Of Shark and Man update and more good news about A Ray of Light!!

 Missy, hard at work editing

How's about an update?

Of Shark and Man

Serious progress has been made over the last few weeks to the point where I am now 1 hour and 14 minutes in with only three main sections left to edit. I was always wondering if the film would hit ninety minutes and it looks like the first cut will go slightly beyond that. That is not me trying to stretch the film out by the way, it's merely that I want to cover everything properly and not just fly through everything to get you to the commercials quicker! 

I really dislike the modern day trend of just glossing over everything, giving you the minimum you need to class the film as "factual" and then trying to create some kind of drama where there is none. This film is jam packed with content, talking points and even a bit of controversy and I want to do the story justice so I'm not concerned about its length.

I have a few bits and pieces I want to film which will only take a couple of days and two of the remaining three sections are quite straightforward although one is very complex but I am tentatively saying that the first time line for Of Shark and Man will be completed by July. Yes, you read that right, this is the first time I've put a completion timescale on the edit, that's pretty big news.

The animation team have been hard at work and I have to give extra special mention to Lian for her heroic efforts so far and to Faeez for offering to help animate a bar graph for me. They are an incredibly talented group who I am over the moon to have on board as part of this film, thanks to them, a vital aspect of the story will be presented in a fitting way. I cannot wait to see their finished work!

When the first cut is done, I will colour correct and grade it, before recording the voice-over with Adam and Liam at the Banter Media Studios in Manchester. Following that, Mark and I will sit down to the arduous task of sound design and soundtrack, including composing and recording bespoke pieces for the film as well as using music from other talented musicians, including Chris Zabriskie, an ever present in all my film work.

Aside from actually constructing the film, I have also been coming up with a plan for promotion and release. I will start work on the second Teaser Trailer next week, focusing more on the sharks this time. This will be accompanied by something else connected to the film's promotion which will go a long way to determining how successful this film can be so please, make sure to keep an eye out for that.

I do have a few things I am very keen to do, when the first cut is done the first thing will be a small batch of individual test screenings for industry friends, other film-makers and objective voices, so that I can look at ways the edit can be improved. When those improvements are made, I will then move on to a few small scale test screenings for members of the public so I can evaluate their feedback and again, if any changes need making, I can make those changes.

That's when things will get interesting. Some of you reading this will be contacted about receiving a pre-release copy of the film to watch and review on your blogs, websites, video channels, newsletters and websites. I already know most of the people who will be contacted and you will know a lot more about it nearer the time.

After that, it will be an official premiere screening for members of the press and public before the film festival submissions start.

It's all getting rather exciting now!

 A Ray of Light

Another film festival has requested A Ray of Light to screen at their event. The London Eco Film Festival which takes place on Sunday May the 12th and I will be there if I am able to attend. At this stage, it's not listed on the website but that's only because I haven't sent the DVD yet, that will be going next Tuesday. This will be the first public screening in the UK of "A Ray of Light"

On Thursday June the 6th, the UK stop of the Beneath the Waves Film Festival in Falmouth, at The Poly, will be screening A Ray of Light and not only that, I will be introducing the film and even doing a Q&A session afterwards. Please feel free to come along, watch some films by some talented people and ply me with alcohol in the bar afterwards.

Have a top weekend!

My Nephew Charlie - A Talented Dude!

My two nephews, Sam and Charlie, are really brilliant lads, funny, polite, well mannered and generally, super cool so you can imagine what a nice surprise it was when my mum brought this picture that Charlie had drawn of his Uncle David diving with sharks, home with her for me after a visit to my Auntie and Uncle's in Manchester.

Both boys love sharks, especially Sam and that is with no real pressure from me either, they just naturally like sharks and not just that, they're both United supporters as well (being from Manchester what else would they be!?) so they have the two main ingredients in place for a fulfilling and exciting life!

They were both on my mind in Fiji so I was pleased to be able to give them each a little treat when I got back home, a Bull Shark tooth and a Tiger Shark tooth, not bought in a shop, but taken from Shark Reef itself.

Thanks for the picture Charlie and I hope to see you, Sam and your mum and dad again very soon!

Unedited Interview Segment from the filming of "Of Shark and Man" - My Back Story

Unedited Interview Segement from the filming of "Of Shark and Man" from Scarlet View Media on Vimeo.

I get asked a lot about my motivations behind the "From the Office to the Ocean" project, why I wanted to do it, what I had to do to get it off the ground, the difficulties and issues I faced and also what I hope to achieve. Feedback from people about the film and its content is often that they want to know more about this kind of stuff because it taps into the "everyman" aspect I am so passionate to highlight.

With that in mind and having approached the part of the edit of "Of Shark and Man" where this is discussed, I went over an interview/piece to camera I shot in Fiji where I asked Hamish to ask me questions that related to what he thought the audience of the film might be interested in with respect to the twelve months leading up to production in Fiji, to treat it as though he had only just met me, knew a tiny bit about the film and wanted to know more.

This also gives an indication into how the narrative of the film is delivered, very little is scripted, instead, the majority of the voice over narrative is taken from these natural, conversational interviews so the viewer hopefully feels that they are being involved in the film and not just talked at as an uninvolved third party.

It's interesting for me to watch it back now, eighteen months after it was filmed, most of all, because it all still applies and is still completely relevant to me now, in 2013. There is no colour correction, grade or audio processing and it has been heavily compressed down to run at 5Mbps as opposed to broadcast standard 50Mbps. The few cuts merely cover long questions and the answers are unedited.

It's just over fifteen minutes in length with no cutaways so it really is completely raw.

This interview has now been edited down significantly for the film but after feedback from members of the Facebook group I thought some of you might be interested to see the whole thing so here it is.

