PRODUCTION BENEATH THE SURFACE
WORDS Nicola Foley IMAGES Discovery
Jean-Charles Granjon, DOP on Beneath the Surface: The Fight for Corals, shares the technical feats behind capturing the beauty of an unseen underwater world
B eneath the Surface: The Fight for Corals , a stunning one-off documentary created for Warner Bros Discovery, follows Saudi freediver Salma Shaker on an exploration of the coral reefs along the Red Sea’s northern coast. Delving into groundbreaking scientific research, the film takes viewers from Saudi Arabia to Mexico during the hottest year on record, highlighting the plight of corals, the scramble for solutions and the vital role these ecosystems play in combating climate change. “First and foremost, it’s a plea for the ocean,” sums up DOP Jean-Charles Granjon, whose extensive background in underwater cinematography positioned him perfectly for this project. Over his two-decade career, he’s developed a distinctive approach to filming in aquatic
environments, blending the technical precision of his background in marine biology and diving with a filmmaker’s artistic eye. “I became a filmmaker out of my passion for the ocean. Long before putting any device in front of my eyes, I first spent a lot of time immersed in it, ever since I was 11 years old,” he shares. A big challenge during production was how to depict coral – an organism that often appears static – in a dynamic way on screen. His solution was to explore the coral’s multidimensional nature by altering physical and temporal scales. The use of wide, sweeping movements captured with underwater scooters gave a sense of motion and grandeur, much like a drone captures landscapes on land. Granjon likens this approach to flying a plane between mountains.
FOR STABILITY, WE CHOSE TO SHOOT during the slack period OF THE TIDE”
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