TV Week
16th December 1987
The Sullivans’ latest special effect is a submarine, but Crawfords find that in filming the silent service they are … All at Sea
THE LAUNCHING of a submarine for The Sullivans has given Crawford Productions a king-size headache.
First, it nearly caused the loss of an $18,000 camera and second, the scenes have not turned out as well as expected and may have to be scrapped.
“We’re experimenting at the moment,”’ associate producer David Hinrichsen said. “With the camera, we just managed to grab it before it fell in completely. But we got some water on the film so that was soggy before it went into the laboratory.”’
A more serious point is that the scenes have not been working.
“There are a lot of problems,” David said. “It’s just not working.
“We’re using a 10-inch plastic submarine in a six-inch deep pool and we can’t get the right effect.
“We don’t have the money to go into it on a full scale which is a shame because it looks as if we will have to change the whole concept of the script.”
Other models have been used at regular intervals in The Sullivans with more success. Among those have been a six-inch radio controlled battleship and various types of radio-controlled planes.
“Our most successful model was an Italian biplane,” David said. ‘It was a desert scene and we had it under radio control. It had to fly over and drop a bomb. It was very effective.
“‘A few weeks ago we filmed a model Zero and that worked well, too. Unfortunately we have to experiment with the submarine a lot more.”
— BRETT STAVORDALE
Original content copyright TV Week.
Thanks to TV Week Appreciation Page.