King Kong

Despite the obvious complications, Ann Darrow connects emotionally with Kong, who is placated by her presence. When provoked, Kong readily asserts his aggression. After colliding with a reef, the S.S. Venture arrives at Skull Island. Dump tanks were used to slosh water onto the shows gimbal-mounted ship set, which is installed in a blue screen stage where the ocean's undulations and surrounding environment is simulated. The big towers of broken rock on Skull Island suggest the canyon-like streets and huge buildings of New York. In both environments, the humans are dwarfed by their surroundings. Skull Island is really dangerous from the moment the human characters arrive. After using a rowboat to reach Skull Island's shore, Carl Denham and his team survey their surroundings with a vintage Bell & Howell 2709 35mm camera, serial number 152, manned by Denham's cinematographer. Black and his fellow actors take on water during green screen photography of the landing. The filmmakers attempt to cross a massive ravine but soon fall into the lair of a giant spider. In the “spider pit”, the only source of light is the sunlight from above. A boom lift with a rig consisting of aircraft-landing lights is used to provide a strong top light, and some 10Ks gelled with White Flame Green to give everything a slightly green, murky quality. The bottom of the pit is so far down that it's developed its own luminosity. A "flare light" designed by practicals gaffer Warwick Peace illuminates the cast. The source comprised nine Photo-Litas, four of which stayed constant while a circuit "encouraged" the remaining five to fibrillate and mimic the shimmering effect of a flare. Night shoots at the native village set entailed the use of 18Ks on steel scaffold towers and 50K and 100K SoftSuns on cranes. The top of the wall was appropriated as a lighting gantry. Light from the large oil fires was created by Dinos, Dinettes and Par cans programmed to chase. To get tracking angles in front of and behind the fleeing crew, key grip Tony Keddy devised a simple cable rig that delivered the shots safely. To create shade in the narrow brontosaurus set, Lesnie's crew created the "sky garden," a Condor bucket filled with potted palms and draped in camouflage netting. The Times Square portion of the seven-acre New York back lot. The filmmakers re-created the street level practically and built the height of the city digitally. Green screens measuring 25'x100' allowed for CG street extensions and were lit with inverted waterproofed ground rows. Warwick Peace's practicals team laced 2,000 bulbs and lighting units into this set. The blurs in the street are extras running from Kong. Providing ambient light in the set are units the filmmakers dubbed "UFOs," comprising 200 to 400 Par cans that were dimmed in groups to limit the number of cable runs, keeping cable weight to a minimum.