Here It Is - Teaser Trailer 2

"Of Shark and Man" Teaser Trailer 2 from Scarlet View Media on Vimeo.

So then friends, it's been a long ride but here it is, Teaser Trailer 2!

If you remember when I released the rather ambiguous and slightly "arty" first teaser earlier this year, with a flashback to the very first promo video included, I did say that there would be three teasers and I haven't hidden from the notion that part II would be "a lot more sharky" and it's fair to say it is.

This teaser focuses on the aspects of the film which centre around the sharks, their importance to the reef, to the people, to me and of course, addresses my own personal journey to shark nirvana with a hint of the absolutely epic shark feeding controversy debate thrown in for good measure.

As I mentioned when I released the first one, the point of a teaser is to tease so don't expect any questions to be answered by this, however, it does do a couple of very important things:

• Proves the shark footage has what it takes
• Gives a first look at a first draft of the film's look. Cinematic, stylised and tailored specifically to the story, this isn't a standard colour balance job, it's about taking you into another world and using a variety of palettes to tell that story
• It gives another example of the film's musical content which is a big aspect of the design of the film
• It also, importantly, introduces you to some of the many people featured in the film
• It offers and insight to the depth of content in the film

From the outset, I said I was going to make something very different, something with vigour, style and its own identity and I hope that comes across in the two trailers I have released so far.

Of course, that couldn't be achieved without the help and input from the people who not only believe in the project, but who actually give a damn, not only about sharks, but their portrayal in the media. Please read the description that accompanies the trailer on Vimeo because it highlights these individuals and also, the people who donated to the first crowd funding campaign.

In case you haven't seen it yet (where have you been you maniac?!) below is Teaser Trailer 1


"Of Shark and Man" - Teaser Trailer 1 from Scarlet View Media on Vimeo.

I can't emphasise enough the importance of sharing this amongst your various social media sites, mailing lists, websites etc so I will repeat what I said last time:

"If you like the look of the teaser, you are into the concept of the film or you just want to help support independent film, please share this stuff. This is about representing an incredible story and an incredible animal properly and accurately, treating the audience with respect and as people who can look beyond what they're used to and who might just enjoy something a little different."

It costs nothing to watch, nothing to share and the work that is going into this film is monumental, seriously, not just me either. There are people donating time, creativity and energy into helping me finish this thing and the amount of work and passion that has gone in this far is gargantuan, that deserves 60 seconds of time to post on Facebook/Twitter etc right?

With talent and the donation of time and energy in mind, a huge thank you goes to Mark Burrows for producing the soundtrack with me (yes, we even did that from scratch ourselves too) who continuously and generously gives me his time and talent and has done for the last 16 years. He's a super talented dude, part of Scarlet View Media and has his own seriously badass Rock band, here they are with a cover of The Osmond's "Crazy Horses" with Dug Pinnock of King's X and it's absolutely brilliant!




If you like the sound of the track in the trailer and want a proper listen to it in isolation, here it is...

So, what now?

Back to the edit, a little more filming which I want to add then Teaser Trailer 3 which will cover the conservation element addressed in the movie.

There will also be another crowd-funding campaign to help raise funds for the film's release. That all costs money, money I don't have, and to give this film a proper release it needs a proper campaign behind it, I have big ideas and some unbelievably cool things to put out there to help the film gather momentum and hopefully get distribution but I can't do it without the help of the people, the people for whom this film is ultimately made. Keep an eye out for that.

The trailer also has "Tip Jar" enabled on the Vimeo page, please feel free to make a little donation, it all helps!

Please as well, feedback is always welcomed here, don't be shy, knowing you enjoy these helps me get through the bad days, knowing the things you think could be improved makes me better at what I do and suggestions for what you want to see help me understand exactly what you all think makes a great shark film!

Finally, "Behind Blue Glass," is still available and still selling! Why not treat yourself this weekend and see where all this madness began?!

That's enough from me, now, get yourself off and start sharing the trailer! ;)

New Website And First Official Teaser Trailer!

"From the Office to the Ocean" - Official Teaser Trailer from Scarlet View Media on Vimeo.

Remember this?

Two and a bit years ago, having never directed anything before, I took Hamish out around Leeds and we tried to capture my rather primitive storyboard for a trailer to a film I wanted to make about sharks in Fiji so I could kinda show people who might be interested in helping me, an idea of the sort of thing I was attempting.

How far we have come...

"Of Shark and Man" - Teaser Trailer 1 from Scarlet View Media on Vimeo.

