The cinematic world has long been enthralled with digital effects, but nothing ruins a movie like unconvincing CGI. Hell, even good CGI does little more than make me say, "That's pretty good CG." Gone is the wonder of how moviemakers created an effect; it's all just done on a computer. But there has been a recent anti-CG insurgence, and films like the recent Prey have avoided CG almost entirely. Black Water is a soon to be released film that thankfully has also gone for real animals instead of digital ones, but in Black Water's case, the animals are estuarine crocodiles. With my interest peaked, I queried Andrew Traucki about his movie.

Devon Bertsch: What was your role on Black Water?

Andrew Traucki: I was the main writer and the live action director. I share the writer and director credit with David Nerlich. David was mainly responsible for the visual FX.

DB: What's the "true story" that Black Water is based on?

Andrew Traucki: There are lots of real stories about crocodiles attacking humans in Australia because as the film states the croc population is increase in Northern Australia, and so is the human population. The story that inspired Black Water was one that involved two teenagers being stuck up a tree in a flooded river because a crocodile that killed their friend came back, and kept circling the base of the tree.

DB: Sounds like a taut, psychological storyline. Do you feel you've effectively pulled it off?

AT: Yes, it is a taut psychological storyline, and I do feel we have pulled it off. The story is solid, the performances are great and the croc rocks.

DB: Obviously you wanted to use real crocodiles so they'd look real, what is the worst crocodilian effect you've seen in a movie?

AT: Quite frankly, I haven't seen a crocodile film that used CGI or models that has been successful yet. I think in all of them you see the crocodile and it looks fake and then the fear or terror of the story just evaporates.

DB: There have been a few other crocodile movies recently, what do you feel sets Black Water apart from them?

AT: We wanted Black Water to be as realistic as possible. It¹s based on a true story. I am also a survival tale junkie. I love true stories about survival. So what sets Black Water apart is that rather than be heavily theatrical, it has been made to be as realistic as possible, sticking to its simple and raw premise (three people must get down a tree and elude a croc to get back to their boat) without being burdened with artificial themes. We want the audience to feel the reality of this event. We want them to think, imagine "If this happened to me, what would I do?" So it stands out because of its lack of artifice; because its raw and real; because we got great performances from both our actors and our real crocs.

DB: The lake in Lake Placid is Black Lake, is this merely coincidence?

AT: Wow I didn't know that - total coincidence.

DB: What sort of croc experts did you have on hand for filming?

AT: We had several professionals assisting us. We had two scientists. The first is biologist who is a doctor in zoology and is very active in the field of crocodile research. The other scientist has published extensively about crocodiles so these guys really knew their crocs. We also had several expert croc wranglers who have to "play" with the big crocs everyday. So these guys really know crocs in the wild.

DB: Who on set was most afraid of the crocs?

AT: Hmmm all of us. You'd be mad not to be frightened of a 10 to 15-foot croc. But the film crew (which only consisted of four of us) having had the least exposure to these big crocs where probably the most scared.

DB: What was the closest call you had with crocodiles during the making of the film?

AT: We had a few close calls. We were having trouble getting the crocs on the lagoon to come up on to a small boat for a scene in the film so we decided to try doing this on land. We put a 12-footer in the boat and every time he leapt over the side he'd charge after one of us. Luckily we were faster but that was scary being chased by a 12-foot croc.

Another close call was when one of the crocs, a big male called Stumpy, almost ate our camera.

DB: Is that the clip from the website?

AT: Yep, the camera being eaten is on the website. Luckily the camera was in a camera housing and we finally managed to wrestle it out of his mouth, but the housing was really badly damaged. Even though it was made of thick plastic he'd managed to puncture it with his teeth all over the place.

DB: The clips on the website appear to have been filmed in farms or parks, is that how you got most of Black Water's croc footage?

AT: Yeah we filmed in croc parks and farms. Big crocs (and that was what we were filming) are very dangerous animals. Trying to get footage we got in the wild would not only have taken forever (crocodiles are very cautious animals) but it would have been extremely dangerous.

DB: Was it hard framing the shots so it looked like the action was taking place in the wild? Or incorporating your human thespians with your reptilian ones?

AT: Yes it was -we have a lot of outtakes. Out of eight 60-minute tapes, we got about three to five minutes of useable footage. Glad we weren't shooting 35mm.

DB: I have a photo of me poking a crocodile in the tail through a fence, would you like that for promotional material?

AT: Thanks for the offer, but we have enough of our own material.

DB: But it's VERY realistic.

AT: …

DB: An obvious comparison to your film would be Open Water. Was the use of real sharks for that film influential on you?

AT: Yes it was. I think using real animals is much more effective and interesting than CGI.

At: The biggest croc was around 15-feet long, but any Saltwater croc over two feet can hurt you. Saltwater crocs are meant to be the most vicious crocodiles. By the time they get over 10-feet they can very seriously injure you.

DB: You've presumably had a lot of time to think about it, so what would YOU do if you were trapped up a tree with a croc below you?

AT: That's a good question. The fact is there is no easy answer; that's what makes the film so compelling. What do you do in this hard situation? If there was an easy solution there wouldn't be much film.

I don't know, maybe I'd get one of the three to get as far away from the tree and out of the water as possible, and create as much disturbance in the water with a stick as possible whilst someone else went for the boat. Crocodiles are attracted to vibrations in the water so maybe this would work...but I doubt it.

DB: Are you planning further forays into the horror genre once Black Water is done?

AT: Totally, I like building tension and trying to scare the shit out of people.

DB: Can you give us any idea as to what your next project might be about?

AT: There is one that is a sci-fi western hybrid that would be a cool film, but it requires a bigger budget, so is harder to get up. There are a few horror thrillers in the pipe, but I don't like to disclose ideas until the scripts are finalised so that's all I'll say for now.

DB: Anything else you'd like to add?

AT: Yeah, I hope Black Water inspires filmmakers to get out there and have a go. It's hard to raise the money, but if you have a good low budget idea you'll get there, and no matter what people tell you stick to your idea. Oh, if you are making a low budget film, make sure your idea really is low budget before you set off otherwise you're screwed.

Thanks to Andrew for taking the time to speak with Digital Retribution. For more information on Black Water, visit www.blackwatermovie.com.

And Andrew may not have wanted it, but someone's bound to marvel at my croc poking, so here it is:

I could only get my little finger through, but you'll be happy to know I managed to find another croc near a fence and was able to get much better contact: