Sorry For The Silence! How About An (Exciting) Update?!

I've been really slack with the blog the last few months but with good reason. I've been so unbelievably busy with promoting Of Shark and Man, work, developing new services for Scarlet View Media and being a dad to a wonderful two year old that I just haven't had the time to update the blog as much as I'd like, in fact, I think it's been about 7 months since the last update. Please accept my apologies!

I thought it would be good to put some brief updates here so you can see what's been going on in my life in the last few months so here goes.

Promoting Of Shark and Man
This has been a huge and ongoing job for almost a year now. The website has grown considerably with the addition of Teaser Clips, Behind The Scenes films, reviews and regular news updates. The team at EDNA Interactive have been great and thanks to them, the branding for the film has been a huge success!

Launching The Online Merch Store
We have launched an online shop where you can order T-Shirts, signed posters and stickers to help finance the promotion of the film. The T-Shirts are the same as the ones we had for the crowdfund campaign, produced by Fourth Element and as a bonus for everyone who places the first batch of orders, each T-Shirt comes with a password protected, limited availability stream to the film in full! Yes, that's right, if you want to see the full film, this is the best way to do it at the moment but this is a limited offer and we are almost at the minimum number of T-Shirt orders so if you want to see the film, you better move pretty quickly!

Click this link to go to the online store for all the info you need.

Winning Awards
Of Shark and Man was accepted into the prestigious Nice International Film Festival which took place in May, during Cannes. The film was also nominated for three awards, Best Sound Design, Best Editing In A Documentary and Best Cinematography In A Documentary and we won two of the three! It was an amazing and humbling experience and also an important one because it helped when it came to...

Signing A Contract With A Sales Agent!
This was a main goal from day one, finish the film, create a buzz then get a Sales Agent on board. I had a contract sent through the night before flying to Nice so the idea was, get back home after the festival, sign that and then crack on but this was complicated by the fact that upon returning from Nice, within a couple of days I had not one but four offers, two from Agents and two from Distributors. In the end, after meetings, phone calls and advice from friends in the industry, I chose Project 8 Films in Hollywood. In the end, I had ended up with a total of five offers for the film, not something I expected but which I found extremely flattering but now, it's onto the final and most exciting step, licensing the film to TV! (Hopefully!)

Launching The Stock Footage Service On Scarlet View Media
I've wanted to do this for ages and finally had the chance at the turn of the year. If you are in need of affordable HD Underwater footage of a variety of shark species and marine life, look no further than here!

Launching Commercial Screenings For Of Shark And Man
We are offering private Commercial Screenings of the film, along with a Q&A session with yours truly to businesses, NGOs, Dive Clubs, Film Schools, Aquariums, any organisation you can think of really, wherever you are in the world. If this would interest you, you can find out more here and by getting in touch with us to book your own screening.

Developing An Innovative Underwater Film-Maker Workshop
Towards the end of 2015 I started work on developing my own Underwater Film-Maker workshop, something I have wanted to do for ages! I received quite a bit of interest and a couple of months back partnered up with Oonas Divers and Red Sea Diving Safari to offer one of the most in-depth and practical workshops available anywhere in the world. The first workshop takes places January 18th - 25th, 2017 and you can find out all the info you need here!

That's all the main stuff really, in recent weeks I've also been developing a four part series with a Producer which may (or may not) be a sequel of sorts to Of Shark and Man. It is of course shark related!

Once again, sorry for the lapse in updates, as you can see I've been crazy busy but I'll try not to leave it this late for the next blog post!

If you have any questions about any of the above, leave a comment!

Official Of Shark and Man Trailer Now Live!

Finally, after all these years, the Official Trailer is live and available for you to see for yourself! No more teasers as to what the film might look and sound like, just confirmation in the form of a brief snapshot of what you the viewer will be getting when you see Of Shark and Man.





I would greatly appreciate if you could share the trailer far and wide if you like it, we need the film to gain a momentum amongst the public so there is that interest to see it when its released. After five years of non-stop hard work, now is the key time that will make or break it!

The website is also live and getting regular updates. Starting next Wednesday, new content like interviews, reviews, news updates etc will be posted every week and on every Friday, new video content will be added to the site including teaser clips, bonus features and deleted scenes so keep making regular visits so as not to miss out!

Thanks to everyone who has shared the trailer and been so far and been so forthcoming with praise, it really means a lot!

Thank you.

Your Chance To Get Cool Stuff And Help Release Of Shark And Man Is Coming!

I figured now is as good a time as any for an update on Of Shark and Man!

It's been a bit of a whirlwind the last couple of weeks, after Gran Canaria I had a lot of catching up to do and also returned home with thoughts on how to tighten up the edit of the film and make a few corrections so I've been working hard on that and now only have to slot in the updated Sound Design. The changes aren't massive but I have changed some clips and the new v.2 of the film is, certainly to me anyway, an even better film!

I've also been working closely with the wonderful people at EDNA Interactive to finalise the strategy we have for promoting the film upon its release. That means creating content, design work and most importantly, giving you the viewer, the absolute highest value I can. I have always been passionate about my audience investing themselves in to my work and feeling that they are getting a genuine return on that, films like this need support and that support is something I think should be rewarded.

I've been meeting with magazines, designers, manufacturers and supporters, discussing the best ways to achieve this and I am so excited that the people who are investing their expertise, time, product and above all else, their friendship into this project are all the people I had on my wish list because they're just so damn good at what they do.

With all that in mind, the next big milestone is the launch of the official website and social media platforms where you can finally start getting your hands on the kind of content you've been so patiently waiting for and also, start kitting yourself out with some truly incredible products, one off memorabilia items and also, maybe, just maybe, one hell of an opportunity to tell your own shark story.

So, here's the long and short of it, "Of Shark and Man," needs to get out there and that doesn't happen with the odd post on Facebook, it happens with a proper plan, a marketing and promotional strategy, screenings and attending events in person to get the message out there that this is the film that so many of you and your peers and friends have been saying for years you've wished you could see. If this film achieves its goal and gets out to a wide audience, it means more will be made which means that for everyone who's ever signed petitions or complained against what they see as low value and irresponsible shark based TV and film, you now have a chance to actually have an impact in getting what you say you want.

Here's a list of some of the things I need to cover costs of to realistically give me a solid shot at achieving all the above:

Marketing Campaign
Festival and Private Screenings
Legal Documentation and Insurance
Promotional Merchandise
Travel
Accommodation
Press Kit Materials
Licensing of Footage
Postage
Website Hosting Fees
Printing
Blu-Rays and Electronic copies of the film for Festivals

Of course it would be nice to make the film open access and free to everyone but in the real world it's just not possible. I've done that with all my other films and lost considerable amounts of money doing so in order to give people productions which, although free to view, are still of the highest quality. It's just not feasible to do that with Of Shark and Man and as such, I have to be very careful with having complete control over any existing copies of the film so it doesn't end up as a torrent online.

With all that being said, I have been working really hard to come up with a way to involve you in everything, give you opportunities to get your hands on some amazing, and I mean amazing stuff, including signed memorabilia, one off pieces of artwork, dive gear (yes, actual top of the range dive gear), invitations to screenings, extremely limited opportunities and also possibly the most incredible raffle prize I can think of for anyone who loves sharks. Not only that, but also the opportunity for you to see the film, in full in the comfort of your own home.

The way I will be doing all the above is by running a Crowdfund campaign, most likely through Indiegogo to raise the money needed to get everything off the ground. I ran one previously when I started this whole thing so this means all those who contributed to that will receive their stuff when this new one launches so that's pretty exciting too!

I already have two major dive manufacturers who make top of the range products who are putting forward some of their best gear for perks, not little stuff either, I'm talking products worth between £250-£1500! There is also a third dive company potentially joining  so if you're in need of dive gear this year and you only want the best quality and value for your money, maybe hold on a couple of weeks!

Other perks will range from smaller cost stuff like stickers and signed posters, through to T-Shirts, tickets to screenings and bespoke, one off pieces of artwork (believe me, these in particular will be really, really cool if I can confirm them). There will also be more personal stuff like Skype video calls so you can get any answers to any questions you have, advice or just talk about the weather or anything else you like with me, tonnes of stuff, all of which is designed to give you the best value possible for your donation.

In conjunction with the perks you get per donation, there are also going to be raffle prizes, the bigger the donation, the bigger the prize with one super mega prize I'm hoping to confirm in the next week which really is something special!

So, keep your eyes peeled, join this Facebook group to get up to date news and maybe start putting away some pennies. This will launch soon and will be something very awesome I can assure you!

In addition to that, if you're thinking of going to the 40Fathoms Film Festival in Hermanus, South Africa on June 5th, 6th and 7th, you'll get a chance to see three of my films, "A Ray of Light," "A Ray of Light II," and "Sea Dogs" which is pretty cool. They're also showing Mexico Pelagico I believe and that is well worth your time too!

 

Of Shark and Man - Big News And Major Progress!

Yes, that would be your first look at the official branding for the film

First of all, behold, the first public look at the branding for "Of Shark and Man." I love it and I think it captures exactly the mood I'm going for, gritty but with a Fijian flavour and a marriage of the industrial urban north of England and something far more exotic. I wanted "different" and that's what I got. I have Sue and David at EDNA Interactive and Kris Allen to thank for the logos and in my opinion, they have absolutely nailed it.

Its been a mad few weeks since the last blog, consumed in the main by completing the Sound Design which meant 12-14 hour days in David Lawrie's studio composing the final pieces of music and constructing and mixing the film's sound.

First of all, I'll say this, the Sound Design in Of Shark and Man is phenomenal, it sounds dynamic and at times monstrously big, all the while retaining the subtleties which aide each facet of the story telling. The attention to detail has been ridiculous, I was adamant I wanted everything to have, not just sound, but a designed and descriptive sonic aesthetic, sound which didn't just offer a simple description of the surroundings you see on screen, but which reaches out of the screen, grabs you and pulls you in there with me. Bad sound design kills a film, no sound design is inexcusable but great sound design can elevate a film beyond anything it could have ever been without it.

I am incredibly lucky to have had a friend in David Lawrie who not only was able to technically do what I wanted, but who also, most importantly "got it." I have heard sporadically over the last few years "but that's not how they do it, you're supposed to do it like this" but I've never really cared how "they" do it, only how I want to do it. That's probably a bit naive but so be it, thus far it's worked and as the saying goes if it ain't broke...

It's a rare person who is willing to spend their first trip back to the UK in a while, sitting down with someone demanding such rabid attention to detail it means going through more than 100 minutes of footage with a fine toothed comb to pick out every single thing that needs a sound (including underwater) and work together to put those sounds in, knowing full well the challenge of actually mixing it all coherently is going to be even more difficult than usual. The simple brief was "don't think documentary, think feature film event." Needless to say, Dave absolutely smashed it out of the park.

So I guess that means I should let you all know that the Director's Cut is finished and not only that, it has actually been seen by a small handful of people, one of whom was London based, Cypriot Singer/Songwriter Eleni Skarpari, also known as Echo Wants Her Voice Back. Eleni was in York, recording with David and I was asked to be the Cinematographer for her new Music Video and so afterwards, David, Eleni and I sat down to watch the film and having seen it, I got her on camera to give her thoughts on the film itself, completely impartial and honestly.

Eleni Skarpari - Reaction to First Viewing of "Of Shark and Man" from Scarlet View Media on Vimeo.

Feedback so far from the people who have seen it (David Lawrie, David's mum, Eleni and David Edwards from EDNA) has been quite overwhelming really in that they all essentially said exactly the kind of things I hoped people who see the film would say. The opinions of people like these are crucial to me, they are all highly skilled and talented individuals with little patience for mediocrity. They judge the work of others based on their own high standards and were all too aware that merely stroking egos was of no use whatsoever. Four people have seen the film thus far, two who were already interested in sharks, two who merely had a normal, passing curiosity in sharks, all different age ranges and all loved it.

There is also a trailer, in fact there will be two trailers as of the early hours of Thursday morning but only one will be released.

I've taken a big risk with the trailer. Basically I got bored of seeing the same thing over and over again and as this film is geared towards a mass market audience, I need to appreciate how that audience works. The shark crowd will look after themselves, if you like sharks or films about sharks, you shouldn't need too much convincing to make the effort to see the film. Unfortunately, to the average person, pure conservation films are "boring" and their trailers often don't do anything to convince them otherwise. They've been at work all day (probably at a job they hate), they're tired, they want to be entertained so the thought of a plodding documentary talking at them about something they really don't care about is not going to rev their engine so to speak. Of Shark and Man isn't really a pure conservation film either, it's an engaging story about ordinary people doing extraordinary things in a tropical paradise.

The idea here is to use those preconceived misconceptions against those people in a way, to hook them in with something they can totally relate to, then let them choose to ask questions of what they thought they knew whilst getting a bit of a thrill along the way. They are in no way being misled, they are instead being told "hey, all those other documentaries you would never normally watch, well this isn't one of them."

Look at the trailer for Blackfish, a trailer I think is one of the best I have seen in a long time and it's no coincidence the film was such a big success because the trailer screams out "watch me!"





With regards to the trailer, I did a first edit and showed it to a few people, here's an excerpt of feedback I got one from one very trusted person who knows about this stuff:

"My husband and I sat here together and watched the trailer. After it was over, I looked at him and said, "What did you think?" His eyes were huge, and his mouth was slightly agape. He said, "I just realized I was holding my breath." He was so mesmerized by what he was watching, that he didn't even realize he was holding his breath. So that's definitely a good sign! 

I mean, I want him to start breathing again eventually, of course. So here's my impression: For me it was like taking a short, powerful journey. The first minute or so I felt like I was looking at myself in the mirror - sitting in a stale office, the vacant expression, just existing from one day to the next. Then the swimming scene - it really resonated with me, and I think it will with your audience too. How many of us just want to dive out of our mundane existence, and go toward something meaningful? Something completely different from what we experience every day? 

Then to suddenly get that break, where the music becomes stronger, the colors brighter, the motion faster.... I feel like I'm traveling with you because of how you have engaged the senses of the viewer. And I keep asking myself, "What's going to happen next?" 

I think that is the mark of a great storyteller, if the audience is so engaged that they have to know what happens next. And part of the reason the viewer wants to know what happens next is because early on in the trailer, by relaying your story of your unfulfilled life, and your desire for something more, you have made the audience care about you and what happens to you. The viewer becomes emotionally invested in the first few seconds, and that emotional investment only becomes stronger throughout the rest of the trailer. 

I thought the footage and music tied together beautifully - I know you were especially conscious of the music, and it shows. There was only one little nagging question mark I had in my mind at the end of the trailer, and that had to do with the ambiguity of the plot. I was trying to view the trailer as someone who maybe doesn't know your story. So I was asking myself, "What is the ultimate reason he is doing all of this? Is it to face fears? Challenge himself? Tell the story of the sharks of Fiji? Tell people why sharks are important and need to be helped?" But I don't think that ambiguity is necessarily a negative thing. Asking those questions of oneself would make the viewer want to watch the entire feature to learn the answer. So while part of me was wondering, well, what EXACTLY is this about? The other part of me is thinking, actually that's not a bad thing to leave it a little ambiguous in order to pique curiosity. 

But what it comes right down to is that I thought the trailer was exceptional. Obviously my husband did too, and I'm happy to inform you that he is indeed breathing again. Anyway, I hope all of this is helpful, and I didn't mean to write a dissertation. Well done, David. Very, very well done"

I was of course delighted with this feedback, especially with the comment about ambiguity which may surprise you, as I think ambiguity can drive an audience to watch the film to find out what the trailer i actually alluding to. My idea is, as a very good friend once said to me, "sell the sizzle, not the sausage." Give them just enough to pique their interest and curiosity so they have to see the film.

By the weekend there should be two functioning trailers and some of you out there will actually get a chance to see them and give me feedback which helps me choose which I release. It's not often a film-maker does that so if you're interested, email me at david@scarletviewmedia.com

Finally, how about this... "Of Shark and Man" will get its first ever official public screening on April 25th at Il Muestra De Cine Submarino De Aguimes in Aguimes, Gran Canaria!

Fernando who runs the festival and also Alianza Por Los Tiburones De Canarias was super, super keen to screen the film, which at that point, hadn't even been completed and when the city offered to put me up in my own Villa to go and screen the film along with a Q&A, it was an offer simply too good to turn down! This is going to be an amazing event and a great opportunity to see the reaction to the Director's Cut from an International audience.

I am really looking forward to this, Spain and the Spanish territories have been very supportive of my work, my career started there with A Ray of Light so Fernando's enthusiasm really meant a lot to me. Not only that, it was even announced on TV there that I was going!

Watch from 46:28!

 


So, if you're in Gran Canaria on Saturday April 25th, come along. The new David Doubilet film is also showing so I'm looking forward to that too!

Bit of a longer blog this time but I thought you all deserved a proper update! Keep an eye out for the trailer and remember, if you want a chance to choose which one goes out, email me!

I Have Finally Watched Of Shark And Man In Full

Click photo for detail

Today I did something I've been wanting to do for four years, I actually watched Of Shark and Man start to finish in one full go.

That might sound odd but during the edit process the intro section was in a separate timeline as about a year ago I decided what I had wasn't cutting it and ripped the whole thing apart. This was stressful for me as I initially really liked it but as time wore on it just started to seem a bit...ordinary. These days shark films all tend to blend into one another, some good but unoriginal, others utterly turgid and uninspiring, occasionally there is the odd gem (Mexico Pelagico immediately springs to mind) and of course it's impossible not to judge the work of others against your own, so while watching other films was motivated by an interest in anything that had sharks in, there was also an element of seeing what others were doing, with or without proper budgets.

