DEMOLITION PREP
Director Robert Erickson documents the demolition of a dormitory on a college campus to compare the process with what conspiracy theorists claim took place in the twin towers and caused them to fall.
SATURDAY 11/22/08 - THE DAY OF THE BIG BANG
Another cold morning in Louisiana. But the wind had diminished so it was all tolerable.
Jim showed up on the site and began to install the plumbing... the detonators and fuses that put in the proper delays. He wanted to blow the front two columns and then have a dramatic pause while the building reconsidered the load... then blow the outside columns and watch it fall. All this in just 20 seconds.
Crew showed up at 8AM. Don (Camera) Scott (Audio) and John (2nd Camera). We did a walk and talk with Jim about the detonators. He reflected on the massive amounts of such things would have been needed to blow the WTC.
We caught up with Brent and shot some B-roll as he placed a seismograph. They monitor the waves hitting all the surrounding buildings—that limits their liability in case cracks show up.
Brent got wound up on the conspiracy theorists and how they play whack-a-mole—coming up with new idiocies once each argument is defeated.
Next we placed all the cameras. The lipstick cam on the fence. A Varicam up on a high angle. The Sony HDV we set up on a close shot to monitor the early explosions. It was the closest camera to the action. I got a piece of glass from Brent to tape on the front of the lens incase the cement got feisty.
Second Varicam we place directly in front of where the building was to lay down.
We could hear the jazz band playing a funeral dirge. A large crowd was gathering. The raffle identified the person to push the button—Jim Nabors' son. He’d purchased $650 in raffle tickets.
At 10:45 we rolled the cameras and were escorted off the site.
The explosion was touched off at 11AM. The building took a long time to react but finally succumbed to the dynamite. A large dust cloud drifted toward the crowd. They ran for safety. The dust dissipated quickly in the easterly wind.
The building crumpled into a large pile of debris—except for the elevator shaft... it tilted but did not fall over as hoped. The demolition team will have to climb up and take care of that. They needed to weaken more of the rebar and cement structure.
We checked all the cameras and had good shots. We lucked out with the clear glass piece in front of the Sony. The HDV had taken a hit from the shrapnel and the glass lens had a hole the size of a quarter. But the wide angle lens was unharmed.
We took some shots of the aftermath. Brent gave us a walk around discovering bits of the detonation, fuses, wires etc. The kind of stuff never found at the WTC. No evidence of such a controlled demolition was ever found.
As the big crane moved in to begin attacking the debris—we wrapped the cameras and went to lunch.
Ultimately we have the elements to make a strong act... or perhaps two... showing the amazing effort it takes to implode a nine-story building—not to mention a 105-story building.
Robert, Director
^M