As always, feedback and comments are warmly welcomed and I hope that somewhere in there, you find some stuff that you can relate to or which help you in your own endeavours. I would also be really keen to hear any suggestions of things not in this interview that you think would be interesting for me to address so please, feel free to suggest away!

Thanks

"Of Shark and Man" - Progress Update

"Pole Cam"  - Keeping it creative!

After the madness of running around all day and almost drowning in alcohol at night during this weekend's London Dive Show, it's time to get back to normality, "normality" meaning cracking on with "Of Shark and Man" and trying to get as much paid work in as possible.

What was hugely encouraging about feedback I received at the Dive Show from people I'd never spoken with before is that upon hearing either my name or the name Scarlet View Media, is that many of them had seen and more importantly, enjoyed my work! A lot of those people were also asking how things are going with "Of Shark and Man" so I figured it was time for an update!

The edit is really coming along well, we have a very stylistic intro and a bit of back story, some of which you will have seen in the first teaser trailer, some scene setting, an intro to Shark Reef, the first dive, how Shark Reef came to be, my own progress towards shark heaven and the dive we refer to as "Rourke's Drift," and a ton of other stuff as a retrospective look at Shark Reef interweaves with a very current story unfolding in real time which is immensely challenging, mainly because it has to make sense and be entertaining and the sheer volume of content could easily tumble down like a house of cards and the viewer is lost. Doing this as a one man band with no budget is not easy!

Watching the film unfold before my eyes is a fascinating process, especially when it comes to what the final result will look and feel like in the format in which it is delivered. By that I mean how you, the viewer, actually gets to see it and that is a major influencing factor on what the film is actually like in the sense of how the edit is constructed and how long it is.

In probably 99% of broadcast TV, the programme you are watching is treated as nothing more than mere wrapping around the really important stuff, the commercials, that's what the broadcaster is most interested in, selling those 3-5 minute gaps in the broadcast of your film for as high a price as possible to a queue of corporations desperate to sell you something you probably don't need.

It's not that TV broadcasters are evil behemoths enslaving poor, naive members of the public into a zombie-like army of unthinking consumers, well, not all the time, because the attitude towards art in the 21st century has evolved in a way in which quality is now no longer seen as being of major importance because the public at large have developed a sense of entitlement to everything for free. In short, nobody, well almost nobody, values creative quality, hard work, passion or inspiration anymore, not unless a celebrity tells them to anyway. They might like your work, but they want it for nothing unless someone from the telly tells them otherwise.

Don't get me wrong, giving stuff away for free is great, I love it and do it regularly myself, I shouldn't because nobody should work for free, but I do, so people can hopefully enjoy the end result of the hours of work end thousands of pounds of investment I put into all my work. One of the reasons A Ray of Light got so popular was because it was easy to view (streamed and F.O.C).

You can't rely on your niche market being automatically interested in you or your work either, especially if they have to (shock horror) part with a couple of quid to see it, so for all they say how much they "love" sharks, lions, tigers, music or whatever, if they're not willing to part with a couple of quid to enjoy your hard work and creativity on a subject they supposedly are so passionate about, they obviously don't really "love" it, they merely have at most, a passing interest. That of course, is absolutely fine, there is nothing wrong with having a passing interest in something, but you can't rely on passing interests, take for example the From the Office...Facebook page, 534 "likes" but nowhere near that amount of people and I really mean, nowhere near even 10% of those people, have watched "Behind Blue Glass" yet...

Of course, television broadcast and films passed around social media for free are two completely opposite ends of the spectrum financially and creatively. I can assure you of this, "Of Shark and Man" will not be available on line for free, nor however, will it serve merely as wrapping for a series of commercials, hacked to pieces, resembling nothing of the film I want it to be, just to get it on TV.

So why is any of the above important? Well, it's important because it affects the outcome of the film. I said from the off that I wasn't making this for the ever-growing  number of shark lovers, I'm making this for everyone, even people who hate sharks, but in doing so, I am making the film I want to see. You can't please everyone all the time so if you concentrate on pleasing yourself you at least don't risk ending up with a film you wish was something else when you had the control to make it what you wanted!

With that in mind, "Of Shark and Man" has evolved into a somewhat epic telling of two stories, an ambitious cinematic motion picture, trapped inside a documentary's body and it even has some animation work in it! That wasn't in the original storyboard believe me!

For all the acceptance of the things which make being a film-maker such a difficult way to make a living, there are also the great things which come with it, one of those being discovering young, raw talent that wants to work with you and in the animation team working on a vital part of the film, I have found some real gems, talented and intelligent gems who can hopefully use their involvement in this film to go on to big things one day.

There are some truly amazing people in this film as well, Brenda Adkison, Michael Patrick O'Neill, Mike Neumann, Rusi & Papa and Helen Sykes to name just a few and it looks beautiful as well. In short, I'm very happy with how things are going, the only thing I would rather, is that it would come together quicker but unfortunately, life gets in the way, bills need paying, cars need filling etc etc...

OK so where are we now...the film is going to run around 90 minutes and the plan is to shoot some more UK stuff for a "flashback" sequence which expands more on my story prior to leaving for Fiji (this is a result of feedback from a few people who want to know more about my motivations for making the choices I have), the film currently features four main dive sequences, the first of which might just be the longest in a film since the Oceanic Whitetip sequence in "Blue Water White Death." I have the most complex elements of the story to come as I want the film to build to a climax with the viewer already full to the brim with information and as familiar with the story of Fiji's relationship with sharks as they can be so they can relax and truly immerse themselves in the final, major dive sequence.