I never looked at these films as a possible source of inspiration though, even the ones I liked (and believe me, if there's a shark film available out there online, on TV or any other format, I've seen it) because I have known what I was going to do with "Of Shark and Man" for almost ten years now and my inspiration comes less and less from shark documentaries as time progresses because I don't just want to be the same as everyone else or take an easy option and I certainly don't want Of Shark and Man to simply become "just another shark film."

So, back to my original point, I was stressing about the intro because although it was certainly different, its execution was ordinary and a bit corny. It took probably a full year to come up with something that really presented the film as it deserves in the first few minutes, both conceptually and artistically because, as wanky as it may sound, I do see Of Shark and Man as a piece of art but of course, art is subjective...

Over the last year we (myself, David Lawrie and various talented Musicians) have been working (and losing sleep) on the soundtrack and sound design for the film and now the intro music has been finalised and believe me, that was a big, big job, I was able to actually take the intro and stick it onto the rest of the film and thus, tonight I got to watch he whole thing as it should be seen.

Screen Grab from Of Shark and Man

Theoretically I could have watched it sooner extremely easily but truth be told, I almost didn't want to, I was nervous, what if I didn't like it? What if I thought it was boring or kept seeing mistakes? I had actually been putting off watching the film because although people tell me I'm quite good at what I do and people seem to like it, when you've had the amount of people telling you that you're wasting your time or kidding yourself as I have had in the last few years (if I had a pound for every time I heard the phrase "cloud cuckoo land"...) then you undoubtedly experience periods of intense self doubt.

I exist in a bizarre mindset of supreme confidence shadowed by crippling self doubt all of which is driven by an almost psychotic desire to achieve perfection, if that even exists, all of which has both inspired and almost destroyed me in the last few years and all because of a film. It's kind of ridiculous when you think about it but hey, none of us are perfect right?... I am course, trying to address that...

Screen Grab from Of Shark and Man

So tonight was the night, the volume levels were all over the place as there is still a bit of sound design to add and a couple of music tracks to complete (next week) but it was still a functioning piece of work. So what did I discover?

My biggest fear is that the film would drag and get lost in a morass of self indulgence, at over 102 minutes, it would be really easy to bore an audience into a stupefying coma of disinterest and thankfully, even as my own biggest critic, the film absolutely flew by and that, to be honest, surprised me.

When you venture over the sixty minute mark, you're taking a big risk that you will lose your audience, sharks are awesome, we all like sharks but there are people out there who don't and it is they, if you have any aspirations of "changing the perception of sharks," who you need to engage.

Thankfully because of the sheer weight of content and calibre of the people on camera, the film carries everything really well. If anyone was going to get bored of the film it would be me, I have lived with it for almost five years now but at no point did I feel I was being weighed down by the feeling I had to finish it because I'd just spent the last hour watching it.

The music works really, really well and the sound design is fantastic, lack of sound design will kill a film before it gets going and that was a major reason why, when I started the edit, I spoke to David Lawrie about my idea to have sound be another character in the story, to accent, intensify and breathe life into the images on screen. Needless to say Dave has done an incredible job.

Screen Grab from Of Shark and Man

Also, and this was a big thing for me, the film just looks totally different to any other shark film out there and absolutely nothing like a documentary and that is exactly what I wanted because I don't see Of Shark and Man as a documentary, rather a feature length film with factual content. It was a difficult process to get that look right and it started with the filming itself. There is not a great deal of the "guerilla" style of cinematography, achieving this meant impressing on anybody filming when I wasn't, to see the beauty and the drama in what they were shooting. Cinematic was the order of the day and I think we achieved that.

The grade of course plays a big part in the look of the film too and I leaned heavily towards the filmic look, quite high contrast and using colour to tell the story with an almost 1970's look but brought into the modern era. It's not as super sharp as had I shot it on C100/300/500 or RED as I would have done if I were shooting it today (I own a C100 now) but the slightly softer edge actually gives the footage a more distinctive look from everything else in these days of 4,5 and 6K and lends itself well to that filmic look I was so passionate about capturing.

Now, of course it would be easy to say I was biased, of course I am and I certainly wouldn't be here saying "hey, I watched my film tonight, guess what, it sucks!" but I do think anybody with an interest in sharks will enjoy it, learn from it and take something, probably many things away after viewing it, but more importantly to me, I think it fulfils a goal I set from the start, to appeal to people who have no interest in sharks.

Screen Grab from Of Shark and Man

I think the thing I'm happiest with is the concept itself, bridging that gap between the urban landscape and a South Pacific paradise, the "everyman" idea which drives the whole story. Of Shark and Man is not merely people sitting down reeling off facts, it's a journey, a very real story told be real people who are being honest. I had no interest in taking a scientific approach, I didn't want to talk to an endless conveyor belt of researchers in labs repeating statistics, this is about visceral escapism.

That's not to say the film is light on facts, far from it, factual content drives everything in the film and regardless of your level of knowledge, you absolutely will learn something you don't already know, not only that, you will see things you have never seen before and that can only be a good thing can't it.

So what now?

Well, the official trailer is now almost complete and will give you a far better idea of what to expect than simply reading the above. The plan for that is that I will allow a few people to see the trailer privately and give their feedback before its release and this could include you, more on that in the coming weeks.

The website has been registered and is being designed, as are the Twitter and Facebook pages. Behind the Scenes videos will be coming out soon and most importantly, opportunities for you to actually see the film and make up your own mind!

There is also a brilliant opportunity that has been presented to me which I am 99.9% certain I will be able to to do which excites me enormously!

Finally, I just want to say this, if you are an independent Film-Maker who has made or is making your own film about sharks, I applaud you for getting out there and having a go at doing something. The more independent shark films out there the better in my opinion. If you're an aspiring Film-Maker and you have no idea where to start or you have questions nobody else seems willing to answer, please, always feel free to drop me a line and I will always try to help you if I can. I may not be Fincher, Kubrick or Spielberg (obviously, I wish I was!) but I'm always happy to be of any assistance I can.

As always, keep your peepers peeled for updates, after years of hearing "it's almost done," I can now tell you that unequivocally, it's almost done!

