Some of the most breathtaking scenes in the Planet Earth series were filmed in Vietnam's Hang Son Doong Cave. But capturing and showcasing the natural beauty of the world's largest cave presented challenges for the crew in how to light it.
The Emmy-nominated “Extreme” episode of “Planet Earth III” took viewers on a journey into darkness some 700 feet underground in Vietnam. Cinematographer Luke Nelson and his team needed special cameras, lenses and unique lighting equipment to accentuate the beauty of this subterranean world, a world of complete darkness.
Getting there was the first challenge. “It's a two-day walk,” Nelson told Variety's Artisans, presented by HBO. “We had to hire 10 to 15 porters to carry everything: batteries, generators, drones, lenses.”
Once the crew arrived, Nelson used a variety of cameras, from different types of drones to large cinema cameras. While most natural history filmmakers have at least one drone in their toolkit, Nelson had five drones, two of which crashed. “We had everything from small consumer drones to FPV freestyle drones to heavy-lift drones with lights. There wasn't a drone we couldn't fly in those caves,” Nelson said.
Nelson tried to imagine the vastness of the cave, which is unfathomable. He explained: “The darkness is vast, and the cave is deep, so it's pitch black all around. You can see glimpses of static ticks, but there's nothing else, so it's impossible to gauge. So it feels like you're in the middle of a mountain, unless you ask someone to measure it for you.”
Along the way, they discovered species such as translucent cave fish that swim in the dark for years. To light the cave, Nelson used everything from headlamps to cell phone lights to homemade LED panels. “It was hard because we had to make everything battery-powered,” Nelson said.
In dealing with the black, negative space within the cave, Nelson said, “I prioritized lighting to highlight certain elements that I wanted to highlight.”
Nelson found that there were several pockets in the cave where sunlight filtered through for about 30 minutes a day on a clear day, making exposing the scene less difficult than he expected.
“There's so much water and so many reflective surfaces, and there's limestone everywhere, so the sunlight pours down and hits the water and the cave walls,” Nelson said.
He added: “This is a blessing. Nature illuminates herself.”
Check out the video above.
