September update - Bite back, looking forward and the gravy train...

Howdy!

It's been a manic few weeks and when I say manic, I mean MANIC! There has been charity balls, dying computers, video diaries, radio interviews, filming the trailer and a whole host of other exciting things so here is a bit of a run down of the last few weeks.

Last Saturday saw me returning to London for the Bite Back charity fundraising ball where I was part of the Cameras Underwater table and once again got to enjoy the hospitality and warmth afforded to me by Dave Glanfield who is truly one of life's good guys and who was kind enough to pay for my stay in the Strand Palace Hotel.

We were joined by Dave's lovely fiance Silvia and another of the Cameras Underwater team Paul Duxfield or "Duxy" as he is more commonly known. Duxy is a great guy and a well of technical knowledge on the subject of photography and film-making. What always strikes me about these guys is they really, really know their stuff and that's because they've been there and done it in the field, it's a huge pleasure to have them on board with "From the Office..."

The evening itself was fantastic, the food superb and the amount raised over the course of the night was a magnificent £11,500. Full credit to all the team at Bite Back who put in such a huge effort to raise money, not just for shark conservation but also the Marie Curie cancer charity, it is always heartening to see people putting their time and energy aside to support worthy causes and it was a pleasure to be in attendance.

The other big development this month is that filming for the trailer is now almost complete with only a couple more shots to film and I have already started editing with very pleasing results. You may ask how I can film a trailer for a film about sharks, a film which has not even had a frame shot yet, in an urban English city, you can also add on to that the fact there is no music yet and a computer which died at the precise moment editing was due to start and you will appreciate this is not an easy task, however, I am confident I have cracked it regarding the concept and I have an idea of the music also, which I will write and record. The footage is all in broadcast quality HD (thanks to Hamish kindly letting me use his camera which I am dreading having to return!) and the edit is really starting to take shape so I have high hopes. I am hoping for the finished version to be available to stream online within the next three weeks.

In regards to progress with the project as a whole, things are moving in the right direction. This blog for example is averaging around one hundred unique views every day, the website is seeing very positive traffic and meetings are being arranged all the time, there are preliminary discussions with some very high profile name organisations which I am hoping to take to the next step and I am gradually building greater media awareness of what I am doing. It is also positive to see the facebook group attracting increased numbers every day and due to requests on both that group and via email, I have now added an option to donate towards the cost of making the film, via paypal, to the website simply click on "The Project" then the link to "Contribute."

It is somewhat overwhelming to hear that ordinary people, people just like me, want to contribute in some way to the cost of this first film. People really want to see it and the feedback both on the facebook page, this blog and via email is really giving me the strength to push on and make this happen despite the obvious difficulties one encounters when without a regular income of note. I have committed to, in the event the full cost is covered by corporate sponsorship or funding, donating the full amount raised by the kind people who have so far donated, to a shark charity and a charity that works to help disadvantaged youths in inner city areas.

It puts into perspective then, the general apathy from some people already within the conservation and shark based diving industry, including some with a high media profile and those who purport to make ethical shark based films with an emphasis on fact and conservation. We have the individual who was insistent the concept of an ordinary working class man risking everything to pursue a lifelong dream was already covered because Monty Halls lived in a cottage in Scotland for a few weeks (good programme but insert laughing smiley here...) and the delightful person who informed me that if they wanted to steal my idea they would and there would be nothing I could do about it (my lawyer friend begs to differ...). 

There are also the people within the industry I want to work in, people for whom I have great respect for the work they do but are seemingly averse to a simple reply to an email. Make no mistake about it, people make a living out of working with sharks and even the conservation of sharks and the marine environment, there isn't a great deal of money in the industry though so is it a case of those already in the "inner circle" being afraid of having to share their bit of the pie with someone who isn't in their social scene? Puts a bit of a downer on things really doesn't it, particularly when the in-fighting, petty squabbles and cliquishness threatens to detract focus on what is actually important, i.e. the conservation and ethical treatment of sharks through informed film production and eco-tourism for example.

