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Re: Tornado Alley

Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2011 1:20 pm
by greensyboy
Oh My Gosh!

What a deal - this is awesome. Good work Jane for organising. If there is still room, I'd love to come to Option A (7pm, $20). I'll email you with the details.

Thanks for all the hard work - it's going to be a great night!

Greensyboy.

Re: Tornado Alley

Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2011 8:50 pm
by AUSSKY
Go for it - have had 1 person drop out because of a work commitment, so there's still a couple of tickets at $20 available..so far there are 44 of our closest stormchasing friends :D going that I know of!!

Re: Tornado Alley

Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2011 6:56 pm
by Meso
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^ Clip from 6:30 last night with Sean Casey.

Re: Tornado Alley

Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2011 11:19 pm
by Rivergirl
Thanks so much for organising this night AUSSKY, was great to finally meet you and some others. Sean's movie was awesome and I had a great night. Thanks to Chris for the ride in with Karl. Here's a pic of Karl and me at the Imax :P

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Re: Tornado Alley

Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2011 11:54 pm
by Lily
:hysteria:

Was so sad I couldn't come, was thinking of you all tonight.

Re: Tornado Alley

Posted: Fri Sep 23, 2011 9:19 am
by Karl Lijnders
Was so much fun!! We should all go to the movies again! LOL!

Thanks Robyn for also adding the back of my head through photoshop :D

Re: Tornado Alley

Posted: Fri Sep 23, 2011 9:24 am
by AUSSKY
A brilliant night was had by all!!!!

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Re: Tornado Alley

Posted: Fri Sep 23, 2011 9:27 am
by AUSSKY
and then there was a bit of silly stuff!!!

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Re: Tornado Alley

Posted: Fri Sep 23, 2011 10:46 am
by Rivergirl
Hope I got the back of your head right Karl :) Love the group image AUSSKY and also your pic :P

An article from The Age online today

Chasing the perfect storm
Carolyn Webb
September 23, 2011.

The raw power of nature inspires Sean Casey to film inside tornadoes.

THE natural response to encountering a hurtling, screaming tornado is to get the hell out of its path.

But US reality filmmaker Sean Casey drives towards twisters, and says the screen result is worth the odd near-death experience.

In one nail-biting scene in his new IMAX documentary, Tornado Alley, he drives north-east on a collision course with a tornado heading north in Minnesota.

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A scene from the IMAX movie Tornado Alley. Photo: Supplied

He makes it across its path with metres to spare. Scary stuff but it does make for extraordinary footage.

It felt like ''the entire horizon'' was rotating, Casey recalled on a visit to Melbourne on Wednesday. ''The trees are dominoing, collapsing 40, 50 feet behind us, one after the other.''

He felt ''reasonably safe'' in his custom-built, seven-tonne armoured tank, or Tornado Intercept Vehicle. In 12 years in the storm-chasing game, ''we've never been thrown or hit by massive pieces of debris … maybe it's the luck of the Irish. But we've gotten incredible footage.

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Tornado Alley Photo: Supplied

''There's no other moving picture that has the resolution as an IMAX camera; the images have the power and therefore, for me, the worth, to risk more than I normally would.''

Tornado Alley refers to the vast band of the central US, from northern Texas to South Dakota, frequented by twisters.

Casey goes there each April, May and June to experience tornadoes close-up. Sometimes it's with scientists analysing how tornadoes form. But usually it's a boy's own adventure.

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Sean Casey. Photo: Supplied

''It's about seeing the extreme and powerful, beautiful weather that exists in Tornado Alley.''

Casey grew up in a dull weather spot, the Hollywood Hills, but trained as a cameraman with his father George, an intrepid, Academy Award-nominated documentary maker.

He spent long stretches in places like the Serengeti in Africa - using hide-outs and solid vehicles to ensure he was not eaten by lions, while striving for ''exceptional footage''.

Then in 1999 Casey helped film the tornado aspect of an IMAX documentary Natural Disasters: Forces of Nature.

''I fell instantly head over heels with storm chasing. It was something beyond my experience, having grown up in California, to be near these massively violent super-cells, and all that energy and beauty.

''It was very immersive filming because you're going underneath these storms, you're encountering the hail, the lightning, the rain. It's very dramatic.

''Initially we were chasing in these rented mini-vans, and if you saw something you wanted to film, you had to stop, pull out your tripod and throw the camera on it.

''Usually what you saw that you wanted to film had changed by the time you were ready.''

