Eating Tornadoes for Dinner
Producer Kim George sat down with StormStock founder and cinematographer Martin Lisius to chat about chasing and filming storms.
Kim: What kind of equipment do you use that is unique to filming storms?
Martin: For the past few years, I’ve been shooting with a RED DSMC, Komodo and Sony FS7 on 4K or higher. All of these cameras are great and give me the cinematic look I like. Really, the only things unique to capturing storms are the need to employ a fast lens for dark shots, and the use of a camera rain coat when shooting hurricanes.
Kim: What hurdles do you face when filming severe weather?
Martin: I think keeping up with a storm and safety are the two biggest challenges. I usually memorize the nearby roads to make it easier to track a storm and always have an escape route or two. And, blowing dust and rain can be an issue. I have to limit lens changes and spend quite a bit of time keeping them free of dirt and rain drops.
Kim: How do you prepare to film different types of extreme weather? i.e. tornadoes verses hurricanes? Lightning verses sunsets?
Martin: That’s a great question because they are very different from one another. I use longer lenses for tornadoes, and hurricanes require a good camera rain coat, along with lots of paper towels to keep things dry. Filming a hurricane is like filming in your bathroom shower for hours, except the water is flying sideways. Everything is constantly wet and sometimes fogs up. Sunsets are pretty easy and laid back. Lightning is the most unique subject because it requires some careful calculations relating to shutter speed and lens aperture settings. With lightning, you have to set exposure before the subject is ever in front of the lens.
Kim: What type of severe weather is the most difficult to film and why?
Martin: That’s easy to answer. Hurricanes! They can be quite challenging. You have to deal with intense rain and wind while being constantly mindful of where you are and what safety measures you should be employing at that moment. It is an exercise in situational awareness. And, the aftermath can be difficult with disabled infrastructure and trees and other debris blocking roadways. You earn every bit of your pay. I would not recommend it to anyone.
Kim: What have you not yet filmed that you have a great desire to capture?
Martin: I would like to film a “double wedge” tornado. A “wedge” tornado is large and fat in shape. Having two on the ground at the same time is extremely rare. I have captured as many as three tornadoes in the frame, but they weren’t wedges.
Kim: What has been the most difficult shot that you have filmed and what did you have to do to capture it?
Martin: We were able to capture a series of shots through the window of an abandoned farmhouse in Texas as a severe storm was in-progress. We had to get ahead of the approaching storm, find the house, go inside and setup a camera slider on the sill of a window facing the storm, and setup the camera before it arrived. We had only 3 minutes to do all of that. While there, the house swayed back and forth and our gear was coated in dust, but we got the shot!
Kim: What shot did you miss that you regret?
Martin: Well, there are a lot of tornado shots I’ve missed just because they were so brief and it takes time to stop and setup a camera. Some of those, and some pretty incredible lightning I’ve seen just have to be enjoyed without filming them.
Kim: What achievement have you accomplished that you are most proud of?
Martin: It was a major accomplishment for me to film a series of storms on 16K without actually using a 16K camera. For that, I had to create a system and workflow using two Canon 5DS DSLRs and carefully stitching those images together. It was a lesson in groundbreaking image capture and post production. I can also count my filming of Hurricane Katrina as an accomplishment. I never felt I was in danger despite it being an extremely dangerous storm. I was completely comfortable because I was controlling where I was physically. Still, it was a lot of work. Fortunately, I was able to shoot Katrina (2005) on HD video and Super 35mm film which we recently transferred to 4K at Colorlab in Maryland. The Katrina content is exceptional and exclusive to our StormStock collection.
Kim: Is your job fun?
Martin: Yes it is. It’s hard work but it’s also fun because I get to be in and around some of the most spectacular storms that exist. Each trip is like going to see a movie produced by Mother Nature with a front row seat featuring sight, sound, wind, and the smell of rain.
Kim George is a producer at Prairie Pictures, a Texas-based media production company.
Martin Lisius is a producer, director and cinematographer. He created StormStock in 1993 to provide premium weather and climate footage for high-end film and TV productions.