The first official teaser trailer for "Of Shark and Man" is out today in conjunction with the updated, brand spanking, better looking, easier to navigate, new and improved website!

As I said, this teaser is "the first" and it is, the first of no less than three teaser trailers, the other two will appear in the coming months and will then be followed by two full trailers when the film is finished and ready to go.

This first teaser starts in the best place from which to tell a story, the beginning. This is a scene and mood setter, very much saying loud and proud that I am approaching this in a totally different way to everyone else, an introduction to one of the main characters (me!) and a visualisation of the quality and style of look I am going for.

Each teaser will focus on a different element of the story and will help to build an image for the viewer as to what they are getting with this film. When the final edit is at least half done, perhaps waiting until it is totally finished, there will be two full trailers released, much like those that would accompany a major release.

The website you will notice is sleeker, easier to navigate, is more focused in its content and just looks so much better. Thank you Kris Allen for all your hard work, you sir are a hero.

If you like the look of the teaser, you are into the concept of the film or you just want to help support independent film, please share this stuff. This is about representing an incredible story and an incredible animal properly and accurately, treating the audience with respect and as people who can look beyond what they're used to and who might just enjoy something a little different.

Music is by the always brilliant Chris Zabriskie and Lifescreen both of whom it's no secret I absolutely love. Chris's music will feature quite heavily in the film itself as well.

New to this and want some more info? Check the new website!

Feedback is of course, always welcome, share and share freely with friends, family and the weird strangers who stalk you on Facebook and get involved. The more people who can help build an audience for this, the more likely it is that we can start getting some more responsible, factual and most important, inspirational shark media out there!

Enjoy!

www.officetoocean.com 

p.s. This blog will take us over the 100,000 unique views milestone too! :)

p.p.s Thank you Mike for the kind words!

Seeing as it's Shark Week...Some footage from "Of Shark and Man"

 

Shark Week is upon us again, and for the twenty fifth time, every one will go shark mad for a week. I don't have SKY TV so I haven't seen any yet and will be relying on other means to see the shows so can't comment on whatever was shown yesterday but I figured that after having sat on them for months, now would be as good a time as any to make two short PSA films I made public, although it is with more than a hint of sadness.

Last year, in late September, I was asked by The Fiji Shark Conservation and Awareness Project to produce a PSA to support the launch of the Fiji Shark Sanctuary, the idea being that I could combine the footage we had shot of the sharks for "Of Shark and Man," with interview footage from world renowned shark experts and conservation leaders, most of which they already had. I augmented that idea by suggesting I make two, the one minute TV spot and a longer, online accompaniment piece which explained the concept of a shark sanctuary in greater detail and went into a little of the back story about Fiji's Shark Conservation efforts.

The plan as I said, was that they would accompany and globalise the announcement the Sanctuary had been confirmed only for the bad news to break that surprisingly and against all the positive noises coming out of Fiji, the decree had been rejected.

I was of course devastated at the news, I had really hoped that Fiji would pass the sanctuary, not because I wanted to release the PSAs (of course I did but that's irrelevant) but because of the attachment I have to Fiji's sharks which is probably stronger than any personal attachment I feel to a population of sharks anywhere else.

From a creative and artistic standpoint though, I want the PSAs out in the public domain and I felt that although the Sanctuary was defeated, the sheer amount of hard work, late nights and effort that went into putting them both together justifies their release, that and by way of almost saying, to paraphrase "Bullseye," "Look at what we could have won"

Regarding the work that went into these, for something relatively straightforward, they were, although enjoyable pieces to work on, at times, a flippin' nightmare. Technical issues, (this was pre-Novatech days, henceforth, everything took ten times longer), working with different formats, aspect ratios and codecs, the political element and losing full days waiting for the various incarnations to upload using dial up speed broadband all took their toll a bit.

This was a labour of love, I'm not releasing these because I was paid to do so, in fact, Fed-Ex'ing an external hard drive from the UK to Fiji meant it actually cost me money to make these so the cynics amongst you can forget any notion that these were both financially motivated projects. All in all, it took about six weeks to get both pieces finished. This also all happened during the six month slog through cataloguing all the footage for "Of Shark and Man" so it was not an easy process, I'll stick to calling that period "character building" and move on...

OK, so a bit about both pieces...

