By the time we got around to filming 'Beauty in Darkness', had done a bit of caving - all local. On the other hand, Rob (Goodman) had done a bunch, including many trips to the caving mecca, 'Germany Valley', in West Virginia, with quite a few 'big drops' under his belt. As mentioned earlier, was a pretty intense guy and when it came to anything technical, from ropework to rebuilding a two-stroke Honda engine, knew the system inside-out. We'd been in 'Opperman Cave' (aka: 'Casparis Cave') many times since the early 80's - no big deal - a few tight spots, a bit of crawling, but mostly a walk underground with quite a few cool rooms and formations, with an underground stream and waterfall ta' boot. Pretty interesting cave. Had a good idea how to light and photograph the place - lets shoot some film!
Did some lighting tests inside the 'Casparis Mine' just up the road. Intended to shoot color negative motion picture film. Couldn't get consistent exposure and/or focus in the low lighting that we were happy with - film and processing wasn't cheap - and we had to get this right the first time - no time for learning. Video tape had been making great strides. HI8 was the foremost video-tape format at the time - looked good - so picked up a Canon ES4000 video camera and some tapes. Turned out to be great in low light conditions - had in-camera playback mode, so if we screwed up a shot we'd know immediately (instead of a week later after screening a film workprint) - better yet, a company called 'EWA Marine' made a pretty nice, relatively inexpensive, underwater housing for the rig - something we had yet to consider. Good thing - the housing for the Bolex H16 (film) camera cost a mint (plus, the camera intended for use was a spring-wound motor drive exposing maybe 20 seconds of film per crank). The whole video system was small and lightweight ta' boot - so HI8 it was.
We had intended to power the (auxiliary) lighting system using a 4000w gasoline generator (weight 100lbs+ on two six-inch wheels) which we manually wheeled, hauled, dropped, flipped, tripped over, ran over toes, pinched fingers on tree trunks and were occasionally drug the rough half-mile down the hillside to the cave entrance the night before the "shoot". Two hundred feet of 12 gauge electric power cord would get us to the first "room" - camera accessory lighting would suffice to all points beyond. Rob supplied an in-line (electric two-prong) "intercom" system, so as to be able to communicate with the guy outside manning the generator - no wirelesss communication inside the cave. Dropped all this stuff off and was out of the woods just past nightfall - went back home for the night - and decided to double check all the figures one last time. Found out that I had inaccurately scaled the distance to the first room - is 400 feet, not 200 - not good - voltage drop for the cables beyond that distance (theoretically) would not power the lights, and 400 feet was out of the question. Called everyone with the bad news - they all "jacked" me to no end, deservedly so. Went up the next day to retrieve the generator and rest of the gear. In an impressive display of strength and endurance, Matt (Burnsworth) and Rob carried the generator non-stop the entire distance the half-mile uphill from cave to car - all the time bouncing and swinging from the nylon slings attached mid-distance to the ten-foot tree limb bearing on their shoulders - step'n over or duck'n downed trees and branches - resembled two african Ubangi tribesmen carrying fallen prey out of the jungle - and all the while bitchin' at me.
Back to the drawing board. Got it right this time. Picked up a few 100w, 12v DC quartz halogen work lights from the local auto parts store ($10 each!!) and three Bescor 12v battery packs from BH Photo - made some minor modifications to the work lights - worked like a charm - and even better considering that it was all auxillary. Was easy to transport, and we could position lighting anyway we wished throughout - back, side, above, below, multiple - could screen and flag 'em - great!
Everyone still had faith, and we headed back up two or three weeks later, and this time everything went without a hitch. Was still a lot of work transporting several large Pelican Cases of gear through the initial tight squeeze and crawl, and back out again. Filming wise - got everything right the first time. Wound up at a final 1.5:1 shooting ratio - had budgeted for 2.5:1 if shooting film! Was never really happy that we didn't show any cave wildlife, however. Returned around 2006 and photographed a few brown bats which was re-edited into the final 'print'.....
...here's Rob with a lighting system we designed and built - fit into a watertight military ammo box - open it up - flip up the fully articulated twin lights mounted inside the lid - and plug into the 12v battery pack. Equipped with automobile auxiliary lights - don't recall the wattage, but a bit too intense for video photography - was burning out all the shots - built some diffusion filters, but to no avail - a bit too bright. Only used 'em at the last shot of the video, backlighting the waterfall. "Lots of fun" dragging them around, however...
... pretty cool formations, throughout - some colorful flowstone above...
... don't even know how to describe this - maybe 'Alien - SWPA' - kinda creepy.... anyway - found a few photos from the "archives"....
... cave entrance - photo from (our) first ever visit - probably around '82 - check out the "18-inch guns" on this guy - "heavy liftin' days" for sure... first time visit was definitely the best... lots more fun if your a bit "apprehensive" (stupid) and not sure you know what you're doing...
... ditto...
... the tight squeeze - "at times too tight to turn ones head" - true....
... lots of high-tech gear and clothing back then...
... ditto...
... anyway, definitely a "gem" - enjoy it while ya' still can - only advice we have - do yourself a favor and go to 'Dick's Sporting Goods' and purchase some knee pads beforehand...
... and oh ... don't go alone - cave demons...
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