Water tank complicated 'Guardian' filming

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 28 (UPI) -- A 750,000-gallon water tank used to mimic the waves of the Bering Sea in the U.S. film "The Guardian" made production an immensely complicated process.

The Los Angeles Times reported that director Andrew Davis, along with production designer Maher Ahmad and visual effects supervisor William Mesa, used the 12-foot-deep tank to film extravagant water rescues for the film, but not without great difficulty.

"There was a lot of risk involved because we were basically doing something that had never been done." Ahmad said of the tank, which created waves through the use of air pressure. "We were working on past experiences and intuition. We were liable to build this thing and it wouldn't work right."

With noise from the massive motors required to create the tank's air pressure forcing a public address system to be installed to facilitate communication, the production was forced to adapt as it went along.

Yet through perseverance and the use of computer special effects, the U.S. Coast Guard rescue film from "The Fugitive" director is set to hit theaters Friday.