To capture the extraordinary, first-of-a-kind footage in Tornado Alley, director Sean Casey not only had to learn how to enter a tornado, he had to design a vehicle that could take him there. It was a tricky proposition, considering tornadoes have the power to pick up locomotives and hurl cars through the air-carrying them over distances of up to a mile. In 2002, Casey sketched out a design (which, he says, looked "remarkably similar to the spaceships I drew when I was twelve"), taught himself how to weld, and, that summer, work on the original tornado intercept vehicle began. The TIV, as it is known, was built for one express purpose: to house and shuttle Casey's camera (he and his crew call it "an armored tripod on wheels"). He created a military-style filming turret, inside of which he maneuvers much like a tank gunner, only he's shooting film instead of ammunition and his range is 360 degrees. Featured prominently in the film Tornado Alley, TIV 2 is an updated incarnation of the original vehicle, built on a Dodge Ram 3500 platform. A third axle was added, giving it six-wheel-drive capability, in addition to four hydraulic drop-down skirts that block wind and debris during an intercept, a self-leveling suspension system, a modified 6.7-liter turbo-diesel engine, and a 92-gallon fuel tank. TIV 2 weighs 14,000 pounds and has a top speed of over 100 mph—not bad, but still a little sluggish if you're being chased by an EF5 tornado.

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Sean Casey

- Giant Screen Films

IMAX filmmaker and professional storm chaser Sean Casey makes his feature-length directorial debut with Tornado Alley, a film in which he also stars and serves as first unit cinematographer. Over the course of his career, Casey has filmed volcanoes, hurricanes, and earthquakes, and the depth of his experience working in severe weather—as well as the impressive library of IMAX tornado footage he has amassed leading up to Tornado Alley’s release—served the production well. “We spent eight years shooting dozens of tornadoes, probably eighteen tornadoes for the film,” he says. “But we also shot hail footage and beautiful storm footage. All this beautiful weather stuff. For me, that’s the main character of the film. Casey has directed a number of television documentaries and music videos, including Marine: Earning The Title, The Art of Camouflage, The U.S. Army Ranger, Tonight (Violent Femmes), Machine (Violent Femmes), and Glass Sparkles In their Hair (Pond). He also currently stars in the Discovery Channel’s “Storm Chasers” reality series, which is the number-one rated Sunday night cable show on television. In addition, Casey is an inventor of sorts, having designed two tornado intercept vehicles, or TIVs, the second of which seems unwittingly poised to be one of Tornado Alley’s biggest stars. After graduating from the University of California Santa Barbara in 1992, with a degree in Film Studies, Casey immediately began working in the IMAX format. His credits include Ring of Fire, Search for the Great Sharks, Africa: The Serengeti, Alaska: Spirit of the Wild, Amazing Journeys, and Forces of Nature. In 2008, Discover magazine named Casey one of the fifty best minds of the year. “You have to really understand your subject matter so that you can film the more amazing parts of it,” he told the magazine. “Going out with an IMAX camera appeals to my sense of hunting and gathering images.”

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