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Actress Silvia Hoeks in the role of Julia. |
The major new Dutch feature De Storm is based on a real disaster: the catastrophic flooding of the province of Zeeland by a massive North Sea storm surge in early 1953. Dikes were breached in more than 100 locations and nearly 2,000 people died. It is a part of the country’s modern history that is still vivid in the memories of many survivors.
“Almost all the newsreels shot in 1953 were in black-and-white and these are the images that are known to the majority of audiences,” says multi-award winning director Ben Sombogaart (Bride Flight, Kruistocht in spijkerbroek (Crusade in Jeans), Ibbeltje). “When the actual storm and floods occurred there was much rain and snow, so I decided to employ a desaturised look, without any feeling of disturbing sunlight. I also needed to handle the subject with the utmost care and respect. I didn’t want to turn De Storm into a ‘disaster’ film. It had to look real.”
De Storm covers just two days. It relates the story of the disastrous flood through the anguished eyes of 18-year-old Julia (played by Silvia Hoeks), a farmer’s daughter. Deserted in pregnancy by her young fisherman boyfriend, and cast down by her family and hostile villagers, she clings to all she has: her baby son. After the flood engulfs the farm where she lives, she is rescued from the water by her young co-star, air force sergeant Aldo (Barry Atsma). But he rescues Julia against her will, leaving her baby behind in the water. Bit by bit Aldo unravels the inconsolable woman’s background and life in a series of flashbacks and, realising that he is responsible for her son being abandoned, he decides to help her find the baby. A long and dangerous search ensues, against the flow of the evacuation. It takes them back to Zeeland: a submerged, surreal landscape of animal and human corpses in which she believes her son may still be alive. But where is he and with whom?
Desaturate
Close cooperation with production designer Hubert Paouille made it possible to create an extremely accurate story-board of the film. “We both used the SketchUp 3D software, which provided a precise and helpful pre-visualisation of the scenes in which water was the main character,” notes Polish-born, Netherlandsbased director of photography Piotr Kukla, NSC.
All the key locations, including a hotel, houses and a 600-foot dike, were constructed in Belgium on a large polder (a low-lying area of land enclosed by dikes). It was then swamped with a large amount of water for an entire month. “Throughout the 50-day shooting period in Holland and Belgium we were dreaming of rainy and foggy weather that would depict the climate of a massive tragedy,” Kukla continues. “We removed all the bright colours from the wardrobe and sets and decided to slightly desaturate the part of the movie that took place in 1953.”
Kukla shot on Super 35, 3-perf ratio 1;1.2,35 with an ARRI 535B, an AATON 35 for B camera and an ARRI 435 for shots in and around the water. After many trials, he chose KODAK VISION3 500T 5219 for all the night exteriors, as well as most of the interiors and green-screen scenes. “The reduced grain and wonderful sharpness of the new negative let me create the effect closest to my vision for the movie,” he notes. Kukla also used KODAK VISION2 250D 5205 and KODAK VISION2 50D 5201 for several exteriors, as well as the closing scene which is set in 1971. “The latter sequence takes place on the seashore and is full of colour. I hope it will remind the audience of the bright and colourful atmosphere of the 1970s.”
Gathering storm
The movie opens with a night exterior of the gathering storm, the breaching of the dike and the submerging of the house in which the main character is located. “It will obviously comprise some DI elements, which are being undertaken by VFX Supervisor Raphael Kourilsky at HecticElectric Amsterdam, but our goal was to shoot in an entirely practical way. We built several sets in containers and poured in nine gallons of water in eight seconds to ‘chase’ our actors. We created two small windows in one of the container walls into which we installed two cameras and we also equipped the ARRI 435 with a scuba-cam device and placed it inside the container. A fourth camera was placed on a crane, enabling us to shoot from above.”
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Actors Samuel Theiss and Marie Kremer. Photo courtesy of Charlotte Schousboe/France3/Tetramedia. |
Rain machines, boats that create waves, a special underwater facility which simulates the water current, water cannons mimicking the effect of waves crashing against the shore and wind-making devices were all brought together to depict a menacing atmosphere that presages the oncoming storm. “In order to have as much freedom as possible to operate the main ARRI 535B camera in the water, we placed it on a huge floating pontoon platform that could be moved easily and quickly to any given spot by small motorboats,” explains Kukla. The ARRI was fitted onto a Panther Galaxy crane that extended to 66 feet and everything was tightly wrapped in foil to protect the equipment from the water, while enabling the movement of the hot head. “The arm of the crane turned out to be a great solution,” says Kukla. “It enabled us to move the camera quickly and it also served as a tripod, a dolly, a crane and a Steadicam.”
Besides the main pontoon, the crew used several smaller ones on which the lights, the SFX equipment and a floating generator were placed. The DP’s water-based lighting equipment comprised just four lamps: an 18K HMI, a 12K PAR and two 6K PARs. On the few unwelcome sunny days he also used a couple of butterfly lights. Indeed, director Sombogaart’s biggest enemy was the sun. “We had to shoot between September and mid-December; a tight schedule which gave us little time to change our plans in inappropriate weather conditions,” he states.
De Storm is being processed using the D.I. technique. “In order to keep the look as near as possible to the desired correction, we were in constant touch with George Balatoni, our colourist from AVP Amsterdam. Thanks to the stills we sent to him which were shot on a Canon Mark III, the final correction is very close indeed,” states Kukla.
“Working on De Storm was the most complicated task I have ever performed in my career. But on the other hand, it was a marvellous movie production; the fourth on which Ben and I have collaborated.” The pair previously worked together on De Tweeling, The Boy Who Stopped Talking and Bride Flight.
Kukla also acknowledges the support and dedication of the entire production team, particularly line producer Sabine Brian, and his technical crew including camera assistant Jac Ghijsels, gaffer Bert Hogenes and key grip Daan Dillo. “They all made it possible to complete the project on time and without any problems.”
“Piotr succeeded very well in creating a saturated, highly-contrasting dream-like look for the flashbacks and a cold, grey and uncomfortable atmosphere through his shooting, lighting and grading techniques. I’m really happy with the look he developed,” concludes Sombogaart.
De Storm was produced by NL Film Productie B.V. and will be screened later this year.
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