When the first rough cut is done, I add the music, do the sound design, colour correct and grade it and then take it to a handpicked group of people for a few private screenings to get feedback. From there, I make any changes suggested (which I agree with of course) then do some small test screenings, after that, I make any more changes so I can get the film to the best it can be for release.

For the promotional side of things, I will start thinking about Teaser Trailer 2 in the next couple of weeks, after that, a third teaser will be released when the rough cut is finished and two main trailers will be released after the test screenings are complete. I am already looking at a strategy for release where the film can gain a global following in an organic manner, using the film itself as its own promotion, by that I mean taking the film on the road, the film festival circuit, media screenings etc, the aim is to then get the broadcasters to come to the film, not vice versa.

There's no way for me to tell how successful that strategy will be, all I can do is work as hard as possible and be as focused as possible. I am aiming for the finished film to be released this year and I am excited about the possibilities of what it can achieve.

I am always looking to grow the Street Team so if you really want to help then email me at david@officetoocean.com because your help is not only greatly appreciated but desperately needed.

There is something coming your way soon also (June to be precise) which lends a little more info to what I was actually doing shark-wise whilst in Fiji so keep coming back to this blog to check when that's available.

Questions, feedback and comments, as always, warmly welcomed.

"Behind Blue Glass" Estrenado Al Mundo HOY!!

Muchas gracias a Susana Navajas para la traducción!

English version here!

DISPONIBLE AQUI (EN INGLÉS con subtítulos en español)

 

"Durante años, algunos de los tiburones blancos mas grandes fueron capturados en la costa de Mallorca, a veces menos de cien metros de las playas turísticas populares. Estas capturas se detuvieron abruptamente después de que el Segundo Tiburon blanco más grande jamás capturado fue traído de vuelta a la base por pescador, Xisco Pérez. era el año 1976, el año que JAWS, por Steven Spielberg, fue estrenada en España.

La historia se ha mantenido en gran medida como un secreto en Mallorca hasta ahora, David Diley explora por qué, a lo largo de la manera de tomar siete voluntarios involuntariamente en las profundidades, para mostrar cómo los tiburones son realmente importantes, cómo los encuentros de tiburón son en realidad una cosa positiva y mostrarle a el mundo lo que esta verdaderamente en peligro.

Esta fue la primera película que he hecho y el contenido de características nunca antes se ha visto en la televisión, incluyendo testimonios de la gente que estaba allí. Detrás de Cristal Azul se estrenó con una sala abarrotada en Portals, Mallorca, en mayo de 2011, después de su lanzamiento en DVD a principios de ese año."

Hace dos años, mientras que trabajar para conseguir "de tiburones y el hombre", financiado, pensé, bastante más tarde de lo debido con toda honestidad, que para que me ayude a conseguir dicho financiamiento, que debería realmente ir y probar mi mano en la fabricación de una película!

Yo quería hacer una obra completa sobre los grandes tiburones blancos de Mallorca desde hace años, desde mi primera visita a la isla en mi adolescencia y gracias a un correo electrónico de un tal Sr. Brad Robertson, pidiendo mi consejo sobre su Shark Diver clase, después de haber tropezado con este blog, las ruedas se pusieron en marcha para el inicio de un viaje bastante increíble!

No voy a contar toda la historia de nuevo, esta entrada del blog le dirá todo lo que necesita saber como una historia de fondo...

 

Así que, aquí está la gran noticia ... A partir de hoy, usted, sí USTED, ahora puede ver a Behind Blue Glass, en su totalidad, en Full HD, gracias al nuevo Vimeo "On Demand", la cual, para ser sinceros, parece ser muy brillante!

Detrás de Cristal Azul fue lanzado en DVD el año pasado, a disposición de comprar directamente de Palma Aquarium, pero yo había estado buscando durante mucho tiempo por un lugar en el que podía ofrecer una descarga digital a cambio de una pequeña cuota, pero todo el mundo parecía cobrar a través de la nariz, tomar cortes grandes de las ventas y la hacen demasiado difícil de conseguir.


He estado esperando bajo demanda que se lanzará desde que me enteré del año pasado. Disponible solamente para los miembros de Vimeo Pro, On Demand en realidad hace que todo el proceso she haga mas fácil. Usted sube su película, da detalles de su cuenta PayPal y lanza su película. Ellos tienen el 10% y eso es todo. Es tan simple! Todo lo que necesitas hacer es visitar la página, haga clic en "Watch Now" poner los datos de su tarjeta y usted puede que transmitir la película de Vimeo en cualquier dispositivo, en cualquier lugar, por el tiempo que yo soy un miembro Pro Vimeo Así que, básicamente, años y años . Ustedes saben que la mayor parte de su dinero va al cineasta, que es donde la mayoría de su dinero debe ir, pero a menudo no lo hace en los acuerdos de distribución más tradicionales.

La película es un precio muy razonable en $5.99, que es de £ 3.95, o €4.58 al tipo de cambio actual. De hecho, está bajo de precio para ser honesto, para ser 37 minutos de película, me está prácticamente robando a mí. Después que he cubierto mis propios gastos, un porcentaje de cada venta se destinarán a la Asociación Ondine y los proyectos en curso del mallorquín conservación que se están ejecutando, en la actualidad a nuestra costa.

Así que, ¿por qué usted paga su dinero duramente ganado para ver esta película? En primer lugar, es casi seguro que el documental más a fondo acerca de los grandes tiburones blancos de Mallorca que se ha hecho, sin duda la película de Inglés lengua más detallada sobre el tema, en el planeta. Usted Tampoco sabe esta historia, es una historia brillante y se le absolutamente garantizado para aprender algo nuevo.

