Our never ending fascination with the underwater world has deep roots. We are born in amniotic fluid and judging by the scream newborns give, it must be quite a shock to take our first breath of air. We know more about the moon surface than the depths of our oceans, even though our planet looks blue from space because water covers 4/5 of it.

The unknown, the deep, the mysterious, is by definition very tempting to explore.

My infatuation with the sea probably comes from my mum who always told us amazing stories of when she was swimming with big fish in the bay of Capri (she was from Naples). For myself coming from Venice, water isn’t tempting at all, it’s dark, it stinks, looks awful and rots everything. However, this very water is what makes the city unique and it is a love-hate-relationship that endures all your life.

I have a very strong childhood memory of swimming under the surface. I am convinced I swam without surfacing for a very long time, or so it seemed, breathing water like a fish does. Obviously, I never try to recreate that moment, diving with a re-breather (the Inspiration) is as close as I will ever get to it again.

All the films I’ve always loved inevitably have an underwater sequence in them, and what really dragged me under with a camera was the tremendous appeal of the early James Bond epics. Watching Sean Connery in Thunderball (1965) made me want to be underwater taking pictures, so I started building an underwater housing for my uncle’s C-8 (Bolex) 8mm camera. Needless to say, I flooded it many times but always managed to fix it.

Looking back I seem to have spent most of my childhood watching features that had underwater as the main theme. Films like “Blue Water, White Death” (1971), “16 Fathoms Deep” (1948), “The Silent World” by Cousteau (1956) and the series “Sea Hunt” with the unforgettable Lloyd Bridges, a real life deep-diver. As I grew older I wanted to see this world for myself and then show it to others. Let’s face it though; humans are not designed to be underwater. We perform quite poorly compared to sea creatures. Many factors make even the simplest of tasks immensely difficult. Water resistance, pressure, buoyancy, light loss, current, and so on are all very unforgiving.

Sometimes people ask me what makes a good underwater cinematographer and how you become one. As I sip my orange juice, looking with envy at the large pint of lager they are gulping down, I reply that first of all you need to be quite fit, secondly, you must be very moderate with drinking (smoking is a definite no-no) and thirdly, you have to have an uncompromising propelling passion. The more I work underwater, the more I am convinced that you simply must have a certain predisposition. Some people are naturally good on a horse, some love skydiving and some never get seasick. I was one of those.

Filming underwater is like anything that requires specialized skills, it cannot be improvised. Filming on land is a multi-task activity; imagine combining it with a multi-task activity such as diving. I’ve seen very competent divers being given an underwater camera and returning to the surface with totally unusable footage. They thought all they had to do was to press the button. But you rarely get that lucky. Once you start looking through the viewfinder you really have to feel part of what you are filming. You cannot afford to start thinking that you are diving. All the diving must be second nature. I’ve heard all sorts of excuses from people, even very experienced divers, who struggle to shoot underwater. They say “I had to equalize”, or “I had to adjust buoyancy”, and as a result the footage has little jerky movements that give away a little fin adjustment or their hand going to the nose to equalize. I wish I could tell you why, but I don’t consciously equalize, it just happens. Having said that, I am always well aware that it is a very unforgiving environment, I never forget that I am not supposed to be there in the first place. For this reason you really are only as good as the people around you while in water. With a few very forgettable exceptions, I’ve always been very lucky working with extremely skilful people, very natural underwater and an absolute joy to get wet with.

I have filmed in the U-Stage at Pinewood Studios several times and Dave Shaw together with Phoebe Rudomino lead an amazing team that always makes me look good. The majority of underwater filming should be done in a controlled environment and specialist underwater tanks are the ideal place. Communication underwater is always a problem, and to be able to hear the 1st AD or the Director through underwater speakers is a bonus - especially when they understand the difficulties of filming underwater and give encouraging feedback.

Many big feature films have an underwater sequence at some point. Quite often these can be the money shots. Literally.

If you are reading this with a Producer’s eye, a good rule of thumb in underwater production is to multiply everything by three: people, time and money. If you find it hard to believe, do a quick search on how much “Waterworld” (1995) cost. Or mention the words “animatronic shark” to Spielberg. That translates into the most important factor: choose the right people very carefully. Last year I finished a film with an animatronic shark, directed by Richard Bedser, produced by Charlotte Wheaton, with beautiful dry photography by Malcolm McLean and animatronics guru Nik Williams - who did a truly fantastic job creating the shark. So good that while filming in Malta, as we were waiting in a small bay with the shark on a special stretcher for the boat to pick us up, a group of elderly Germans came onto the shore to take an early swim. It was 6am, bless them. As they came near, they asked where we caught it.

They examined it really closely and they couldn’t tell it was fake. Before the animatronic team could answer, I replied with an evil smile that we caught it half a mile from the beach. And now we were going out looking for the mum that was probably twice the size. Ours was 8 feet. With a nervous giggle the tourists meekly returned to their hotel saying that maybe the water was too cold. That just to tell you how life-like the shark was. The poor silicone beast took a real bashing but mixed with real shark footage, no way you could tell who was who. Sharks truly are my favourite creatures. I’ve filmed them many times, and I never cease to be amazed by their sleek perfection.

If you film underwater on location, it is important to understand the factors affecting visibility. Sun position, clouds, micro-organisms, bottom composition etc, are all factors that affect the clarity of the image. Light loss or selective colour absorption with depth happens within a couple of meters of the surface. First you lose red, then at around 7 ½ meters you lose orange, then yellow, green and blue at about 37m. Therefore, when discussing a project it is very important to liaise with the art department on colours and also the materials that they intend to use in the set underwater.

The majority of filming is done reasonably shallow, I would say max 10m and often much less in a tank. That’s because you can create the illusion of depth just a couple of meters under the surface allowing everybody, especially performers, to work safely and for longer.

I have the utmost respect for anybody who can perform underwater, especially when wearing clothes and not wearing a mask. Movements are difficult, it’s very strenuous and you can’t see past the tip of your nose, never mind hitting marks, smiling or pretending to drown. Because water slows everything down, everything always looks very graceful and elegant but at the same time it’s quite easy to make it look ominous or powerful. The choice of equipment is very important, personally I like to go down with as little equipment as possible to improve hydro-dynamics and avoid ending up entangled in the set. Diving re-breather allows me to dive without blowing any bubbles and normally, directors love that. While shooting underwater it is very common to hear on a film set the command “Hold your bubbles” that translates into, “hold your breath”.

And as any scuba diver knows, the first rule of scuba diving is, never hold your breath.

Safety is paramount, and the United Kingdom has been one of the first countries to put in place safety regulations when it comes to diving at work. On the 1st April 1998 the Diving at Work regulation came into force regulating all work performed in UK waters, even if unpaid. The Health and Safety Executive enforces these directives without compromise or complacency. More countries are following the UK, implementing strict laws to avoid accidents while underwater. In any case, common sense and following the advice of qualified and experienced people should prevail; especially on a film set where we regularly mix electricity with water.

I had a traditional training, coming up through the ranks. I even did steadicam before becoming a director of photography. But I have to say filming underwater is the most awesome feeling, especially when so many people are working to achieve an image. It’s a great perspective for filmmakers. Most of the audience have no personal experience of our world from down there. Their imaginations have to work that little bit harder to make sense of what they’re seeing. I hope there’s always something surprising or mysterious in what we get.

Franz Pagot, Director of Photography AIC, MBKS, GBCT