Filming Sharks? Yeah It's Fun!

One look at this image has industry folks asking, "so what's with the suit of armor?"

This was part of our 2009 production with the Mythbusters at Tiger Beach, Bahamas for Shark Week.

The crew from Shark Diver was tapped to take Jamie and Adam, two of the nicest guys in television right now, down to The Beach to interact with sharks.

Part of that multi day production involved suiting up Adam for the shows intro segments. We thought it would be one of those unique production images that really captured the imagination - and it did.

The Mythbusters 2009 Shark Week appearance set new records for the Shark Week franchise and we were happy to be a big part of that shoot.

Since then we have set the standard for innovation underwater with sharks on a commercial level shooting groundbreaking productions that employed all manner of objects and sets underwater with sharks.

When it comes to sharks, why shoot in a sterile environment?

Of course safety is always our highest priority and we are happy to note that 12 years later we are proud of our 100% safety record with sharks and talent in the water.

2012 will see another series of productions around the world with sharks, so stay tuned if you happen to like sharks, we have some unique excitement coming your way.

Tigers Tagged - Season Two of XXX

Season two of xxx is on the way and from the looks of things this will be interesting.

A Facebook posting this week revealed Dr. xxx somewhere in xxx working with the production crew from xxx.

If we're being a little obtuse with this post, it's because we don't want to give away season two of xxx or the production crew who made history at xxx and then went on to production controversy at xxx.

Right about now you're saying "why the xxx do I even read this xxx blog anyway?" we might agree with you.

The Tiger pic is pretty cool though, ain't no bones in that shark.

Should be another eye popping shark season when xxx airs sometime in xxx on the xxx channel.

Breast Implants and Sharks...and has CSI jumped the shark?

Got an email from David Shiffman over at the Southern Fried Science Blog today taking about the long running television series CSI. A recent episode featured a supposed Tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier) munching on a hotel raver in a Las Vegas wading pool.

A freshwater pool.

The video lead in featured all 17 varieties of breast implants, a few vacuous looking extras dancing to a terrible techno beat, a shark researcher in a chain mail suit, and oh yeah, an actual shark attack.

If David is asking for industry opinions on television shows that jump the shark, we would suggest that all the elements are in play for this shows jump, actually leap, into the fine world of Fonzie's last stunt to long running series irrelevance.

Watch the video:

Shark Week Media Machine - What a Few Pieces of Flair Will Get You

Shark Bite Beach 2010

Ironic Spoiler Alert - how the media overreacts to shark attacks, brought to you by Shark Week 2010 and a show called Shark Bite Beach.

How does Shark Week get this kind of positive media promotion? With a 5 dollar T-shirt and a holographic poster apparently. Sigh.

Now the question we're all asking, who shot this?

Grant Butler with your best bets for Shark Week

Gnathodynamometers from the University of Oklahoma?

Shark Diver

Shark Diver

Industry Response

Shark Week 2009

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Shark Diving

Shark

Eating Shark Productions

Shark Films - The Problem With Industry Footage

We got the following email this week and naturally, passed on this project.

We have also harped on this industry subject ad nausem. Suffice to say as long as industry members provide the media with the negative shark images and video that sell advertising, there remains little incentive to produce better shark programming.

It's not that the desire for better shark programming does not exist or that Discovery Networks are essentially evil. They are not. Discovery buys some fantastic shows from truly visionary production companies. It would seem though that no one has shown Discovery how to do shark productions better, cheaper, and more cohesively. Until that day comes expect more of this:

Hello,

We are producing a new show for the Discovery Channel called “XXX.”

The show is an adrenaline-packed series that highlights extraordinary incidents caught on tape! I am interested in possible footage you may have of incidents where the sharks got “too close”. For example, we are doing another story of two cage divers off the coast of Mexico that had a Great White shark get its head stuck in the cage and they had to escape out the top. Can you think of any incidents like this, or similar, that was caught on tape?

We would love to license this footage from you, and of course you would be compensated for the use of the material. We sometimes also like to couple the video with on-camera interviews with the people involved. Also, keep in mind that this is a Discovery Channel show, and will in no way be sensationalized. We want to educate our viewers on the beauty and power of the Great White!

I look forward to hearing from you as soon as possible. Please let me know if you have any questions, as I would be happy to answer them for you.

Best,

XXX XXX

Shark