The Sanctuary

Both PSAs centre around the concept of some of the great and good of the shark world delivering a positive message about the benefit of shark conservation and why a Shark Sanctuary is such a good idea. All the interviews except those we shot with Angelo, Rusi and the other rather obvious one, had already been filmed by various other people and my idea was that I could take these interviews and pre-emptively create a message of thanks for the establishing of the Sanctuary, essentially creating the narrative I wanted, using what footage I had available. This is difficult, very difficult in fact because you are working back to front and was actually a direct influence on "A Ray of Light", in that there, I knew what I wanted to say with the piece so constructed a narrative in my head and asked questions relating to that, hoping Brad would create the narrative himself with answers that fit with my vision for the piece.

Working with footage shot by others and not specifically for the project you have in mind does cause various problems in things like sound, format and colour so addressing them was also an issue but what I think will be the everlasting image of those interviews was just how good these people are on camera and how articulate, informed and passionate they are. Not only that, I also learnt a lot about them in the bits you don't see, such as Rick MacPherson and Douglas Seiffert's shared love of Creme Brulee...

This was also sort of a dream come true for me as well because although it's a slight cheat, I appear in a film with two of my ultimate heroes, Ron & Valerie Taylor, something I have dreamt about since I was about six.

Aside from those interview shots, everything else you see was footage we shot for "Of Shark and Man," no stock footage here, not for us! As is becoming customary for my films, music is provided by the amazing Chris Zabriskie.

Love Sharks Love Fiji

"We need a TV PSA that is sixty seconds long and it can't be a second longer," that was the original challenge and with all the great content and footage I had, it made this piece a huge challenge but not only did I manage not to go over the sixty second mark, I hit it dead on. 

Editing a sixty second piece which flows fluidly, is easy to watch and says everything which needs to be said is not easy but  I'm really quite proud of this and it's a huge shame it's not being shown on Fijian TV right now, doing what it was intended to do. I came up with the idea of a thank you piece but with a difference, not just humans saying thank you, but the sharks themselves, humans and sharks accepting each other and working together, that kind of thing. It's a bit hippy trippy but I thought creatively it was quite fresh, uplifting and that it would stand out from the factory standard approach of a mournful narrative over gory footage of sharks being finned. Besides, it was intended as a celebration piece.

The music for these things is always an issue as well because you can't license well known pieces without paying through the nose for them first so that means royalty free, stock music rears its ugly head and without wanting to sound too harsh, it's almost, with a precious few notable exceptions, a bit crap. Bad music ruins a video, no matter how good the footage may be, fortunately though, as a musician myself with access to other stupendously talented musicians, I decided to fix one of the biggest problems we film-makers face myself so this PSA features the first commissioned piece through my company, Scarlet View Media, and our Bespoke Royalty Free Music service. Written and recorded by Mark Burrows, it works brilliantly and was turned around in just four days because that's what our service is all about.

The PSAs will be released separately, first up is Love Sharks Love Fiji, The Sanctuary will follow later this week so keep an eye out on The Facebook Page and follow The Scarlet View Twitter to find out when and please, I can't stress enough, if you enjoy them, share them with your friends and family on your email and social media pages if you have them. Independent Film-Makers can't make a difference if we don't have an audience to see the results of all our hard work.

Love Sharks Love Fiji from Scarlet View Media on Vimeo.

My profiles:

Bula Fiji!! Bula Sharks!!

Just over twelve months ago, at this precise time, I would have been sitting in an office wishing my day away, today at this precise time, I am on the other side of the world, it is almost 10pm, 80 degrees and the South Pacific is a matter of yards away. After the trials, tribulations, sacrifice and difficulty of the last year, I can say without doubt that it was well worth it!!

I have met Mike Neumann for the first time today, what a great, intelligent and passionate guy he is and tomorrow, I have the first of many, many shark dives with upwards of one hundred individual sharks, today they had no less than seventy Bull Sharks alone. his isn't just paradise, it's shark paradise.

 

We have had over thirty six hours of travel, stopped over in Seoul, South Korea and are all absolutely exhausted but I wanted to let you know that you'll soon be getting the lowdown on filming along with some sharky stuff to look at, of course, if you join the Facebook group and the mailing list you will get even more, it's totally free and the place to be for any self respecting sharkphile! ;)

By the way, Uprising Beach Resort in Pacific Harbour, where we are staying is amazing and the Fijian people have already got a brand new fan, they are incredibly warm, friendly and helpful. This is gonna be one hell of a month!!

So, tomorrow, when I would have been on my way to a job I didn't want to do a year ago, I will be in paradise surrounded by sharks...Not too shabby!! 

 

I'm off to bed for some much deserved sleep. Night!!