Chris Hansen
Chris worked for me as an
underwater technician and an underwater camera assistant for many
years. So many years in fact it that he became like he a brother
to me.
When an assistant is new to the crew of Watervisions we take the new
trainee on a dive to see how they perform as a diver but more important
how they work as a member of the team. On one of the first ocean
dives with Chris we were diving in the open ocean around a very high
tidal area called Race Rocks. That day, as our guest, we were
diving with the publisher of the Playback Magazine, the
'Hollywood Reporter' of Canada. Once we were set in place diving in a
spectacular spot out of the fast currents, Chris noticed that we were
finished and we were just going to hang out. He decided to go for
a little jaunt and signaled me he would be back. We were busy
ourselves being surrounded by very large sea lions that stick very
close to you when killer whales are searching in the area for a good
meal. This was enough excitement for us but not for Chris so he
dove into the wall of current, like going through a portal in Stargate
and disappeared. I was very concerned but I did not abandon my
post with my crew to chase after him. I figured he would end up a
couple miles away floating and we would have to pick him up. At
the end of the dive I concentrated on having the crew safely return to
the boat and just as he popped into the current vortex Chris popped
right out. Perfect timing. Leaving the crew behind was a no
no but I realized like the seal lions, after diving with Chris, like
myself who is more at home in the ocean, that he was truly a child of
the sea. Years later we went back to shoot a Scuba Cow milk commercial
in that very same location. This commercial was a great
success and was written up by Playback Magazine. Chris is seen on the
front cover standing with the producer and the Scuba Cow. This
commercial played for over 8 years on TV in British Columbia.
After that I never worried about Chris and Diving.
We went on to
make beautiful music together on that medium called celluloid also
known as film. Show after show we teamed up as underwater
technician and underwater cinematographer. Then we became underwater
focus puller and cinematographer and eventually Chris became an
operator of film and HD cameras and I moved into the more organizing
and overseeing role of Director of Photography.
On a show that Watervisions produced called "A Last
Wild Salmon"
Chris Hansen put his foot down and demanded that this very pregnant
producer stay back at the office and he would travel to all the
destinations as the underwater camera cinematographer. I
agreed. With that Chris and crew dawned cameras and traveled all
over the province of British Columbia and completed the underwater
sections of the film. The film went on to be a finalist of the
New York Film Festival, Leo award winner for cinematography, and
a finalist of the International Wildlife Film Festival. It sold
all over the world and is used in Schools and Libraries as a teaching
tool even to this day.
The many dives over the 18 years we worked together
are too numerous to list but here are some highlights.
Chris volunteered to wear a helmet, kneepads and
elbow pads and
covering a film camera with protection, projected himself into white
water behind a stuntman. He never lost the stuntman in the frame
but at one point both stuntman and cameraman, despite all the buoyancy
they had on were completely sucked under, floatation and all. We
all held our breaths. Rescue people were hanging on the cliffs
all around the ranging river waiting like us to see if they would pop
up. It seemed like forever and I counted over three
minutes, the stuntman surfaced and only moments later Chris popped up,
camera still trained on the subject. Amazing. The canyon
filled with the cheers of relief.
Another time Chris and myself ventured off to a
feature film that was
shooting in Belize. We were shooting there for over a
month. We filmed most of the scenes in the real ocean with the
real creatures in our frame. On our days off we used our
own film camera and spent the days hanging around nurse sharks and
stingrays filming our own footage. The shoot was an USA
Network Original Movie filmed in association with Trimark Pictures and
executive produced by The Foxboro Company. The movie won best
picture and best screenplay awards at the New York Inter-national
Independent Film and Video Festival and best picture at the Angelciti
Film Festival in Los Angeles.
Chris went on to win the Canadian Society of
Cinematographers Camera assistants 'Award of Merit' for that film in
Toronto.