The first tornado he filmed, in Nebraska, was eight kilometres away.

''I felt like we'd hit the jackpot but now if I saw a tornado from that distance, I wouldn't even film it.'' Even so, ''my adrenalin was pumping, I was utterly thrilled''.

In 2003, he built the tank, enabling him to make the National Geographic channel documentary Tornado Intercept, which led to the Discovery Channel series Storm Chasers, now in its fifth series. He combined IMAX filming into Storm Chasers shoots. He can shoot just two minutes and 50 seconds of IMAX footage before having to load new film.

''I'm always mindful of how much film I have left, and what's happening outside, so that you're not caught in that really awful moment, of having to reload when things are jaw-droppingly beautiful.''

He loves what he does. ''Of course you're in a vehicle but you're inside these storms. The lightning is so intense that you can feel the concussion waves from their strikes, there's hail the size of grapefruit, and encountering just the raw power of nature. It's exhilarating, it truly is.''

His highlight came in Wyoming in 2006 when he shot from inside a tornado with a condensation funnel that reached the ground.

''Sometimes the form of the condensation tunnel doesn't go all the way to the ground, it ends suspended, and when you're right next to them you see the ground swirling, but you don't see the actual funnel.

''This tornado formed in front of us and got stronger and stronger and finally came directly at us and hit us. At first it feels like the winds are sucking you into this thing that's coming at you. Then the wind shifts as the tornado hits you, you're being sandblasted, a cacophony of sound tearing over you, you're inside the roar of that tornado.

''All the debris is flying into my window as I'm filming, the whole vehicle is shuddering and there's all the colourful language used by the crew.

''It was this moment of sheer adrenalin and panic, yet exhilaration.''

Tornado Alley is showing at Melbourne Museum IMAX cinema.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/ ... z1YjRHsX62" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Re: Tornado Alley

Posted: Fri Sep 23, 2011 4:33 pm
by AUS_Twisted
Thanks Jane for organising everything, was good to meet more people from the forums. Awesome film for sure, def need to see it again one day to recapture some of those scenes!

Re: Tornado Alley

Posted: Fri Sep 23, 2011 5:28 pm
by Geoff
Now in the group photo, I know Karl is huge, and Twister is just colossal, so who is the guy under the "X" and is he stood on a chair? :o

Re: Tornado Alley

Posted: Fri Sep 23, 2011 6:37 pm
by Rivergirl
Hey Geoff, I think that was Roger and he would have been standing on something I'd say. No one was taller than Twister :)

Re: Tornado Alley

Posted: Fri Sep 23, 2011 7:07 pm
by Meso
Looks like you guys had a ripping time! Shattered I couldn't make it, but thats what happens when you live in the sticks!

Anyone get a chance to chat to Sean?

Someone should do a left-right with all the names of the people in the photo. Be nice to put some names to faces.

And does anyone know how long the film will run for? I'd like to make a trip down the wknd after the Grand Final if it's still on. Might do the Tornado Alley/Harry Potter double lol

Re: Tornado Alley

Posted: Fri Sep 23, 2011 10:43 pm
by Rivergirl
I heard last night that Stormchasers is starting again next week on Discovery channel here in Australia but I can't find any listings for it. Can someone please tell me the date it will start. Thanks :)

Re: Tornado Alley

Posted: Fri Sep 23, 2011 11:15 pm
by Meso
Doubt it, Rivergirl. The US Premiere is the 25th I think...give or take a day or two. Australia is usually months behind.

Best to learn how to use torrents and watch it as it airs from the US. Personally, I can't wait, gonna be a great season with all the F4/F5's they had!

Re: Tornado Alley

Posted: Fri Sep 23, 2011 11:39 pm
by Rivergirl
OK thanks Meso that makes sense. Yep I've got torrents, just never get round to downloading things but I will for this. Thanks

Re: Tornado Alley

Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2011 9:50 pm
by AUSSKY
Everyone got the chance to talk to Sean, he mingled quite happily with the crowd...he & Clyve were talking about chase vehicles, and he was happy to share his experiences with everyone...
Meso, check the IMAX site - it will have the dates, the DVD will be out in a year or so.

Meso - if you are on FB that photos on my page (http://www.facebook.com/AUSSKY" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) and is tagged

Re: Tornado Alley

Posted: Wed Oct 19, 2016 9:35 am
by SC.

Re: Tornado Alley

Posted: Wed Oct 19, 2016 11:16 am
by Rivergirl
Fantastic! Thanks SC