missions: "One to shoot the storm in 35mm, which would be put on background plates for the special-effects person, and the second was to put down the 35mm camera and make a documentary," Atkins said.
It turned out to be his longest sea voyage ever. It was also the first time the ship would round the cape.
The Endeavor carried about 50 people, half crew and half paying passengers, for a journey retracing Cook's historic voyage.
Atkins' footage of the menacing storm and the waves it generated was fused with computer-generated imagery to create storm scenes that included the ship on which Crowe's character worked. The film also used footage shot with miniatures, coupled with special-effects technology, filmed at the water facility at Fox Studios Baja — where "Titanic" also was shot.
"Yeah, I was nervous — until we ran into our first storm," Atkins said. "It happened at night, so while I was eager to shoot, we couldn't. So I wished for another storm, which got the people on the ship worked up. I was not a popular guy.
"It was often life-threatening. Particularly when we ran into the other big storms. There were 75-knot winds (more than 85 mph), which are hurricane-force, and the seas were just totally turned into foam, with waves of 50 feet."
The target area was in the Southern Ocean, between the tip of New Zealand and the tip of South America. "If you round the Horn, you run into the Atlantic," Atkins said.
20th Century Fox
Atkins had just one camera assistant, John Anderson, from the Mainland.
In the feature film, the ship Surprise encounters a fierce storm off Cape Horn. Paul Atkins' footage was fused into such scenes, which also used studio settings, miniatures and computer effects.
You had to have sea legs to survive, he said. "The ship was bobbing up and down; once, she rolled more than 45 degrees, with the side of the ship and cannons under water most of the time. We all had to be tied in — clipped in — on a safety line. In screaming wind, my poor assistant had to change lenses."
The payoff was the valuable footage that worked far better than simulated special effects.
While the ocean fury made it into the movie, a documentary, intended to be a cable TV special, was tabled because of a competing Discovery Channel special, "The Ship." Some footage emerged on HBO's "First Look," which previews films, and is expected to be bonus fodder for a "Master and Commander" DVD out later this year.
While Atkins is part of an Academy-Award-winning team, his name was not uttered on the Oscar cast, nor does he receive a golden statue.
"No matter," he said. "I had an Oscar party at my house, so I celebrated."
Reach Wayne Harada at wharada@honoluluadvertiser.com, 525-8067 or fax 525-8055.