Chris moved into the ranks of underwater operator on
a second unit crew
of the Mini Series called "Traffic" based on the movie Traffic. The
tying thread to the story was the underwater
element, which led to the discovery of a ship full of drowned illegal
aliens that had gone down with a ship. If the ship had not gone
down the aliens would of snuck into North America undetected infected
with a plague. In order to shoot these scenes we positioned a
large dive boat over a huge sunken freighter ship and proceeded with
the Underwater RCMP dive team on camera tag teaming to depths of over
100 feet and inside the ship. These shots had to be obtained with
very short dives and very deep. Chris was one of two shooters, I
was the other. We would take turns giving our bodies the rest it
needed to travel to those depths. Chris shot a shot, which
entailed going more than 100 feet down inside the ship and traveling
down a staircase to a door, where the police diver had to open the door
to the drowned people. The result of this filming ended up with a
quote published in the Variety Magazine in Hollywood when it was Emmy
nominated as best mini series. The quote by Eric Bross,
co-director of the series at the Emmy's was about the work by
Watervisions included the words "...not only delivers an
extraordinary texture to the project but also was an incredible dose of
realism, which was crucial to Traffic".
Watervisions became the leading company in Canada
for the source
of underwater production for High Definition. Chris was the first
underwater HD operator in IATSE the film union and accomplished amazing
award winning footage on shows such as Mermaid Chair, Dead Like Me,
Stargate Atlantis, The Guard etc. His footage on the Guard not
only was constantly used to promote the series but also was used in
many episodes and as the main titling and teaser footage throughout the
series.
One of the last great diving moments came when Chris
and I slipped away
and did a small but ambitious film shoot for Parks Canada. We filmed
Grey Whales by Helicopter and by boat. After that Chris and I
went to a secret place where we knew baby grey whales hung out.
Chris dawned an all black wet suit and slipped into the water. He swam
very gingerly up to a mother grey whale who was feeding in the
shallows. He approached her with a stealth movements and silent
breathing. As he got close he slipped underwater and slid under
her tail. There was a baby grey whale, which frolicked with Chris
in the Shallows. She swam right over to him and he obtained a
beautiful shot of the baby approaching him and then spinning under him
so close he had to allow the whale to swim by him to capture the whole
animal. Mom eventually intervened and gave him a gentle push away
with her tail. Chris had not only shot and experience a very rare
encounter but had bragging rights for future dive stories.
As the years added up, the accomplishments added up.
As
Hollywood underwater production companies moved into Canada to compete
for the film union jobs Chris continued to film underwater on special
projects that won awards for their creators.
Chris was the best underwater drama shooter in
Canada when it called
for the realism of shooting in the actual water environment. No
one could touch his diving expertise and fearless adventuring into
shooting in elements where most people would not venture even if they
were given the opportunity.
I was once asked, when Chris had done something that
made me upset, why
I continued to work with Chris for so many years I responded and
said the truth was it was like working with your brother. You may
have a small spat but the lifetime bond with Chris was never going
away. Chris was such a positive force that could never really be
harnessed. Some tried but Chris never let his love for life be
interfered with for very long. A lot of people who met Chris,
even a complete stranger he gave a ride to in his last week felt a
lasting impression.
For myself, I will be in shock for the rest of my
life.
Chris was always there through thick or thin. One time on a
successful Commercial in Montreal we spent many tough days quietly
trying to make equipment given to us with problems work for the
client. During one of the breaks Chris and I retreated to the
camera room to work out again another problem. As we were again trying
to trouble shoot why the video assist would not work when plugged into
the speed control, Chris jokily whispered, "if we just called a
taxi and slipped out the back door do you think anybody would
notice?" The image cut the tension that only he and I felt for in
the eyes of the crew we were doing an amazing job with this old
gear. The thought of us slipping away out the back door and
having the crew wondering what happened to the camera department put me
in a state of hysterical laughter. Chris was a funny
guy!!!! BUT we both knew we would stick it out till the end
but the thought was good. The thought was even genius at
times. A match made in Heaven, part of a team who accomplished so
much and lived life so large. He was one on the corner posts of
many great accomplishments and a partner of Watervisions. A friend, my
brother Chris, I loved you and my children Aaron and Dylan miss
you. You will never be forgotten. Your films and your love will
live on. Goodbye old friend, until we meet again.
Pauline R. Heaton