Después de ver la película de nuevo ayer por la noche por primera vez en mucho tiempo, la cantidad de contenidos e información factual es bastante asombroso. Hay una gran cantidad de información embalado en menos de 40 minutos, probablemente más de lo que puedes encontrar en otra parte, por así decirlo, "más presupuesto" y producciones más "profesionales" y no sólo eso, todo viene de la nada más que ganas de hacer algo divertido, un poco diferente y contar una gran historia. No hay ningún intento cínico para tratar de venderte cosas, es sólo un hombre que realmente ama a los tiburones, hacer una película interesante para atraer suerte a otras personas que realmente aman a los tiburones!

Behind Blue Glass siempre será muy especial para mí porque fue una experiencia increíble para hacerlo y por todo lo que ha seguido. Este fue mi primer intento de hacer una película, no es mi primera película después de la escuela de cine, no es mi primer trabajo remunerado, me omite todo eso, esta fue la primera vez que había intentado para producir, dirigir, presentar y disparar una película…punto. Sólo ocho meses antes, yo estaba trabajando como Consultor de Reclutamiento con mi experiencia única siendo filmación de tiburones en vacaciones de buceo y hacer videos de mí mismo y de mis amigos que actúan como idiotas mientras que estabamos borrachos en la víspera de Año Nuevo!

De la tripulación de cuatro hombres (bueno, tres hombres y una mujer) sólo Liam tenía experiencia, era literalmente cuatro compañeros, tres de los cuales tenían ni idea de lo que estaban haciendo, tratando de completar un proyecto enormemente complejo y ambicioso, de hecho buscando de nuevo, las metas que me propuse era completamente irracional, ingenua, muy ambicioso y muy complejo pero de alguna manera nos las arreglamos para llevarlo a cabo a través de una mentalidad de pura sangre y determinación.
  
Sin duda nos encontramos con el terreno en esta película, el día de rodaje promedio duró 14 horas, un día en la pre-producción, Brad, Bea y yo empezamos a las 3 am y no terminó hasta la 1 am del día siguiente, sin pausas. Además nadie realmente le pagaron, la mayoría de los que lean esto se le pagará más hoy en día, sentado en su escritorio de la gente involucrada en esta película tiene para tres semanas de sólido movimiento. Era un trabajo muy duro, pero uno de los momentos más felices de mi vida.

OK, vamos a ser honestos, está lejos de ser perfecto, hay cosas que haría de manera muy diferente ahora, sabiendo lo que sé, pero ¿sabes qué, a quién le importa? Yo realmente no creo que lo que importa, porque teniendo en cuenta lo que tuvimos que pasar, que todavía se ven en esta película como un logro increíble bonito. Eso no me sopla mi propia trompeta, eso es testimonio de todos los que se pusieron manos a la obra y se atascó en que nos ayude a hacerlo. Brad y Bea casi se quitaron la vida para que esto suceda con su puro esfuerzo y pasión, Debora, Roman, Manon y los chicos de Palma Aquarium eran una ayuda increíble. Jaime Ros, el Museo de Sóller, Gabriel Morey, todos los voluntarios, Pérez Xisco, la lista de las personas que dieron su tiempo y esfuerzo, sin costo alguno para ayudar a conseguir este hecho es enorme y sin ellos, no sería lo que es.

Muchísimas gracias también a Richard Theiss y Groth Lawrence para el material adicional que a su vez, contribuyeron de forma gratuita.

Así que para las imperfecciones, el hecho de que el departamento de sonido era o Bea o niños de la localidad, Brad y Bea ser cámaras de mano y hacer un curso intensivo de cinematografía a el momento, mientras que los segmentos de disparo en realidad sobre el terreno, y tambien las «cosas no funcionan correctamente en el peor momento posible ", el hecho de que tuve que llevar gafas a través de la mayoría de los disparos debido a un problema en el ojo y el enfoque a menudo improvisada para hacer cine, me siento increíblemente encariñado con esta película porque no sólo es mucho mejor que la primera película que nadie debería ser , tiene un corazón y alma en su núcleo de personas que sólo quieren hacer algo bueno y empezar algo.

Y para emperar algo, si lo hizo. Behind Blue Glass fue el primer gran empujón detrás de los proyectos de conservación marina que ahora se extenderá por Brad y Bea en Mallorca, Brad ya está funcionando una organización nogubernamental de Conservación en su tiempo completo, la gente de repente comenzó a tomar un interés, incluyendo los medios de comunicación, lo llevó directamente a "Un Rayo de Luz ", una de las películas cabezas de cartel de este año en Beneath The Waves Film Festival y también me enseñó más de tres semanas sobre la manera de rodar películas que cualquier otra escuela de cine pudo, lo que eso significa es que ayudó enormemente en la realización de "de tiburón y Hombre ". Es fascinante para mí ver la enorme progresión y el crecimiento de una película a través del cristal y azul tiene una gran parte del crédito por eso.

De todos modos, ya es suficiente de mí, ¿está vendido aún? Si estás interesado en los tiburones y que aún no te animamos a participar con el costo de un paquete de cigarrillos a ver esta película, entonces probablemente no estás realmente interesado en los tiburones... 

 Compre a Behind Blue Glass AQUI

Behind Blue Glass Released To The World TODAY!

AVAILABLE HERE (ENGLISH WITH SPANISH SUBTITLES)

Spanish language article here!

"For years some of the largest Great White sharks ever landed, were caught off the coast of Mallorca, sometimes less than one hundred metres from popular tourist beaches. These captures abruptly stopped after the second largest White Shark ever caught was brought back to the dock by fisherman, Xisco Perez. The year was 1976, the year Steven Spielberg's JAWS was released in Spain.

