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OCKED OUT ON THE WATER WITH
A FULLY REUNITED TAKE THAT
with the look of it. But the Forrest Gump thing is tricky because the whole point is they’re racing and they just keep on rowing after the race is over.
“Trying to get that was tricky because the rowers we used were proper rowers, international athletes rather than actors. So for Mat to get the performance he did was good.”
Locations used included the boathouse at Dorney Lake – a 2012 Olympic venue - for establishing shots which introduced the band members in sequence, with rejoining alumnus Robbie seen after colleagues Mark Owen,
Jason Orange, Howard Donald and Gary Barlow have walked out with the specially adapted five man scull on their shoulders.
“That boathouse worked for
the interior, and it was also deemed the safest place to start the guys rowing because it’s all very controlled on Dorney Lake. There were some big lights around, but we did some stuff afterwards in the grade because I didn’t want to filter the whole picture.
“We knew we had a white boat and white outfits so we also knew if we went for an antique suede it would go through everything but what we wanted was something a little bit more subtle. Simone [Grattarola] at Rushes graded it and we went for the look you see in the film, though I don’t know what you’d describe it as.
“We always knew we wanted it to look period but it also had to have some level of contemporariness to it, so we didn’t want a big period grade across the whole thing. The skin tones are sort of richer and browner and that brings out the wood as well, but we were able to keepthewhitesabitcleanerwhich was really what we wanted.”
The usual sleight of hand required for any film ensured the stars of the piece were not in too much peril during the open water sequences, from Dorney to Staines, to Putney and alongside the Palace of Westminster.
“I’ve rowed up around there, and it can be quite hairy because there’s
really big boats and when the tide’s high the water is horrible, it bounces you around. Those boats are tiny they’re sitting in. And on the last day they hit something in the water, which is quite common on the Thames, to hit something in the water. That was a wrap.”
Although not expert rowers themselves Wild points out that
the members of Take That did
bring a cohesive quality to their performance, even from the moment they skilfully worked together to lower the boat into the water.
“Some rowers showed them how to do it and they said they could do that but it would be much better if they actually did it in step,” he adds, “so it looks really neat and beautiful. They’re really good, they worked really hard and instantly got all the things that the coaches told them.
“For instance someone told Mark to sit up a little bit more at stroke and he just did it. Sometimes a coach will spend six months trying to get a new rower to do something like that but because they’re so body aware through all their dance routines they could just do it. It was brilliant.” ANWARBRETT
Take That’s The Flood was originated on 35mm Fujicolor ETERNA 250T 8553 and ETERNA 500T 8573
MUSIC PROMO
FUJIFILM MOTION PICTURE • THE MAGAZINE • EXPOSURE • 19
Photos: the re-united boy band take to the water in scenes from their new music promo The Flood; left: DP Ed Wild