A Ray of Light II - Online And Available Now!

The wait is finally over!

You can now watch A Ray of Light II in its entirety, free of charge, HERE (Click this link)

If you have any feedback, comments or anything at all, please leave a comment in the comments section of this blog or if you're registered on Vimeo, in the comments section of the film itself.

If you want to help us continue to make these films, the Tip Jar feature is enabled on the Vimeo page, it's non-obligatory of course but any donations, big or small, really do help and they are hugely appreciated!

If you want to embed the film on your websites or blogs, please feel free to do so and if possible, let me know so I can point people towards your site!

So, what are you waiting for!? Watch it and if you like it, please share with friends on Social Media!

Please support Asociacion Ondine as well because without funding, they cannot continue the vital work they are doing! Link here - http://www.gofundme.com/asociacionondine

Edit: - Thank you Mike!

A Ray of Light II - Behind The Scenes Films

A pic from my time in Palma

I've just got back to the UK from five weeks in Palma on a commercial film shoot for a plastic pollution educational film, not only that, it was also the premiere for A Ray of Light II which was a huge success. If you're wondering where the film is, it will be out in the next few weeks and I can't wait for you all to see it, those who have, all seem to have very passionate feelings about it, or at least various aspects and it certainly created a lot of discussion about its content, to the degree where it wasn't unusual to hear the film being discussed in the bars of Palma by people completely unaware that people responsible for it were within earshot and totally unable to avoid listening in! That was a pretty weird experience for me!

The filming process for part II was much longer, much more complex and a more intense experience, I knew it would be beforehand so enlisted the help of the newest addition to the Scarlet View Media team, Lachlan Stewart-Baker, or as he's better known, "Lockie".

Lockie is new to Film-Making but he's super passionate, enthusiastic and a great person to have on set. For  a big project like this with a lot of expectation attached, it would have been much easier, maybe even more sensible to take someone with experience but Lockie's biggest attribute is his attitude and willingness to get involved and learn.

To help Lockie gain experience in both shooting and editing, alongside helping with the shooting of the film itself, I asked him to make a Behind The Scenes film of the process. I think BTS featurettes are great, they are an excellent promotional tool and really help a viewer engage with the people involved in the production and thus, hopefully, the story in the film itself.

I'm really happy to say that Lockie has now finished his BTS film, which he has split into two parts and I think he's done a great job!

They films feature footage from A Ray of Light II and also, of course, some BTS stuff and both are based around an interview I did with Lockie for which he had total control over the content. I offered advice here and there when asked but these are without doubt, Lockie's own work and he should receive all the credit for their creation. So, here they are!

Part 1:

 

Part 2:






Let us know what you think and if you like them, please share them on your social media groups and pages, not only do they give an insight into the film itself, but also highlights the massive amount of effort which went into making it and if you're in Palma, Lockie owns Mojo Bar so pop in, buy a beer and say hello!

Great stuff Lockie!

A Ray of Light II Is On It's Way

It's been a manic few months. The first cut of "Of Shark and Man" is on it's way to California so the Sound Design stems can be added.

If you don't know what Sound Design is, it's basically the creation of sound, its manipulation, mixing and mastering, all of which gives the viewer more of an emotional and sensory experience. Some films have a simple, more straight ahead sound design, especially in factual film, however, having gone down a far more complex and ambitious route, we have hundreds of sounds to mix in a cohesive way which will hopefully give you a fuller viewing experience and aid in the narrative of the film. We will end up with a mix of four "stems," one each for the narrative, voice over, topside ambiance and underwater sound, however, currently we have fifty so David Lawrie has his work cut out but what we have sounds incredible!

As post production on "Of Shark and Man" has been reaching completion, alongside commercial work for various clients, I have been putting the finishing touches to "A Ray of Light II."



A Ray of Light from Scarlet View Media on Vimeo.

If you haven't seen the first film, predictably entitled, "A Ray of Light," you can do so above.

The film took me by surprise in the level of success it attained, headlining various film festivals around the world and having been viewed to date, in 151 countries. I'd always intended to do a sequel because the reaction to Brad and his work was overwhelmingly positive, indeed, as more people saw the film, the level of support for Brad's work increased to the stage where he was able to raise sponsorship to start Asociacion Ondine, an official non-profit, grassroots marine conservation organisation based on the island.

I don't want to give too much away but A Ray of Light II is a longer film (29 minutes) much less retrospective with a first person insight into Asociacion Ondine's biggest conservation project to date (a Stingray tagging expedition) and has much more by way of content. It focuses on the effects the first film had on Brad's life and conservation on the island, the growth of Asociacion Ondine, the huge changes to Brad's personal life and also confronts the challenges and more controversial aspects of marine conservation in Mallorca. Where the first was something of a vignette, the sequel is a more rounded, documentary style film which asks the difficult questions and gives the important answers.


In short, I am really, really proud of it.

Production-wise the film was shot on two Canon 7D's, various L Series and EF-S Lenses, about 6 GoPros (meaning lots of mounted POV type shots) and two aerial drones. Sound was captured on a Zoom H1n, Rode Video Mic and Rode Video Mic Pro and underwater sequences were filmed primarily on 7D in a Nauticam housing, with two Sola 1200 lights, with some additional footage captured with GoPro Hero 3 Black Edition, both mounted and hand held.

Post-Production was all done on Adobe Production Premium CS6 on a custom built Novatech edit suite and graded in Da Vinci Resolve Lite 10 with a few of my secret little tricks added on top (they stay secret!) Sound Design was mixed and mastered by David Lawrie on Logic on Mac.

As always, big thanks to the awesome Fourth Element, Apeks and Aqualung!


A very small handful of people have seen it and the feedback has been pretty overwhelming to be honest, so far all but one have admitted to shedding a few tears (the one who hasn't, I think may have at least experienced a little moistening ;) ) and all seem to feel this is a big leap forward in terms of the quality of everything.