The story has remained largely untold outside of Mallorca until now, David Diley explores why, along the way taking seven unwitting volunteers into the deep, to show how important sharks really are, how shark encounters are actually a positive thing and show the world what is truly at risk.

This was the first film I ever made and features content never before seen on TV, including eyewitness accounts from the people who were there. Behind Blue Glass premiered to a packed room in Portals, Mallorca, in May 2011, after its DVD release earlier that year."

Two years ago, whilst working towards getting "Of Shark and Man" funded, I figured, rather later than I should have in all honesty, that in order to help me get said funding, I should really actually go and try my hand at making a film!

I'd wanted to do a comprehensive piece about Mallorca's Great White Sharks for years, since my first visit to the island in my early teens and thanks to an email out of the blue from a certain Mr Brad Robertson, asking my advice on his Shark Diver course, after having stumbled across this blog, the wheels were set in motion for the start of a pretty amazing journey!

I'm not going to tell the whole story again, this blog post will tell you everything you need to know as a back story...

So, here's the big news...As of today, you, yes YOU, can now see Behind Blue Glass, in its entirety, in full HD, thanks to Vimeo's new "On Demand" feature which, to be frank, looks to be quite brilliant!

Behind Blue Glass was released on DVD only last year, available to buy direct from Palma Aquarium, but I'd been looking around for ages for a place where I could offer a digital download in return for a small fee but everywhere seemed to charge through the nose, take large cuts of sales and make it overly difficult to just get the thing out there.

I've been waiting for On Demand to be launched since I first heard of it last year. Available only to Vimeo Pro members, On Demand actually makes the whole process easy to do. You upload your film, give them your paypal account details and launch your film. They take 10% and that's it. It's so simple! All you need to do is visit the page click "Watch Now" put in your card details and you get to stream the film from Vimeo on any device, anywhere, for as long as I am a Vimeo Pro member so basically, years and years. You know that the majority of your money goes to the Film-Maker which is where the majority of your money should go but often doesn't in more traditional distribution agreements.

The film is very reasonably priced at $5.99 which is £3.95, or €4.58 at the current rate of exchange, in fact, it's under-priced to be honest, for 37 minutes of film, you're practically stealing it from me ;) After I have covered my own costs, a percentage of each sale will go towards Asociacion Ondine and the ongoing Mallorquin conservation projects we are running, currently at our own expense.

So, why should you pay your hard earned money to see this film? Firstly, it's almost certainly the most in-depth documentary about Mallorca's Great White Sharks ever made, certainly the most detailed English language film on the subject, on the planet.You also don't know this story, it's a brilliant story and you are absolutely guaranteed to learn something new.

Having watched the film again last night for the first time in a while, the amount of content and factual information is pretty staggering. There is a wealth of info packed into less than 40 minutes, probably more than you would find in other, shall we say, "bigger budget" and more "professional" productions and not just that, the whole thing comes from nothing more than just wanting to make something fun, a little bit different and to tell a great story. There's no cynical attempt to try and sell you things, it's just a guy who really loves sharks, making an interesting film to hopefully appeal to other people who really love sharks!

Behind Blue Glass will always be very special to me because it was an amazing experience to make it and because of everything that has followed it. This was my first ever attempt at making a film, not my first film after film school, not my first paid job, I'd bypassed all of that, this was the first time I had ever attempted to produce, direct, present and shoot a film...Ever. Only eight months prior, I was working as a Recruitment Consultant with my only experience being filming sharks on diving holidays and making videos of myself and my friends acting like idiots whilst drunk on New Year's Eve!

Of the four man crew (well, three men, one woman) only Liam had any experience, this was literally four mates, three of whom  had no idea what they were doing, trying to complete an enormously complex and ambitious project, in fact looking back, the goals I set were completely unreasonable, naive, way too ambitious and complex but somehow, we managed to pull it off through sheer bloody mindedness and determination.

We absolutely ran ourselves into the ground on this film, the average shoot day lasted 14 hours, one day on pre-production, Brad, Bea and I started at 3am and didn't finish until 1am the following day with no breaks. Also nobody really got paid, most of you reading this will be paid more today, sitting at your desk than the people involved in this film got for three weeks of solid grind. It was incredibly hard work but one of the happiest times of my life.

 

OK, let's be honest, it's far from perfect, it's rough and ready, there are things I would do very differently now, knowing what I know but you know what, who cares? I really don't think that matters because taking into account what we had to go through, I still look at this film as a pretty incredible achievement. That's not me blowing my own trumpet, that's testament to everybody who rolled up their sleeves and got stuck in to help us make it. Brad and Bea almost killed themselves to make this happen with their sheer effort and passion, Debora, Roman, Manon and the guys at Palma Aquarium were an amazing help. Jaime Ros, Soller Museum, Gabriel Morey, all the volunteers, Xisco Perez, the list of people who gave their time and effort, free of charge to help get this made is huge and without them, it wouldn't be what it is.

Huge thanks also to Richard Theiss and Lawrence Groth for the additional footage which again, they contributed for free.

So for the imperfections, the fact that the sound department was either Bea or local kids, Brad and Bea being handed cameras and expected to do a crash course in cinematography whilst actually shooting segments on the spot, the obligatory "things not working properly at the worst possible time," the fact I had to wear sunnies through most shots due to an eye problem and the often improvisational approach to film-making, I am incredibly fond of this film because not only is it way better than anyone's first film should be, it has a heart and soul at its core of people just wanting to do something good and start something.

