What did Titanic's Break Up REALLY Look Like? (How the Movies Got it Wrong.)

Modern day movie depictions of Titanic's sinking all seem to have something in common; brilliantly-lit, with blaring lights so the audience can see all! But as we discover today, the events of that night may not have been quite so clear! This video analyses how the Titanic broke up during its sinking and how survivors might have witnessed it.

Watch How Carpathia rescued Titanic's survivors here;

Oceanliner Designs explores the design, construction, engineering and operation of history’s great ocean liners – from Titanic to Queen Mary but not forgetting the likes of Empress of Ireland or Chusan. Join Mike Brady as he uncovers the myths, explains the timelines, logistics and deep dives into the lives of the people and ocean liner ships that we all know and love.

0:00 Introduction
1:38 Titanic in Hollywood
10:28 Animation introduction
13:00 Sinking animation with realistic lighting

[MattyIcecubes]

I was working at a movie theater while Titanic was playing, and at the urging of the studio we would crank the AC down low in the theaters where it was showing when it came time for the sinking scene. The point right before the iceberg was spotted was our cue to crank the AC. It was the only movie that played there during my tenure of employment where the studio requested the temperature be manipulated.

[canadianfortrump]

One survivor from the Titanic sinking ended up living in Detroit. He said when he attended a Detroit Tigers game and a Tigers player hit a home run, the sound of the crowd roaring would always remind him of the over 1500 people screaming in the freezing water after the ship sank. I imagine many if not all of the survivors suffered from P.T.S.D. for the rest of their lives.

[davedennis]

This video addresses the one thing that pains me the most about Cameron's movie. It really makes it look like there was bright moonlight which would still be horrifying to live through but when you consider the extreme darkness and dead calmness of the ocean, the roar of things breaking and sliding, the sound of twisting metal, the snapping of boards, the screams of hundreds of people all in complete darkness. I mean this would be an experience you would never be able to forget.

[ashleypoindexter]

The discomfort this made me feel in my own skin. I had never really thought about the fact it would never have been so lit up. I knew it was a moonless night, but never actually Imagined the horror.

[drygnfyre]

And on your point about the the steel slowly failing: a lot of the survivors said the scariest thing of the sinking was hearing the sound of the ship "dying." They would hear metal-on-metal grinding, and just terrible noises overall. It was like the ship itself was groaning. Many survivors said they could never unhear the sounds.

[whaleguy]

There's yet another thing to consider. The ship's lights are depicted as being as bright as modern lights. In fact, they would mostly be having a dull reddish hue throughout the sinking since the majority of the steam was diverted to the pumps. So the passengers weren't seeing very well from long before the breakup.

[kalb]

Another reason that Cameron used blue lighting is that he simply wanted to establish that it was nighttime. It’s a filmmaking technique called “day for night” where a scene is shot during the day but the lighting and color grading is chosen in a way that it looks like it could be nighttime. The hospital escape scene from _Terminator 2_ (also by James Cameron) is another example of this.

[dany]

The one without the moonlight is actually terrifying, imagine seeing (or rather not seeing)that and at the same time hearing the boat getting destroyed and the screams of the people still on and in the water, bone chilling

[timenginemannd]

One thought that occurred to me as you mentioned lighting is that when the Titanic's lights went out, everyone who was looking at her would experience a few to several minutes of "night blindness" where they would only see the brightest stars. This would further hide the fact that she broke up as their eyes adjusted to the suddenly darker ocean....

[ScreaminEmu]

The thought of being enveloped by darkness in the middle of the open sea like that is freaking terrifying.

[keeponwishin]

Another thing when it comes to the sound would be the screams of hundreds of people going into freezing water, which had to have been horrendously painful for the short time you can survive in water that cold. Depending on where you were, I can imagine those screams almost overriding any sound coming from the ship breaking apart.

[AstonWelling]

It’s so scary how someone out there actually had to experience that, and knows exactly how everything happened while everyone nowadays can just speculate. Heard the noises, the initial bang, the screams, truly weird to think deeply about

[emluvslou]

Because of the movies I don’t think I’ve ever stopped to think about how absolutely beyond terrifying this experience would have been.
Seeing the true darkness of the night together with the description of the sound of the ship breaking is the stuff of nightmares.

[Unownshipper]

I've always known that the illustrations and movie depictions (what few actually depict the break-up) were over-lit for visibility, but I don't think I fully grasped how dark it really would've been. I have to say, seeing this really put a new spin on what I'd always imagined. It was genuinely striking and I applaud your efforts.

[alsunpilsut]

I'm from Finland and one of the most horrific and memorable accidents involving a lot of Finns that has happened was the sinking of the cruise ship Estonia in 1994. I remember watching a documentary where one the (very few) survivors described the actual sinking of the ship being the most beautiful moment of his life visually. The lights were still on in some parts of the ship, the sea was raging and these shining little dots slowly sank into the darkness like time was standing still. He said it would have been one of the most gorgeous things ever if it hadn't been so tragic and traumatic. Most of the people on the Estonia died and he only just survived after reaching a lifeboat and managing to get on board inspite of the storm. The scenes in the 1997 Titanic film always remind me of that man's story.

[Stubborn]

My great-grandfather was an engineer on the Carpathia. I'm not sure whether he was on it at the time of the Titanic disaster, though. I would have loved to have met him, I would have asked him so many questions..lol. My uncle has his log book. Every sailor had a log book with a list of ships they served on and Carpathia is in it.
I didn't know he was on Carpathia until recently. Crazy.

[COASTER_CHASER_]

Even Camron believes that the ship broke at a lower angle now after more wreckage and debris has been found. his obsession with the wreck has actually helped get a better understanding of what may have happened. some of his documentaries are really good.

[stacymirba]

I live in Florida and have been in the Gulf of Mexico at night. If you turn off the lights on the boat, it is pitch black and with the sound of the waves incredibly scary, even if the waves aren't that bad. I've never seen it portrayed in movies, tv shows, or even just photos the way it really is because if it was you wouldn't be looking at anything. This is a very good representation of what it is like in water at night. I've been in the Gulf at night in a boat, I can't even begin what it was like for people in the middle of an freezing ocean.

[timberwolf]

This analysis makes total sense because it was indeed a moonless night and now seeing the pitch dark sinking, it is many many times more horrifying. RIP to all the victims and thank you for the video. It has brought a brand new perspective to what actually happened.😢

[theodoremichotte]

I got shivers with the realistic lighting. I knew the ship would break, I'd seen the animation with the light and yet I missed the moment it broke. I could tell it did because I was expecting it, but if I didn't I'd have missed it. It somehow makes this even more horrifying.