Captain Cousteau shot his first film , Par Dix-huit mètres
de fond (Ten Fathoms Down), in 1942, diving while holding
his breath, using an old Kinamo 35mm camera in a watertight
case. A year later, with the Aqua-Lung, he shot his second
film, Epaves (Shipwrecks) and for this one, he could take
his time. The Cousteau team's inventions have made filming
undersea life possible, so that people can learn to understood
and love it.
Light was
the first problem that undersea expeditions confronted:
the sea that is so blue and clear at the surface plunges
into total obscurity at depth. Artificial lighting has
resolved the obstacle of darkness and let the Cousteau
team film marine life with such good results!
In 1948, Cousteau
used powerful lights linked to the surface by an electric
cable to produce the first underwater footage filmed in
color. Cousteau team studied the behavior of light rays
in water so they could refine their undersea photography
and filming. Reds are absorbed first, then yellows, greens
and blues. The team needed artificial lighting to render
undersea landscapes with the full range of tints, beginning
just a few meters below the surface.
In 1963, when
World Without Sun was shot, those early days of filming
were well past. Calypso had kilometers of cables and a
dozen cameras available. For filming in low light, Cousteau
used an " owl eye ", an electronic device that
multiplies ambient light. Using the owl eye, which requires
just the faintest light, he filmed the behavior of nautiluses
for the first time.
Since most
marine animals swim more quickly than humans, Cousteau
developed underwater scooters that he used for The Silent
World. These little " lawnmowers with propellers
" were very maneuverable, reached a speed of 5 km/h
and could operate for an hour at a time.
In 1970, compressed-air
tanks inside the scooters made work easier for the divers.
The " wet submersible ", refined and streamlined,
with a Plexiglas nose and a brace to support the pilot's
body, was connected to the user only by the mouthpiece.
It proved much more practical both for launching into
the water and for navigating.