And start something it did. Behind Blue Glass was the big first shove behind the marine conservation projects now being rolled out by Brad and Bea in Mallorca, Brad is now running a full time Conservation NGO, people suddenly started taking an interest in marine conservation, including the media, it directly led to "A Ray of Light," one of the headlining films in this year's Beneath The Waves Film Festival and also taught me more in three weeks on how to shoot films than any film school could, meaning it helped enormously in the making of "Of Shark and Man." It's fascinating to me to see the enormous progression and growth from film to film and Behind Blue Glass has a lot of the credit for that.

Anyway, that's enough from me, are you sold yet? If you're interested in sharks and that still doesn't encourage you to part with the cost of a packet of fags to see this film, then you're probably not actually that interested in sharks...

Buy Behind Blue Glass HERE

Edit: Muchas gracias Patric!

A Ray of Light Just Keeps On Truckin'!

Beneath The Waves 2013 line up

You probably all know the story by now. Went to Mallorca, shot a short film, released it for free on the internet, film gets seen in over 120 countries, helps start a community conservation project in Mallorca, gets shown on TV and now, I am very pleased to say, in the most recent stage of its story, film gets included in one of the biggest marine film festivals around!

Beneath The Waves 2013 opening in Savannah, Georgia, has 63 films on this years roster, meaning many of the films will be alternated in the various venues, however, I am incredibly proud to be able to report that, from the guys behind the festival themselves;

"Your film's first screening will be at the Beneath the Waves Film Festival in Savannah, Georgia on March 21-24, 2013. We also plan on bringing Ray of Light on the road with us as a headlining film for our mini-festivals around the world, especially in Europe...with festivals planned in Germany, Iceland, Portugal, Spain, the UK, throughout Oceania, and the US."

"A headlining film..." Wow! That is awesome!

This film just won't go away (not that I want it too of course!) We had zero budget and the whole thing was a one camera shoot, filming as and when I could, often without the film's stars knowing they were being filmed. They had no idea what the film would be like either so it was interesting to see their response especially and the response from the public, which has been overwhelming really. There was no fanfare, just a quiet online release and all of a sudden it kind of went everywhere and just kept on going, so this is another big win for our tiny little film!

Huge thanks go to the stupendously talented Chris Zabriskie for his music which lends so much to the film's emotional journey and of course, to Brad and Bea about whom, this film is very much a love story in some ways and a testament to their sacrifice, dedication and determination.

If you go to one of the festival dates and you get to see A Ray of Light, please let us know what you think!

Congratulations to all the film-makers whose work is being featured in this year's festival, you can be assured that much expense, effort, sweat and toil has gone into every single one of the featured films, so if Beneath The Waves comes to your town, go down and see what's on offer and support the talent on show, more often than not, made at the film-maker's expense with zero support in doing so and if any of the film-makers are there, buy them a beer and give them some feedback! They deserve it :)

Thanks to Austin and all at BTW for supporting my little film with a big heart.

Success At CITES

Going against my initial fears and belief that CITES will always be a largely impotent body in the fight to save sharks and other precious marine wildlife, last night saw Appendix II listing for Smooth, Scalloped and Great Hammerhead Sharks, Oceanic Whitetip and Porbeagle Sharks along with Manta Rays!

It's as surprising to me as it is brilliant and enormous waves of gratitude and unending respect must go to those people at the forefront of the campaign to get this as far as they have, it's an incredible achievement, maybe even a watershed moment, for sharks.

But...There's always a but...This could still be overturned when the assembled nations reconvene for the Plenary hearing on Thursday. This gives delegates from China, Japan and Singapore, three full days to continue spreading their bullshit and lies amongst the developing third world countries to encourage them to change their voting to allow them to keep exploiting the people and marine life within these nations. It ain't quite a done deal yet...

This is also regulation, it's not a ban, so people can still harvest these animals, it just means the trade will be regulated using scientific guidelines to assess the sustainability of a fishery in which these animals are regularly caught.

It's a good start but there is still much to be done.

In the meantime, watch this by Shawn Heinrichs who did an amazing job on a challenging project. Mantas really are beautiful animals and huge kudos to Hannah who did a great job in what were by all accounts, very challenging conditions!

A Ray of Light Gets Its TV Broadcast Premiere Tonight!!

Filming the underwater sequences in Mallorca

A quick heads up for all you people lucky enough to live in sunny Spain. Tonight, at 7pm, on Canal 4, Mallorca Today, "A Ray of Light" gets its TV broadcast premiere.

That means that tonight, it will be seen by thousands of people across the whole Spanish mainland and the Balearic Islands, so a project which was initially an idea for a grassroots conservation project Brad discussed with me on Skype a couple of years ago is about to take another huge leap forward and we did this all on our own! Brad, Bea, Gabriel Morey, Stefan Lawrence, Erica Lay, Joves Navegants, myself and some very enthusiastic volunteers are continuing to show that great things can be achieved in the conservation sphere without the help of the big conservation groups. That's not to say we wouldn't welcome the support, of course we would, especially Brad, it's just not been offered.

So what does this mean? First and foremost, Spain is now talking about marine conservation, a nation with a major impact on the declining health of our oceans, is starting to look at the concept of local marine conservation projects. The media are interested in finding out more, the numbers of people volunteering to take part has gone through the roof and some really great things are in the pipeline in regards to new projects and involvement of yet more influential people in Mallorca.

At the risk of repeating myself as well...I shot this film on my own as a one man crew for 750 quid of my own money and so far it has;

• Been seen by roughly 15,000 people, a figure which will increase enormously tonight
• Raised over £35,000 in donations for the project, that's more than 45x what it cost to make
• Been requested for inclusion in two film festivals
• Resulted in a television feature, two radio features and press articles about the project

That's all from social media and word of mouth only.

