page_title: Pilot (Hawaii Five-0)
section_title: Filming
hierarchical_section_title: Pilot (Hawaii Five-0) / Production / Filming
caption_attribution_description: Battleship USS Missouri (BB-63) in Pearl Harbor
context_page_description: The pilot episode of the reimagined crime series Hawaii Five-0 premiered on CBS in the United States on September 20, 2010. The pilot's teleplay was written by Peter M. Lenkov, based on a story developed by Lenkov, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, and was directed by Len Wiseman. The episode introduces the four main characters: Alex O'Loughlin as series protagonist and Navy SEAL, Lt. Commander Steve McGarrett, Scott Caan as Steve's partner Danny Williams, a former Detective from New Jersey who moved to Hawaii to be close to his daughter, Grace, Daniel Dae Kim as Chin Ho Kelly, a disgraced HPD cop and Grace Park as Kono Kalakaua, a former surfer-turned-HPD Academy graduate who is also Chin's cousin. In the pilot, McGarrett returns to Hawaii to find Victor Hesse, a terrorist who murdered his father, John McGarrett. The Governor of Hawaii, Pat Jameson offers McGarrett to head a new task force to fight serious crimes by any means.
  Since the end of the original Hawaii Five-O series, there had been a number of attempts to create a remake, but ultimately none went beyond the pilot stage. CBS later hired Lenkov to pitch a pilot story.
context_section_description: Filming began two weeks after the readthrough, on March 5, 2010, and took over two weeks to shoot. Wiseman's direction was to film the episode like a "postcard of Hawaii," but at the same time show its darker side when the team fight the antagonists. Dae Kim's schedule overlapped between the Five-0 pilot and Lost, although at the time his character in the latter show was in the process of being killed off. The first few days of filming was affected due to bad weather conditions, particularly strong winds and sudden sporadic rain showers. The first day was spent in Pearl Harbor, near the USS Missouri (BB-63). Line producer Pat Crowley made an appearance as a helicopter pilot. The second day of filming took place at the North Shore, shooting scenes for Kono's introduction. Before filming began, Park, who had never surfed before, was taught the basics, though the scenes in which Kono surfs were mostly done by a body double. Filming was severely hindered by bad weather, forcing the production team to reschedule. Day three was spent on Kamekona's scenes.
  March 10 and 11 were dedicated to the scenes in Sang Min's warehouse. The team's assault of the warehouse was filmed by three separate units. Kono's fight sequence was included to assert to the audience that she would be a valuable asset to the team. In the scene where McGarrett shoots Sang Min's Mercedes-Benz before it crashes into a shipping container was done with two separate takes, the first of which involved O'Loughlin shooting blanks into a car. The car would swerve away. The second take saw the car crash into the container with O'Loughlin away from the shot as McGarrett was in close proximity to the car. The eighth day of filming was spent in a village of quonset huts where McGarrett and Danny chase Doran. In one part of the sequence, McGarrett jumps over the trunk of one car as it was hit from behind by another car. To make the scene a reality, the film crew made a three-part composite shot to ensure no harm came to O'Loughlin.
  The tenth and eleventh filming days were spent shooting the scenes of McGarrett and Danny assaulting Hesse's freighter. The fight scene between McGarrett and Hesse were shot with the portraying actors. Stunt doubles were on hand, but the production staff found they were not needed in the fight scenes until both characters fell into a boat below or the sea. The first "Book 'em, Danno" line was filmed several times as the staff wanted to pick out the right version. Some of the last scenes to be shot were the cold open scenes. Three days were spent on those scenes, and were filmed at Kualoa Ranch. In one scene of the episode, McGarrett goes to the garage of his father's house and unravels a Mercury Marquis. The car was in fact used on the original show and was on loan to the production staff by its owner, who was the stand-in for Jack Lord, who played the original McGarrett.
caption: Filming began near the USS Missouri (BB-63) in Pearl Harbor.
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "NIKON", "Image Model": "COOLPIX L4", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "PictureProject 1.6.4 W", "Image DateTime": "2007:04:11 20:55:54", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image Copyright": "Copyright 2006", "Image ExifOffset": "264", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "300", "Thumbnail YResolution": "300", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "10210", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5157", "EXIF ExposureTime": "32417/6250000", "EXIF FNumber": "23/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "50", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2007:04:07 19:46:36", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2007:04:07 19:46:36", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ApertureValue": "4403/1000", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "63/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1600", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1200", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "38", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}