A Ray of Light II gets its full premiere at Palma Aquarium, in Mallorca on October 30th, where they will also be screening the first film, Gabriel Morey will be giving details of findings of the Stingray Survey to date and Brad, Gabriel and myself will also be doing a Q&A session so if you're on the island, make sure to get down and see it!

The film will then get an online release (free of charge again) some time in November and will be hopefully hitting some festivals next year.

To make sure you are amongst the first to see it when it's out, join here and here as all details will be posted there and there will also be a "Making Of" featurette as well!


** By the way, if you haven't already seen the great news, please have a read of Mike's blog here!**

A Vision Realised - How "Of Shark and Man" is finally becoming what it was always meant to be!

Our second day in Fiji, visiting Galoa

It seems about a squillion years ago now that I decided I was sick and tired of doing what everyone else expected of me and not fulfilling my dreams, ambitions and potential and decided to just jack it all in on the back of an absurd notion that I could just swan off to Fiji and make a feature length film that would get on TV, okay, maybe not a squillion but it's been four years and that's a long time to go through the trials and tribulations I've faced.

The constant threat of always being on the verge of going broke, giving up my home, constant (and I mean constant) rejection, self doubt, crises of confidence which literally left me a complete wreck, unable to create anything for weeks, ridicule and criticism, you name it, I've had it thrown at me over the last four years but in amongst the hard times there have also been some glorious highs.

Despite practically everyone telling me to stop being so stupid and just give up, I made it out to Fiji and it only took me nine months and twenty seven days to achieve everything I needed to to do that, a first time film-maker with no pedigree, gaining the funding to shoot a film in which he has complete creative control and 100% ownership of a film with no debt is almost unheard of and for that I have to thank the wonderful, innovative and forward thinking Jane West and Martin Harlow at Tourism Fiji for taking a huge gamble on me and who have offered nothing but support, encouragement and enthusiasm. Anything I achieve in my career will always owe a huge debt of gratitude to them.

I went from not even owning a camera and having never even attempted to make a short film, with zero experience, credibility, contacts, support or money, straight into making my own feature film, for which I would be 90% responsible for all the work, fulfilling every role imaginable along the way. Now, here I am in 2014, a professional full-time film-maker with, I'd like to think, a good reputation around the world, working in film, TV and commercial promo work, I'm a dad to an awesome little boy, I'm involved with some incredible conservation projects around the world and am finally getting a growing platform upon which I can help spread positive messages about sharks and also inform the public about important issues, being regularly approached to discuss in particular, shark feeding and shark attack.

This isn't a "hey look how great I am" post, I hate all that bullshit, anyone who feels compelled to constantly convince people of their talent, knowledge or credibility has nowhere near as much of any of those as they think, in my opinion, (I prefer to let my work and work ethic do the talking), no, instead this is hopefully encouragement for anyone else out there on the verge of taking the leap of faith I did. If you believe in yourself absolutely, you have thick skin, you can take rejection and you are willing to sacrifice and risk everything, go for it. It's a hell of a ride with more downs that ups but the ups will define why you did this in the first place and the downs will only confirm and define your character. If you give up easily or you have serious doubts, stay where you are, choose safety, this isn't for you...

So why all the above?

The last two months has seen massive progress on the film, in fact, it's really not far at all away from a completed first cut and my life has been consumed with Grading the film and overseeing the Sound Design, both of which have made everything explode into life and jump out of the screen at you. The addition of great sound and a great aesthetic has been the realisation that I may be sitting on something pretty amazing here...

Given the above retrospective look at how far this has all come, I figured I'd touch base on a few technical factors and also look back at the progression of the film and myself as a Film-Maker, from a naieve amateur who didn't know what "aperture" or "shutter speed" meant, to someone who people actually pay money to make films, and good ones at that too! :)

First up a few technicals...

A major aspect of this film was that I wanted to shoot it on pro-sumer equipment, that is, gear which is high quality but affordable and available to the man on the street so not the Reds and Arri's of the world but cameras and production equipment most people can realistically afford to buy themselves.

So, a list of the main production equipment:

Cameras:

2x Canon 7D (with 2x Nauticam NA-7D Housings)

1x Sony XD Cam

1x GoPro 2

1x GoPro 3 Black Edition

1x Phantom Flex (Absolutely not affordable! For the "dream sequence" pool shots)

1x Canon Ixus 100 (seriously!)

1x Nokia N8 Mobile Phone (honestly, I'm being serious...)

Lenses:

Canon 15-85mm EF-S

Canon 10-22mm EF

Canon 50mm f1.8 (£60 in Incheon Airport!)

Canon 70-300mm

Canon 18-55mm EF-S

Zeiss 50mm f1.4

Sigma 70-300mm

Audio:

Zoom H1n

Zoom H4n

2x Rode Video Mic

Speedlink Lavalier Mic

Post Production:

1x Custom Built Novatech 32GB RAM Desktop Edit Suite

1x Custom Built Novatech 16GB Laptop

Adobe Production Premium Suite CS6 (disk version)

Da Vinci Resolve Lite

Logic Pro

So that gives you an idea on the budgets I was working on, thankfully and for which I am eternally grateful, Novatech build me my computers for free as a brand ambassador (and they are awesome!) and Canon gave me my camera. The Phantom we got to use for free as part of a test for a TV documentary and the XDCam belongs to Mike who became a member of the underwater cinematography team for a month! I won't say what our budget was but in Film-Making parlance it would be classed as "Micro Budget."

To give you a comparison, the average Shark Week production has a budget of around $200-300K and according to the production release from the company, for the recent "Shark Girl" show they needed to raise between AUS$850,000 - $1,000,000 to get it made.

Needless to say, my budget was a grain of sand on their mile long budgetary beach, but from the outset I set my "competition" not as the amateur "passion pieces" that are becoming more widespread, but films with budgets of £1,000,000+. I'm a one man band doing ninety percent of what's required from a spare room at my parents' house, I can't compete with the BBC but what I felt I could do is aim for a higher quality than that which is typically broadcast on the commercial terrestrial channels, in both content, style and technical film-making. Of course the single most important thing is content and story but the first way a production will be judged against the rest is in how it looks and how it sounds.

