I have had the fortunate experience of going on the aircraft carrier John F Kennedy for eight days, to film behind the scenes real story of their experiences on their way to Lebanon. I got this permission because the Navy had seen other documentaries that I have made on the American military and believed that I could make a fair representation of the real story. I had no navy PR people watching while I was filming. I had three other documentary cameramen with me on the ship. We decided to follow 3 sailors who we had selected in advance. We followed them and their families in the last days before they went to sea and for their first week on the cruise. One of those sailors worked on the flight deck. One was the XO of the John F. Kennedy aircraft carrier and a Top Gun pilot as well. I loved being on the Kennedy with 5800 sailors.
I planned my filming so that we would focus heavily on the moment when the F-14s came from shore and landed on the Kennedy. I focused all three of my cameramen including me giving a sense of what it was like on that flight deck. That is how I managed to film this scene, a part of the hour long documentary that I produced. The documentary ran in prime time on PBS and was their second most watched show that year - 1986. That is a long time ago but many who have gone to sea have told me that some things have changed but the basic character of the sailors on the ship has not.
As I was filming this sequence, I was almost killed several times for stepping in the wrong place at the wrong time. Had it not been for sailors taking care of me, in a few cases pushing me out of the way with great force, I'm afraid that I would not have been able to make another movie as I would've been bounced into the Atlantic ocean by the chain
The aircraft carrier was designed to project American power around the world and to be used when necessary and to work flawlessly when needed. It is an incredibly powerful nautical system functioning on what feels like its own planet, removed from everything on land.
If you search the words "aircraft carrier" on my RU-vid channel you will find other clips from this documentary. I am most proud of it and I am pleased that so many ex-Navy personnel are commenting when they watch this and other scenes from the film.
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Thank you.
16 июл 2024
