Friday, April 23, 2010

Oceans the Movie on Earth Day


I celebrated Earth Day by going to see Oceans the new release from Disney Nature. 

This 90 minute documentary is incredible. Directed by Jacques Perrin and Jaques Cluzaud the film takes you around the globe from pole to pole. I personally recognized many of the shooting locations in the film such as Cocos, Galapagos and of course Isla Guadalupe. However I also realized that some of the footage was shot in an aquarium. (Lionfish, Manta shrimp vs. Crab sequence). But that is cool. I think they more than made up for that with some really epic open water sequences.

So I will have to give it a score of 8.5 for its amazing footage and the positive message that is brought into the story albeit a little late in the film. Any "Save Our Oceans" message is welcome and needed, hopefully our society will take notice. 

I would have to say the the cetacean footage definitely surpassed any that I have ever seen on the BIG screen. With the Humpback whales in perfect visibility and one literally soaring across the sandy bottom of some beautiful spot in Tonga. That was simply stunning. Magic! The Blue whale footage was really impressive as well  with some eye-popping close ups in a cloud of krill. That cameraman must have some serious cajones getting in there with a 100' Blue whale in a cloud of krill/food. That scene was pretty impressive.



Now as for the great white shark footage I would say they did an OK job. They certainly did not vilify the sharks, in fact they attempted to show the animals as quite docile and almost friendly. The diver swimming along side a rather large female (could be either Gill Raker or Kimmmel) is sure to impress the masses. I noticed her gaping and signaling that she really did not like the little french dude getting that close. Obviously she tolerated the whole situation and cooperated with them long enough to give the world an awesome glimpse of what Isla Guadalupe is all about.

There are some other very impressive scenes such as a million Spider Crabs massing together stacked 3 deep as far as you could see. The Cuttle fish scenes were staged and there was definitely some feeding going on here and there. The editing was actually pretty rough and the film losses continuity several times. They did a great job and I know that it is very difficult to take 5 or 6 years of hard work and cram it into 90 minutes. It is a great film for school aged kids as well as the whole family.

So go out and see it! Write us back and tell us what you think!

Yours in sharks,
Lawrence

2 comments:

DaShark May 4, 2010 at 9:16 PM  

Hey my man - welcome to the blogosphere: this is gonna be exciting, the more as I suspect that yer gonna be showing a nice set of Sharky teeth!
Good on 'ya for having taken on this challenge!

Didn't see the film obviously, who knows when it'll ever reach Fiji - if ever!

Still, I'm really starting to scratch my head at this new profusion of images depicting people swimming with GW at Guadalupe.

Is this really where we as an Industry want to go?

You are the GW pro and I am obviously not: but the line between what's permissible and what is not seems to be getting ever more fuzzy - I just wonder whether this is due to new insights about the temperament of GWs or whether this is merely the result of the race for ever more spectacular images?

Lawrence Groth May 7, 2010 at 2:54 AM  

Hey Mike
As for people swimming outside the cage at Guadalupe. This has been going on for a long time.
Just recently this aspect has been getting more attention.
Even Luke Nipple has made a little self promoting you tube video doing just that, swimming outside the cage for the camera. No other reason.
I have spent most of the last 5 years working outside the cage. Working not playing, there is a difference.
But for the most part these images come from the newer vessels. Those are the economy trips and the operators more inclined to let customers get away with this type of activity.
But hey, the first time that it was done was during the filming of Sharks 3D IMAX and that was with me on the Searcher. So we all have been there one way or another.

This subject is way too big for the comment section.
So lets just leave it alone for now.
Is that how it is going to be? Are you starting stuff? :)

But thank you for your kind words.


Thank you for your kind words

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