Disney’s live-action adaptation of THE LITTLE MERMAID is a beautiful retelling of the beloved animated film. It’s filled with the characters and songs you love while keeping it fresh and modern. Director of photography Dion Beebe ACS ASC shares how they used incredible rigs to pull off the spectaular underwater scenes.

Dion and Go Creative Show host, Ben Consoli, discuss the inspriation from BBC’s BLUE PLANET series, using different lens types above and below the water, cinematography tricks used when Ariel can’t speak, why the Italian coast was perfect to portray the Caribbean, and so much more.

What you will learn in this episode:

• Bringing the animated film to life (03:26)
• Being inspired by BBC’s BLUE PLANET (08:15)
• Filming the underwater world (11:30)
• Putting actors in rigs to simulate swimming (18:18)
• Using different lenses for above and below water (25:57)
• Why THE LITTLE MERMAID is so dark (28:11)
• Turning an Italian beach into the Caribbean (32:26)
• Why the underwater scenes were so difficult (40:33)
• Filming the shipwreck scenes (42:37)
• Cinematography tricks used when Ariel can’t speak (46:01)
• Filming Under The Sea musical number (52:36)
• Dion’s thoughts on the visual effects (54:27)
• And more!

Show Links

• THE LITTLE MERMAID (2023) trailer
• THE LITTLE MERMAID on IMDb
• Dion Beebe’s Instagram
• Dion Beebe’s IMDb