The article inaugurates our series regarding Sets of Lighting.
The film Crawl of Alexandre Aja was shot mainly in three hangars of the Belgrade port. The most awe-inspiring set was, without a doubt, the one we called “Stage 1”: a colossal 100 x 80 metres.
During the shooting, the incredible scenography designed by Alan Gilmore had to be immersed under nearly two metres of water and withstand continuous rain coming from a system mounted on the hangar’s beams and powerful winds (four V8 fans mounted on towers): a real storm for two weeks!
The special effects department applied a coat of waterproof paint to the floor and built nearly 700 concave walls (1×1 metres) along all the scenography to contain the water up to 2 meters. The art department built the constructions and painted all the walls and the ceiling of the hangar blue for the special effects.
To highlight the constant effect of the wind, my gaffer and I decided to use empty spaces above the beams, hence above the rain system, to install 11 Cloud (helium balloons) 4,5 x 4,5 metres with 4×1.2KW and 4 6×6 metres with 9×1.2KW. This was a collaborative effort that truly showcased the power of teamwork in managing the storm effects.
We never turned on all the Clouds together, so to always keep some minimal shades and contrasts, except a brief scene in which the actors, Kaya Scodelario and Barry Pepper, are in the eye of the cyclone: here we added two M9 mounted on the ceiling, using the skylights that we had covered during the preparation.
Talking about the lights in the scene (photo 5), we worked together with the art department to ensure that the street light poles would not impede the movements of the floating platform, which would have transported a Technocrane 45 as soon as the water level would have allowed us.
The set of Crawl has most likely been one of the most challenging sets I have ever worked on. Collaboration between all departments has been the key to success, both for the creative and safety sides. The meticulousness of our gaffer, Pierre Michaud, who for many nights slept very little, has been fundamental to managing this quantity of water and the exceptional amount of wind. His dedication and hard work were truly inspiring.