The gravy train certainly exists, as it does within every industry and as is usually the case, does very little, if any good. It's all very well bombarding us with petitions to sign and reminders of your latest documentary film etc but where you can do the most good is to inspire a feeling of community and one which supports the efforts of others to do some good in your chosen field, affording opportunities for enthusiastic individuals to make the most of their potential. When I was eight I wrote to Valerie Taylor and guess what she did, she replied straight away. This continued for a few years, she even sent me a pressing of one of her books and that explains why I am here today, doing this, it made me feel like it was possible to achieve my ambitions because the number one person in my chosen field told me I could. 

I have received probably around one hundred emails in the last two months from people who feel a kinship with what I am doing, one from a girl in America even said reading my blog had made her rethink her decision to give up trying for a career in diving and that she would keep going until she achieved her dream! I appreciate that I won't receive the volume of emails they do but nevertheless, I have replied to every single one of the emails I have received, it might mean staying up until the early hours but it's common courtesy isn't it? With regards to the shark gravy train, I will make it very clear that if I am successful with all this and force my way on there, I'll be opening the doors for others like me to do the same..."There goes the neighbourhood!"

Okay some other bits and pieces...The Dive Show in Birmingham is fast approaching, October 30th/31st to be precise and I'll be there on the Cameras Underwater stand with my own little section, please come and say hello! There will be a video diary coming soon as well as the promised "Shark feeding controversy special" and the videos don't stop there! In 2009, for a bit of a laugh really, I made a feature length video diary type film of my (rather eventful) trip to film Oceanic Whitetip Sharks in Egypt and due to persistent requests will be uploading said film in sections, to the youtube page, keep an eye out for that.

At the moment my focus is on finishing this trailer (I shouldn't really be doing a blog but it feels like ages so what the hell!) so as soon as that is finished, you can be sure I will make you aware of it and would appreciate if you could spread it far and wide on my behalf!

Homelessness is also fast approaching so if you think you can help, maybe there is an email in your inbox from me, or you might be able to offer services of some respect, printing, promotion, design etc, please feel free to contact me! This isn't manufactured television reality, this is actual cold, smelly and difficult reality so any act of kindness or benevolence, no matter how small you think it is, is always humbly and gratefully appreciated.

I'd like to give a shout as well to Mark Thorpe and www.idivesharks.com it's a great site, kind of like facebook but for people who love sharks and shark diving and without endless status updates about what people have just had for tea! Also, Cameras Underwater don't let the website put you off (it will be totally revamped soon by all accounts) if you are in the market for underwater camera equipment or even if you just want advice, look no further than these guys. Do I get paid to advertise them? Unfortunately not but if I did I'd be in Fiji now, these guys are the dog's dangly bits.

Stay safe, be nice to each other and feel free to email me direct or comment on this blog, I love hearing from you!

david@officetoocean.com

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"Sharks and Nazis..."

Rotund comedy genius, Ricky Gervais, once said that National Geographic's sole broadcasting output was programming focusing on either sharks or Nazis, obviously he was joking but one could argue that the media, for many years, has struggled to differentiate their message about sharks and Nazis. An all encompassing, malevolent force of evil, intent on the destruction of all mankind, personified in the image of a sneaky, heartless devil with an attitude problem...Their message about Mr Hitler and his brethren wasn't all together dissimilar either.

In fact, as the troops marched into battle at the Somme in 1916, blood simultaneously stained the beaches (and creek) of a popular Jersey Shore tourist resort as in just twelve days, sharks (I won't get on to the singular shark argument here, I could go on all day) killed four people and seriously injured another. The events at Matawan Creek altered society's perception of the shark forever, it was the only event in wartime America that removed the war from the front pages of the newspapers and from then on it was not uncommon to see cartoonists using sharks as caricatures of German U-Boats, there was even a widespread rumour circulating that the Germans had brought hundreds of ravenous sharks to the shores of the United States as some kind of biological super weapon to devour beach goers trying to cool off during the worst heatwave for a century. It was official, sharks were almost as big a threat to us all as the tyranny of evil, laying waste to thousands of young men on the battlefields of Europe...

