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STUDIO & EQUIPMENT UPDATE

A Quarterly Newsletter

Volume 5, Issue 1 January 1997

Over 50 years of quality service

A variety of Chapman gear used to capture the excitement of Dante's Peak scene

Van Nuys, CA--On the set of Dante's Peak, the action packed drama, starring Pierce Bronson and Linda Hamilton, the elaborate, multi-purpose set was constructed at the Van Nuys Airport, incorporating hundreds of trees covered in volcanic ash, atop a 35 foot tall one-quarter scale man made reproduction of a dam, lake, and adjoining river gorge.  The scene simulated the dam being blown up and some 650,000 gallons of water spewed from a massive holding tank down from the dam.  The water contained in this tank weighed a combined 7 million pounds.   The production's Mario Davis, who was the Grip/Shop Steward for Dantes Peak, explained, "in all, we used 140 grips in visual effects and we set a record of 90 grips to film one scene in one single day.  We did everything in miniatures at the airport.   These miniatures were some of the biggest miniatures in film making history."   Tony Cutrono was one of the D.P.'s for the dam collapse scene.  In all, 5 D.P.'s and crews were filming the visual effects simultaneously.  During the dam collapse scene, 12 cameras were used to capture the excitement of the scene.  On one side of the set, the Lenny Arm 2 Plus with remote system was utilized atop a Super Nova Mobile Crane.

ABOVE: Chapman's Super Nova and
Lenny 2 Plus were used to shoot the
action of the exploding dam.

Above: The Lenny Plus as seen
from atop the scaffolding. Back-
ground is the actual dam.

This set up was used to film the action during the collapse, due to the fact that the camera had to be independent from the scaffolding, which held up the set, because of the concussion from the water moving so quickly.   Another Lenny Arm and remote camera set up was used on the other side of the set to further catch the action before and after the collapse.  Two more cameras were welded on the floor of the dam, set in the water, and were housed in high impact crash boxes to prevent the one ton plus chunks of cement from crushing the cameras.  These cameras caught the impact of the water coming off the dam.  This was one of the many exciting scenes to be seen in this action packed drama.  Director of Dante's Peak was Rodger Donaldson and Visual Effects Supervisor was Pat McClung. Dante's Peak is set to hit the theatres February 7th.