Just imagine what I could do with some financial backing, especially if, say, I had a rather amazing idea for "A Ray of Light II"...

Anyway, 7pm, Canal4 tonight, the perfect aperitif to the main course of United beating Madrid at the Bernabeau ;)

Of Shark and Man - Thank you!

Another day in paradise

It's been about a week and a half since the trailer was released and the feedback and response has been pretty overwhelming, taking into account Vimeo views, external links and embeds, it's edging towards the 6000 mark...That's six thousand  views of something released with very little fan fair and promoted only on social media and through word of mouth.

It has been featured on Shark Diver, The Best Shark Dive in the World, The Dorsal Fin and Shark Defenders alongside some other pages I'd never even heard of and yesterday alone, somewhere obviously picked it up (no idea where though) and it had no fewer than 918 unique views on Vimeo alone!

This shows there is clearly interest out there and the feedback has been especially satisfying, on the way it's shot, edited, coloured and the feel and people really seem to like the "it's a love story" line at the end. Even before I had fully established the storyline of the piece I had a tag line of "A love story...with teeth!" and it seems to resonate. It's always been important to me that everyone can feel a connection to the story and it seems that, at least with this teaser, most people do.

I've been contacted by quite a few people on a variety of subjects, some simply to offer encouragement, others looking for advice and also people asking how they can get involved in shark conservation. Not only do people like what they've seen, the message is working, pretty incredible considering the word "shark" isn't uttered once, let alone "shark conservation."

Please keep sharing, let's keep the momentum going and let's do what we can to get even more people on board and excited about "Of Shark and Man." I want to offer a huge message of thanks to the Street Team for their help pushing the trailer, it has been invaluable and also, just so you know, Tip Jar has been activated so if you like it and you have a few quid/dollars/baht/shekels/euros burning a hole in your pocket, please feel free to pop them in the electronic jar if you think the quality is deserving. Every little bit helps believe me.

Once again, thank you one and all and if you haven't seen it yet, watch it, comment and share with everyone you know!

Interview with Shark Defenders

Angelo over at Shark Defenders did a little interview with me the other day so if you haven't already seen it, take a look!

I do quite like doing these so if you think it may be of interest to your readers, get in touch and I welcome, no, I actively encourage to the point of insistence, that you not be afraid of throwing some heavy/controversial subjects and questions at me, I don't bite!

Thanks again Angelo, you're a gent.

Hear endeth my shortest blog post ever.

david@officetoocean.com

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!

Talented Graphic Animators - Fancy Seeing Your Work In A Film?

Some things, you just gotta leave to the experts...

The concept of low budget indie film-making is one of great creative flexibility and control, sacrificing the kind of budgets that help you realise your creative and artistic ideas, contrary to high-budget film-making, in which you often have the budget, but not the creative flexibility or control. 

Such is the life of a Film-Maker.

I much prefer the former but would also like a bigger budget, in fact, I'd like an actual budget! All the editing, colouring, grading, sfx, graphics, marketing, music, sound design, everything in fact, is being done for zero pay, almost exclusively by one person, myself, although I owe a huge debt of thanks as always to Kris, Mark and Liam for their help along the way and continued support on various things.

I have had to teach myself Direction, Production, Cinematography, Editing, Colouring, Grading, Graphic Design, Photoshop, Web Design, pretty much everything involved in the film-making process but there are some things which are just better left to people who are naturally good at them and have the technical skills one can't just pick up using tutorials on Youtube. One of those things is the art of graphic animation.

I have a dilemma. Firstly, one of my biggest bugbears is the fact that an inordinate amount of people in the world expect that if you have a creative talent and the tools to realise that talent, then you should work for free or at least if not free, less than you'd get paid to work in Burger King. I refuse to tiptoe around it, it really, really pisses me off. I committed with the formation of Scarlet View Media that I will charge clients a fair valuation for the work they want doing, purposefully avoiding the lower quality jobs because to be honest, I value the amount of effort and enthusiasm I put into each job higher than to compete solely on trying to be the cheapest. I'd rather clients pay the going rate because I give the best value for money.

And herein lies my dilemma, I feel a bit dirty by admitting that because "Of Shark and Man" has no post-production budget, I have to address the possibility of asking if there is someone talented, professional, creative and enthusiastic out there who might just be interested in having their considerable talent showcased in a high quality film on a global platform without the compensation of guaranteed payment. Let me explain...

The other night, whilst editing and going through the OSAM script, I had a brain wave, something which would be really, really cool, a bit different, creative and would really bring to life a hugely important part of  the story. Immediately, the first thing that came to mind in regards to the style was the Japanese anime, and animated, graphic novel style, used to brilliant effect in the example above from Kill Bill, basically, something very similar but softer, obviously a lot less violent, about a minute long and which illustrates a story to ensure it is easily understood to audiences from a variety of cultures.

The problem is I cannot do this myself and the quality absolutely must be of the highest standard possible and that usually means a pro and pros charge money, money I don't currently have.

That leaves me two options:

A) Find a super talented person to do the animation to my exact spec in return for exposure for their work in the film, association with the project, potential for future properly commissioned work and a caveat that you may actually receive payment for your work retrospectively in the event the film gets distribution (contractually agreed beforehand of course!)

B) Carry out a crowd funding campaign to raise the money to pay the artist up front, something which would ultimately put the project back considerably in respect of when the first rough cut can be completed.

I only very occasionally do work for free these days, in fact it's extremely rare and only in special circumstances, I am actually doing something for free at the moment for a very special lady and a very good reason, the reasons being the same as here, the project has no money but I am an admirer of hers and the work she does and I am sacrificing payment for credit. For that reason I can totally relate to the issue raised for you, the talented animator I am hoping will contribute your talent to this film, essentially for free and I don't feel great about asking to be honest.

