Japan's I-400 Submarine

Rockhopper Post Production had the privilege of working with Boston-based Spy Pond Productions on their co-produced, multiformat documentary “Japan’s Secret Weapon”.

From National Geographic Channel’s description:

One of the best-kept secrets of the Second World War was a huge aircraft-carrying submarine designed to deliver Japanese bombers to within a few hundred kilometres of American cities.

Engineers and historians conduct experiments and demonstrations to reveal the secrets behind a technological marvel that could have changed the course of the war.

Plus, archive footage shows what made the I-400 subs so deadly: the three state-of-the-art attack bombers it could carry anywhere in the world. But why was the technology never used in an attack on the US?

The doc, a co-production for Nat Geo and WNET, had a complex and challenging workflow, requiring two distinct cuts of the material at different framerates, one for NTSC systems and one for PAL. Rockhopper Post was charged with maintaining a consistent, high-quality look across the various HD camera footage, PAL / NTSC stock footage, animation, and still-image media.

Executive Producer Eric Stange: “We worked with Rockhopper on a film that was full of challenges, but Owen helped us meet them all. His calm professionalism, organizational skills, and great technical savvy were reassuring, and he was always very responsive to our needs. We would definitely return to Rockhopper for our post work!”

The show will air in the US with the title “Japan’s Secret Super Sub” as an episode of the PBS show Secrets of the Dead.