That was ninety-four years ago, in between we have had the Indianapolis disaster, South Africa's Black December, high profile and widespread reported shark attacks such as those on Albert Kogler, Barry Wilson and Robert L Pamperin and of course, the ultimate shark shocker, JAWS. Here we are in 2010, have we really progressed much in regards to the media's representation of the shark?

It might be a controversial view but I don't think we have.

Why? Because there is still a distinct barrier between the scientific community and the "man on the street." Of course, there have been huge strides in the last decade or so in regards to wider reporting of the catastrophic plight facing the world's sharks and our oceans on a wider scale but it's thirty years too late and although coverage in the media is becoming more commonplace, it still needs more and for the media to focus on the real issues about sharks.

Shark Week has come and gone, being in the UK, I was unable to watch it as we haven't had the pleasure yet but looking at the titles of Discovery's programming I'm going to stick my neck out and say loads of really bad reconstructions, rehashing of documentaries that have been done before (and better) and perhaps a brief focus on the conservation issues. I have no problem with documentaries about shark attacks, it is an area of particular interest and expertise personally, but the wider stories are almost always missed.

Not being fortunate enough to have grown up in the Bahamas, Florida or Australia, I relied upon documentary films to feed my passion and shape my ambitions. Ron & Valerie Taylor were, and still are, somewhat god-like to me, their groundbreaking approach to interacting with sharks, their scientific yet personal presentation and Valerie's passionate yet reassuring narration heralded a golden age of underwater film-making. We have more technology at our disposal than ever before yet it seems, more often than not, the focus is on "yee-haw" macho men, "the housewives' favourites" or merely putting someone with a biology degree in front of a camera for sixty minutes to do the best he can with a script and story so dry you risk getting eczema merely watching it...

There are of course exceptions, Mike Rutzen's recent films have been consistently good, helped by his amiable personality and passion for his work, the BBC's Paul Rose is another who I want to see more of on our screens, he was by far the standout presence in the excellent "Oceans" series and having had the pleasure of his company on a few occasions, I can say from experience he is also an exceptionally nice bloke! Rob Stewart and Rick O'Barry also deserve praise for the work they have done, I have stated on here before my admiration for Rick and his passionate belief in actually doing something to make a difference.

Shark documentaries aside, the general standard of programming in the UK is atrocious, "101 ways to leave a game show," anything with Katie Price/Peter Andre attached to it and the recruitment process for T4's presenters in particular deserve a special mention. Reality television is as popular as ever, is that a case of the public getting what they want, or what they're given, you decide, however there is a case to be argued that says what can be more fascinating, intriguing or gripping than actual real life?

Where the majority of reality based television programmes focus on making ordinary people look daft, why not have reality television with a difference, where ordinary people can inspire, where their stories can illustrate wider issues and encourage dialect among the man on the street where previously he saw no relevance? Why not have reality television that shows ordinary people can actually do something just, worthwhile and with value?...Combine that with sharks and I think you'd be on to a winner!

If anybody connected with television happens to read this, I'd be happy to point you in the direction of someone who can make that programme for you!

That aside, I will state that where we are now in regards to the shark's media persona, is a far cry from yesteryear and for that we should all be grateful and may the upward curve in the personification of the shark as something at which we should all marvel and something to be enjoyed and treasured be a steep one!

Finally, if I could ask a favour, if you think you may know anyone who would be interested in my shark-centric ramblings, I would be delighted if you could point them in the direction of this blog, maybe encourage them to subscribe? We all need a little love from time to time ;)

www.officetoocean.com