By SBLT Tim Slater

HMAS Warrnambool
(MPEG video 2.43 MB)

A camera crew from SBS television has joined HMAS Rankin for a four month deployment to South Korea and Hawaii. Footage will be edited into a six-part documentary that will go to air next year.

Photo: ABPH Karen Bailey

A look at what life might be like onboard HMAS Rankin while the new reality show is being filmed. Our cartoon has been provided by ABPH Kade Rogers.

It was lights, cameras, and plenty of action for the ships company of HMAS Rankin as the Navy’s newest submarine set sail for its first major deployment last month.
The submarine and her crew are the subject of a six-part television documentary, the first in more than 20 years to feature an RAN submarine.

It will be seen on SBS television next year.

Director Hugh Piper and cameraman Paul Warren are embarked in Rankin for four months during the deployment South East Asia and Rimpac 04.

Mr Piper is directing the program for Perth-based production company Electric Pictures. One of his most recent productions was a six-part series for ABC television’s Reality Bites last year called A Case for the Coroner.

But working in an enclosed environment for such a long period is a whole new ball game for the filmmakers. They have been to sea in Rankin recording pre-deployment training activities with the Sea Training Group earlier this year, which gave them a small taste of what was to come.

“I’ve now been out about four times and each time I do it become more and more intrigued and fascinated and swept into it,” Mr Piper said.

“I am really looking forward to doing the journey.

By being there on the spot I’m getting an incredible insight into what people do.”

Mr Piper is confident the documentary will be compelling viewing and unlike any other submarine documentary ever produced.
“It’s great that the Navy has allowed us the sort of access that they have because it’s very dramatic,” he said.

“I was astounded.

I have seen a lot of documentaries on submarines and I really haven’t seen anything like this.

Everybody will be very happy with the way the story is told and in terms of what emerges.”

HMAS Rankin’s Commanding Officer, LCDR Steve Hussey, is enthusiastic about the documentary as it will give the public an unprecedented insight into submarine life.

He said most people just heard about submarines leaving on deployment, coming back and some vague comments about what they did while they were away.

“It will be good to see from the start, through the maintenance period, the training and the deployment itself, the things that we have to do to get that submarine through a sixmonth deployment,” LCDR Hussey said.

“It will be good for the TV audience because I’m sure people will find it interesting. “But it will also be good for us because it is a chance for us to say this is what we do and this is how we do it.”

LCDR Hussey said he was confident viewers would be pleased and impressed with the quality of his crew. “And they’ll also get to know these people personally and actually see that they’re a bunch of guys and girls, as in any walk of life, but professionally they are just very good at what they do,” he said.

Mr Piper said the idea for the documentary came from Electric Pictures researcher Greg Colgan who had a long standing interest in the Submarine Service.

“He knew that the Collins class submarines had had a certain amount of success in recent activities and probably sensed that maybe the Navy was ready to open the doors a little bit to explore this idea,” Mr Piper said.

Mr Piper said the six 30-minute programs also would be broadcast overseas but negotiations were continuing to secure the rights.

He expected it would be seen in the UK, US, Europe and Japan.

“I’m hoping the documentary will give an insight into how these really quite extraordinary pieces of equipment work and the people who work in them,” Mr Piper said.

“What appeals to me as film maker is the idea of a bunch of talented people inside an enclosed environment working hard to achieve something and that by its nature delivers a strong story.”

The film crew will be using plenty of video tape to record the documentary and already they have consumed 60 rolls of 40 minutes each, out of a total batch of 350 rolls.

That’s an incredible 233 hours of tape that has to be cut down to just three hours of television. They will be recording most of the program on Sony PD170 miniDV cameras and will also be using footage shot from helicopters and on mounts attached to the submarine for diving and underwater shots.

There are also plans to create sophisticated computer graphics to complement the footage.

The program is scheduled to be broadcast on SBS in February and March next year.

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