25 September 2013
At the beginning of the month, the team at the Port were extremely excited to hear the news that Phenomenon Pictures Ltd would be shooting the final scene of the film Black Sea at Shoreham. The Black Sea is due for release in 2014 and stars two-time Academy Award nominee Jude Law. Ben Mangham, Location Manager at Phenomenon Pictures Ltd said “It’s a British feature film and we were all very well looked after by Shoreham and, yes we did film at the Western Arm. Jude Law is in the film but he was not present during filming on those days.
Ben continued “We were looking to film an open water scene and Shoreham was perfect as its right by the coast and we needed a large body of water”. Black Sea centres on a rogue submarine captain (Mr. Law) who, after being laid off from a salvage company, pulls together a misfit crew to go after a sunken treasure rumoured to be lost in the depths of the Black Sea. As greed and desperation take control on board their claustrophobic vessel, the increasing uncertainty of the mission causes the men to turn on each other to fight for their own survival.
On the 9th September the crew arrived to Shoreham to set up their equipment over by the West Breakwater. Keith Wadey, Assistant Port Engineer at Shoreham Port joined the crew to help them unload and position themselves on a pontoon in the water, ready for filming. As senior dive supervisor at the Port, Keith was on hand to apply the necessary Health and Safety measures to ensure the safety of the two actors (both dressed in submarine escape suits) and camera men, all required to be in the water for the final scene.
Keith Wadey added “It was a delicate operation lowering the film crew onto to the water, especially near the harbour entrance when it was in use, but thanks to some prior planning the operation went very smoothly. It was wonderful to meet the crew and talk to the Director Kevin Macdonald. Kevin was happy to answer my questions and discuss in detail the plot of the film, even after I was told off for my radio going off mid-filming!”
Keith continued “It is incredible the amount of work that is involved in making a movie. It took 90 plus people two days to shoot just two and half minutes of footage. For me personally, it was very interesting to see commercial diving used for another purpose outside of construction. We would like to thank Phenomenon Pictures for choosing Shoreham and wish them the best of luck with the rest of the film. We are all very excited about seeing the film when it is released next year”.
