The scene where Michael Douglas is secretly filming the accident in the control room would not have gone unnoticed by the people in the room.
Those cameras are not quiet. The P.R. guy in the room with him would have heard the camera whirring in operation.
Plus how did he focus the shot and zoom in perfectly without ever looking through the eyepiece?
I was thinking the same thing this afternoon.
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Maybe there was background noise that masked the camera's noise.
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You got your mind right, Luke?
As far as the focusing and zooming, my guess, he used the distance markings on the lens and estimated the focus and zoom distance.
He certainly did it a lot more perfectly than someone likely would be able to, but many pros often used to shoot over their heads or in other positions where they couldn't see the viewfinder pre-digital and they would be pretty rock solid with framing and focus. I made out pretty well on several shoots using a fully manual 35mm shooting blind. Other times, I've had my light meter fail and had to estimate exposure and shutter speed in all kinds of mixed lighting.
When I shot news video, I often had to shoot blind because it was impossible to properly see the viewfinder on those big shoulder cams under some conditions. I just knew where to set things and where to point, even when I couldn't see the frame.
If you're a really experienced shooter and know your equipment, it's amazing what you can do with it blind.
As far as the noise, it depends on the camera and the amount of ambient noise. A well maintained Arri can be very quiet and I'd be willing to be that room probably had some sort of constant hum or other white noise from all the surrounding machine or AC noises.