I like this ^^^ A  lot!

OK so there it is, is there anyone out there who would be interested to get involved? I want to pay you, I genuinely do and in the event I can pay you retrospectively, that would probably bring me almost as much joy as it would you! On the other side of the issue, if you're a millionaire with a little bit of cash you are desperate to spend, get in touch!!

Contact me at david@officetoocean.com

Let's do something cool together!

"Of Shark and Man" - Get Involved!!

Yes. It has a logo now!

Happy New Year!!

The blogs were less frequent at the back end of 2012 for the simple reason I was just so damn busy, primarily launching Scarlet View Media, trying to earn a living and making preparations for when the first draft edit for "Of Shark and Man" is finished. The first draft running order for the film is now half done and looking good so I need to start looking seriously at the marketing and promotion of the film to get it to as wide an audience as possible and to make it as financially successful as I can, the latter point being key to the development of "From the Office to the Ocean" as a genuine, long lasting series of films.

My trusty right hand man on the graphic and website design side of things, Kris, has been sweating over a hot computer, redesigning the OfficetoOcean website and it's not far off completion. It's simpler, quicker to navigate and it looks better and I am very much looking forward to its launch, especially because it will not only mean a new website, but because it will also see the release of the first, official teaser trailer for "Of Shark and Man."

I like teaser trailers, I think they're pretty cool things, in the old days, trailers used to show practically the entire film, observe this, the trailer for the original JAWS which seems to go on forever, in comparison, nowadays we have things like this, the teaser for the new Superman movie, "Man of Steel," which to be quite frank, looks cool as fudge. It gives you just enough to let you know something cool is on the way, you might have a bit of a wait, but it'll be worth it.

Of course, this first teaser for "Of Shark and Man" will be followed by others as 2013 progresses, showing more detail and more of the film, but this first one will hopefully set the tone and give you an idea of what you're in for. Don't expect what you're used to either, this is not your average shark film...

Help spread the word

When I was in Nerve Engine, one of the most valuable things I spent time doing was putting together a "Street Team." For those who aren't aware what that means, a street team is basically, in the traditional sense anyway, a group of people based in different parts of the country/world who really like a band, and who go out and flyer the streets, promoting upcoming shows by whichever band they're street teaming for. In return, they get free entry into shows, discounted merchandise, credits on sleeve notes, all that kind of groovy stuff.

In the modern age of social media, it seems Street Teams have fallen by the wayside which is a shame as I always thought it a great way to bring bands and their fan base closer together. What has all this got to do with my film you ask...

As a one man team, I simply cannot do everything myself and I am at a massive disadvantage because of that, there just isn't enough time and I don't have the resources to promote "Of Shark and Man" properly on my own, I am also making all this up as I go along as well having never promoted a film before so I thought, "why not put a street team together?!"

So, what would a "From the Office to the Ocean" Street Teamer be asked to do?

It's simple really, promote "Of Shark and Man" regularly on your social media pages, post updates from here, the website and press, share trailers and media and maybe even some outdoorsy stuff as well, like plastering stickers and any other promo materials all over your neighbourhood, upsetting your local council/town hall/police department etc whilst knowing that you're being super awesome in the process.

In return you get a thank you credit in the film itself and also discounts and first dibs on future merchandise and stuff. It's not massively labour intensive but it is enormously helpful and in keeping with the grassroots, "in it together" approach this film has had since day one, it's also a brilliant way to maintain the most important relationship of all, that of the film-maker and audience.

 

Obviously, one would assume that anyone interested in sharks and their proper representation in the media would be keen to climb aboard but it's a competitive world out there so anyone signing up is going to be a big asset to the film's growth in the face of apathy and the competitive elbowing for market share in the 21st century shark related media community, they sure as hell won't help us so we just have to do it ourselves right?

For example, when the new site is launched, you'll be emailed with details and asked to share on your Facebook pages and groups, email subscribers, mailing lists, newsletters, Twitter etc, encouraging people to get involved, become interested in the project and want to be a part of all this with us. You can also feel free to suggest promotional and marketing ideas, organise screenings when the film is finished, get actively involved on the Facebook page, stuff like that. It is essentially the odd couple of hours a week but even that minimal level of help will increase the chances of this film reaching the kind of audience it deserves.

Worth pointing out as well, simply posting a link isn't really enough, we've all seen the same turbo posting people on Facebook who seem to spend all day just plastering links to things that all blur into one to the point you just switch off and block them out of your mind, I don't want people like that. I want people who want to discuss, debate, enthuse and promote, people who actually give a shit about what they're sharing, people who believe in what it is we are doing!

If you want to sign up all you need to do is email me at david@officetoocean.com with the title of the email as "Street Team" and provide basic details, your name, location, Facebook pages etc, that's it, we can then go from there. You may already help with things like this but please, if you do, still email me to be involved in the Street Team so I can keep a record of everyone involved!

I can't wait to get this started with you!

Just to finish this blog off, check out this short film I made about Autumn and the change as Winter approaches. I did it primarily to get out of the house as I was going stir crazy and the odd few hours of solitude in nature here and there really helped!

In Amber - A Very British Autumn from Scarlet View Media on Vimeo.

I will do the final part of the help blog for aspiring film-makers soon as well.

Brad has been on the telly as well, check that out here

2013 is already shaping up positively, not only will Of Shark and Man be completed but Brad and Bea are having a little person (I can say that now he announced it on TV), Hamish is getting married and two of my very closest friends, Mark and Fran, announced their engagement yesterday! Great stuff :)