With that in mind, here are a few (heavily compressed) screen shots from the sections which have been graded so far so you have an idea of what to expect:

I have gone for a complex grade made up of five separate stages to give the film that "epic" cinematic film look you don't really see much in factual film these days. Colour is a big part of the story and is used very much as a storytelling tool, I may do a breakdown of the grade for the Behind The Scenes film when I've finished everything...Maybe.

Regardless of how amazing your film might look, if the sound sucks, then so will your film unfortunately, you can cheat badly shot footage but bad sound is the killer of films and if your sound is amateur, you will be viewed as "just an amateur." Your story deserves better.

The above is a screenshot of the Sound Design for just a few seconds of "Of Shark and Man," which is being put together by the brilliant David Lawrie and it sounds spectacular. I knew I wanted a huge, ambitious and complex sound design for the film so finding Dave has been such a blessing, not only can he decipher what I am saying in regards to what I want in there and take on board my suggestions of how to achieve that, he uses his considerable expertise to take what I want and make it so much better. Every frame of the film will have probably between 15-20 "elements" of work in it and that is why the film has taken so long to get this far but this was never a sprint, quality is the key and that sometimes takes a long time.

There are four sections remaining to be graded thus meaning the grade will be finished this week, the Sound Design is about halfway done and the intro titles are also almost complete, when all this is done, the film will have a first cut ready for industry tests. I appreciate everyone's patience, most of all Jane, Martin and all associated with Tourism Fiji who made this possible however, I can guarantee the wait will be worth it.

If you want to jog your memory, check out the three teasers below and in which, you can also see the obvious progression the film has taken along the way.

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


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


"Of Shark and Man" Teaser Trailer 3 (Letterboxed Version) from Scarlet View Media on Vimeo.

Of Shark and Man Update

So here we are, three years and seven months into the making of "Of Shark and Man..." three years and seven months!!

I am of course including the first year which centred entirely around making a hair-brained, absurdly impossible dream become a reality but even at two years and seven months, it's still a hell of a long time. "Is the film finished yet?!" is something I get asked a lot and yes, it does annoy me a bit on one hand but on the other, it makes me feel good because the interest is still there and not only has that interest been ever present but it keeps on growing and growing and I need that, it helps me keep going.

When I started filming in Fiji, I never once thought I'd be here, almost three years later still working on the post-production but there is a very good reason for that. The film is so huge, so ambitious and so complex that to do everything on my own and try and balance it with everyday life and the outside expectations that come with that, is such a monumental task that it could easily send someone over the edge, it almost has in fact, numerous times. I am in the single most difficult period of my life ever whilst doing the single most important professional undertaking of my life ever and I'm doing all the lifting and carrying, the admin, the technical parts and everything which keeps a film moving, alone.

The film will be all the better for the time it has taken to produce however because it's been given time to breathe and to almost take on a life of its own, as I have become more skilled over time, the film has benefited enormously and the biggest help in everything has come from Tourism Fiji. It was Jane West and her associate at the time, Martin Harlow, who pulled the trigger on funding for the film, it is they who believed in the project and most importantly me and it is they who have not once put pressure on its completion. They want to see it as much as anyone and their patience and understanding has been nothing short of astounding and because of that, they will see that patience and belief rewarded ten times over. This could not have been achieved without them and I am eternally grateful.

This seems like a life time ago

Whereas this has very much been a one man job, from the idea, to getting funding and getting out to Fiji, to handling all the media, editing and constructing a feature length film, I always knew (and was enormously excited) that there would come a point where others would be drafted in to help the film go to the next level and I am pleased to say that we are now at that stage and I have not felt this optimistic about the film since I first secured the funding.

So, where are we?

The first cut is done and has, last night, been split into far more manageable segments. When I first saw the almost two hour long timeline, I'll be honest, it intimidated the hell out of me because I need to grade the whole thing, add vfx where needed, I need to construct a soundtrack and do all the things which make it come alive. I also finished the voiceover script this weekend. Narrative for the film comes primarily from conversational, organic interviews but there is an element of scripted content and that has been a big job, ensuring the mood is just right, it sounds natural and engaging and ties everything together as it should.

In splitting the timeline into chunks I am able to concentrate on smaller parts and refine them, grade them separately and it helps enormously in deciding upon the music, all of which streamlines efficiency.

As I said above, I am also enlisting the help of some ridiculously talented and passionate people who will help elevate this film above what I could achieve doing it all myself so here's a little rundown of who is involved and in what:

Music:

Musically the film will sound like no other shark film. I don't have the BBC Philharmonic so trying to compete with them is a waste of time, plus, it's not really the mood I want, there will be no percussion heavy techno and no "Arabic wailing music," not that there is anything wrong with that, it's just not where I want to go. Currently I have Hip-Hop producers, Rock Musicians, Electro Producers, Ambient Producers, Avant Garde Composers, Pianists and of course myself, all of whom are contributing to the soundtrack. It's varied, evocative and will be of an immensely high quality coming from both UK and US based talent. At this exact moment in time, as I type this, I am going through a huge list of tracks and am receiving more on a daily basis. expect a Soundtrack to be available as a crowdfund perk or to be available to buy when the film is released.

Sound Design:

A huge job being handled by a talent as equally huge in US based Producer and Sound Design Artist, David Lawrie. I have been very exacting in what I want and suggested a ton of things I want to incorporate and his creativity, talent and total understanding of what I want is very impressive. David is working on Sound Design as we speak.

Colour Correction, Grade and Look Build:
I am doing this myself and it will start in the coming weeks, as soon as I have settled on any refinements to the edit. The look will be stylistic, cinematic and specifically designed to augment the footage. The last Teaser Trailer is a good reference point to how the film will look when it's finished.

Branding &Marketing:
This is a major part of any film as it creates the identity and mood of a film for an audience yet to see it. It also ensures that you the audience, get the most out of your experience before, during and after you actually see the film.

