Since my movie is a historical fiction in 1980s during the Cold War, involving the U.S. and the USSR, I watched and took notes on The Hunt for Red October, a film made in 1990, based on the book written in 1964 by Tom Clancy.
80s Cold War Technology:
Submarine. Wave frequency sonar. Warheads. Ballistic missiles. Liquid heater. Sonar Buoy: planes drop these buoys in a grid to detect if a sub comes by. This allows a navy to check of water space to see if there are vessels there. Torpedos: move under a sub and explode, creating a pocket of air that pulls the "back" of the sub, imploding it.
There are turbines on the submarines.
Communicate with pings. Very loud.
I was wondering if the loud pings in the Russian submarine were specifically Russian morse code as opposed to English. Is there Russian versus American morse code?
This is the chart I found when I looked it up. It seems like the Russian morse code is more based on English' pronunciations for certain combinations of dots and dashes, as there aren't the same amount of alphabetical characters in the Latin alphabet as there are in Cyrillic. This is evidenced by the "ch" and all of the Latin letters with umlauts (the two dots on top of the U and A, for example). These symbols are found in German, so one can't truly connect this translation of morse code with just English from Latin, but other Latin languages too.
This research has affected my opening as I will use SOS at the end of the piece. I am using English morse code because Reagan did not speak Russian, but Vetrov did and he had to keep a front to look like he was working against the Americans. By using English morse code, he would be able to lead the KGB to think that he was better fooling the US. Vetrov's code name was actually English so that the KGB would think that he was working for the CIA (as their double agent, when really he was a double agent for the US and against the USSR).
It is still good for me to know about Russian morse code as I can use it later in the movie.
Floodlights: Often pictured in the submarine. Those that are used in bunkers and construction zones had cages around them in order to protect the lights. They can also be found in industrial settings where interrogations with torture might happen or in government military bases.
The flood lighting can add a pure, artificial colored light to a scene, which can deeply influence mood. For example, in The Hunt for Red October there are scenes near the climax of the movie when the expert American is aboard the American vessel and the interior of the sub is lit with a pure red light (from the floodlight). This notes aggression in the American's aggressive policy against the Russians. It also makes the audience feel tension and suspense. Since the Russian ship is trying to defect, and "give up," they are on the defensive, which is portrayed through the blue color of their floodlights.
I can use this lighting technique during the interrogation scene to portray an aggressive mood with red lighting. Just like in the movie, I can use other lights as accents, adding complimentary colors like red and green or blue and orange.
Is there a Russian military alphabet (more correctly known as the International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet) as are used in everyday English-speaking military jargon? This is used in NATO, but since Russia isn't (and definitely wasn't during 1983) part of NATO, they had their own phonetic alphabet (with Russian and Cyrillic obviously)
Further Facts I Learned from the Movie:
Depth Charge: bomb that is set to go off at a certain depth at a specific pressure. tape recorder to review the sonar.
Teletyper: typewriter that types automatic telegraphs. (IBM-related, for example)
"X" on a map for submarine sonar finding another sub means the longitudinal and latitudinal course the body is taking. The short line is the route; the long line is the time when the sound was recorded.
A knot is 1.1 miles per hour.
The Russian officer burns official documents, as Vladimir Vetrov will do at the end of Novikof in a last-minute attempt to hide his counter espionage.
Main Applications of Technology to Novikof:
There will be flood lights similar to those on the submarine in the interrogation room. A teletyper could relay the information to the US or type out important documents in the capital, as we know it is American and government operated. The main characters can also use the alphabet's letters in messages between them or between Vetrov and other KBG officers specific to the Russian government/KGB. There could also be references to submarines, ballistic missiles, sonar and depth charge bombs in the intelligence that Vetrov and Novikof gather. It would be very interesting and add mystery and depth to the movie if the intelligence gleaned by both Novikof and Vetrov are connected by something like this. Navy related.
Color Scheme: (2 color rule)
Primary color: Blue
Secondary color: dull browns (I will also use browns, mostly for Novikof)
Accent color: grays and black
"Often times espionage is for the public good" - relevant quote from the film
The boat belongs to the people of the Soviet Union. This is the argument one of the officers on the boat makes about going rogue. That message is very similar to the one of Novikof and the snippy comment it can inspire will be a great line in the final film.
Some Elements Only in Hollywood (Movie History Inaccuracies):
The captain would never go aboard another sub, he would stay on his own ship. Crews trained on one ship cannot work on another. The technology is not translatable. The Soviet sub is dark in color, portraying mystery and villainy. The American sub is, however, brighter, with more light and less dark grey and
The actors in the tense and heated scenes in the sub were sprayed down with water to look sweaty. I can use this in Novikof (even for the opening scene, where Novikof is running to the library and is incredibly stressed and looks it, despite his attempts to seem inconspicuous.
I should be cognizant of these when I make my own movie, of which some parts (like the entire character of Anatol Novikof) are completely wrong, but I do want most of the context, objects, issues, many dates and costumes to be accurate.
Use of Cyrillic:
The signs within the Russian submarine were written in Russian Cyrillic (ex- warning labels, signs on doors...etc.)
Political Scenes:
The main character (an American with expertise on the Soviet's new submarine that makes no noise) presents his knowledge to American government elite, like the in Novikof when the main characters present their knowledge to the American president, Reagan. Both presenters are a bit overwhelmed by the office, but push forward because of the importance of their information.
Ramias, the Russian (but born a Lithuanian without family) officer leading the submarine wants to defect. This is similar to Vladimir Vetrov, who defects as a spy for America. He wanted to defect since he saw the blue prints and knew the one purpose for the submarine. He told Moscow about the defection and was unconcerned with their response, as he felt that any plans to hunt them down would be futile since he felt he was the Russian navy and therefore knew all of their tactics. He could avoid them and successfully defect to the US. This is directly contrasts with Vetrov's feelings, as he would never tell Moscow about what he's doing or what he knows not just because he wants to save himself, but because he wants to save Novikof and the mission.
These political relationships will also be useful for Novikof's complete work, as they are accurate to the 1980s, when Novikof takes place.
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