I have enlisted the excellent EDNA who will handle everything from branding, logo design, poster and cover art, merch design, a centralised movie specific website which will feature everything OSAM related, the focused marketing campaigns and it is they who will also be producing the warts and all full "Making Of" story of the film.I still need to raise the funds for this so if you are part of a company or organisation which you feel could benefit from advertising gained through a staggered sponsorship scheme on the site where absolutely everything film related will be hosted, please do get in touch. It's a small amount of money with a potentially huge audience and a great deal of goodwill for you to reach! david@scarletviewmedia.com

Graphics and Title Sequence:
This is something I have been sweating about for ages, I really wanted a jaw droppingly good intro title sequence and it was something I knew I wanted external help with so to say I am over the moon about getting the person I have to help, is a massive understatement. No names yet but he is an industry leading graphic designer and motion effects artist who has worked for some enormous clients including the BBC and Gorillaz and we are on completely the same page as to what we want. I wanted the film to come in with a bang and with this guy involved, that's pretty much guaranteed! The work on this will start in the coming weeks.

Crowdfunding Campaign:
This will start as soon as all the branding is in place and will have some pretty awesome perks involved. The sole reason for the campaign is to raise the funds needed to give the film a proper release and to ultimately achieve international distribution. The money raised will go towards covering Festival costs, screenings, prints of the film, paying for the very small amount of footage I have had to get from outside sources (i.e. footage we couldn't shoot in Fiji), promotional events, legal costs, documentation and everything needed to get a film out in to the wild.

There will be one more trailer coming, an official, full trailer which will be the official advertising to the world that the film is done and ready to go, so full look, sound, music, everything.

This time in my life is as equally difficult as it is exciting and having put every fibre of my being into it, will either make or break me, the very message carried by the film, one of positivity, belief and love has been permeated by heart breaking difficulties and upheavals throughout the last three years. The highs and lows have been ingested by a project which has pushed me to the absolute brink, all because I want to do something different and primarily, because I believe in the pro-shark message the film carries so much and to know I am reaching the point where all this work will be put out to you, is both exhilarating and terrifying. To now have a clear idea of how the finished film will look, feel and sound makes me immensely proud but then, it's out of my control and over to you. With your support this film and its heavily pro-shark message will be a success, so please, if you dig the idea, the concept or just sharks in general, let me know how you can support this film.

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

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

Calling UK Film-Makers - I have an opportunity for you!!

I WANT YOU! (That's not me in the pic though, sorry)

Recently I mentioned planning something pretty cool to preempt the release of "Of Shark and Man," for a very good reason. When the film is out, that doesn't mean you will be able to see it immediately, the first call for the film will be a premiere screening then the festival circuit, at which time I will also be looking to organise screenings around the UK whilst trying to secure the holy grail that is global distribution.

There will be a very small number of extremely limited edition DVDs and Blu-Rays available as a perk with the crowd-funding campaign for which I am toying with doing something pretty cool making them a bit of a collector's item and ultra personalised but as far as seeing the film as soon as it's out, you're gonna be looking at a screening or a perk from the crowd-funding campaign. 

However...

I have been toying around with an idea to announce the film's arrival in an interesting way and to also involve you in the release and came up with this, I want a talented film-maker to put together a "Behind the Scenes," pre-release, featurette which will not only be released and heavily promoted online before the film gets its official release, you will also be invited to attend the premiere screening and not only that, your film will be on the DVD/Blu-Ray release as the main bonus feature.

The idea with this is to give a talented film-maker the platform to get their talent out to an established and rapidly growing audience and to also give them access to the warts and all story behind the making, and release, of this film. Not only will you have a retrospective look at how this all came together, taken from an interview with me and footage from the film provided, you will also be expected to follow elements of the story of the release and film them as they happen, test-screenings, promotional interviews (if we get them) etc. The idea is not for me to tell you what to do, but give you the basic idea of what I think would be cool and let you run with it, with full access to pretty much anything you want.

If you have a production company, this will be a *insert name* production in conjunction with Scarlet View Media. This would be ideal for a film-maker or group of film-makers looking for a project to help them get off the ground and get their work out to a large audience. This blog has attracted well over 150,000 unique hits since 2010, averaging now, about 5,500 per month, each trailer has done about 3000 views each in the first week of their release with new views from around the world every single day and of course, with this short film being the main driver of the promotion of the film's release, it will be seen by and hopefully shared, by various news and media outlets.

So who would be the ideal candidate?

Ideally you need an interest in this film and the story behind it, you'll have an inquisitive mind and want to know all the details and have a passion for storytelling. You'll have some experience ideally of both filming and editing and own your own camera (minimum DSLR,) sound recording equipment and Editing software and computer. You need to be self reliant and at least of the capability where I can simply hand filming and production over to you, at all points, I would be more than happy to help with advice if you need it but I also want you to feel ownership of what you are doing. A full driving license and transport is also a must.

The perfect candidate would already be producing their own videos and short films and have examples of work to hand, a positive attitude, friendly and enthusiastic nature and generally be a cool person to be around with a solid idea of what they want to achieve.

I'll make sure any travelling is kept to a minimum and make things as easy for you as possible, you'll get access to the footage you need from the film and of course, be able to use your film for your own portfolio. Outside of this, I also always look to work with talented, positive people with a good attitude on a repeat basis so with Scarlet View Media, it could mean future paid work as well.

As with everything I do, I don't want to make fluff, a sanitised yawn-fest designed to serve no other purpose than to be a vanity piece so if we shoot a test screening, we record the reactions regardless of whether people think it sucks or not, you might be interested to know the gory details of all the stuff which wasn't so fun and capture the ups and downs, basically what interests you about this whole journey, that's what I want you to capture.

Hopefully by now, the right kind of people have read this and thought, "yes, that sounds like a cool, fun project to get my teeth into," so you'll be wanting to get in touch and talk to me about it. You can do so by emailing me at david@officetoocean.com or by visiting the Scarlet View Media website and using the contact sheet there.

Please put "Behind The Scenes Film" as the title of your correspondence, I can't stress this enough, I get an awful lot of junk email and I don't want to delete yours by mistake because of an ambiguous title.

So, what are you waiting for? :)