Film Productions Gone Wrong

It's all over the Internet lead by this mornings Daily Mail who, not too surprisingly, have it all wrong.

What you are about to witness is a film production going sideways - fast. We know because when we do productions we ensure that none of our crew play with:

1. Second hand concussion grenades

2. Second hand stunt men

Seriously, at what point in this video do you say, "nothing good is going to come from this." For us it was at the .02 mark. The first second was that feeling you get in the pit of your stomach, similar to the white shark cage footage from last summer off the East coast.

Enjoy:




About Shark Diver. As a global leader in commercial shark diving and conservation initiatives Shark Diver has spent the past decade engaged for sharks around the world. Our blog highlights all aspects of both of these dynamic and shifting worlds. You can reach us directly at sharkcrew@gmail.com.

Man evolved from Monkeys! Sharks! Bacteria?

This image is obviously all wrong now - Feh!

The latest headlines from the files of WTF science postings currently making the rounds is the, "Man is a Shark" storyline.

Gleefully picked up like a child's chewed play toy by shark-o-philes the world over it almost sounds like there's a new t-shirt design in the works.

But wait!

Yeah, you knew that was coming.

All this sceince-y stuff is just a back track on overall evolution is it not?

Gasp! You mean Man might have also evolved from say, bacteria?

Why yes, and not the pretty kind either.

That's the problem with headlines and sharks these days, almost any headline can be used to support the cause of shark conservation. The trick is checking the facts and seeing if they are relevant.

For many out there "relevancy" and "shark conservation" are two words that never seem to meet in the middle.

Oxy-Shark Myth anyone?

More from RTSea here.

About Shark Diver. As a global leader in commercial shark diving and conservation initiatives Shark Diver has spent the past decade engaged for sharks around the world. Our blog highlights all aspects of both of these dynamic and shifting worlds. You can reach us directly at sharkcrew@gmail.com.

Sharks and the Global Supply of Oxygen?

Dwindling sharks = no oxygen, the quote that will not go away

It started as a throwaway conservation quote a few years ago.

Completely devoid of any facts, empirical data, or even common sense, it has since snowballed into shark conservations most enduring media quote.

Much to the chagrin of serious shark conservation folks who would rather it go away - forever.

We're talking about the great non debate of Sharks and Oxygen, you know the one:

"If we lose the worlds sharks, we will run out of oxygen!"

The phrase was first uttered in it's most simplistic form back in 2008 during the promotion of the film Sharkwater (go to timeline 3.13). It has since taken on a life of it's own among those who trade in rumor, hysteria, and Facebook tribal gatherings where facts, common sense, and the twisted logic of gasbagging conservation statements are rarely considered.

But consider them we must, because the playing field for shark conservation has changed dramatically since the early days of 2008 and now we have an actual movement on hand, one that is being eyed at by big fishing interests and politicians.

It's a conservation nexus where words matter and facts even more so.

I would like to propose that we do away with or retire this poor excuse for a media quote:

"If we lose the worlds sharks, we will run out of oxygen!" 

Perhaps to be replaced with something a bit more tidy?

Sadly, the gulf between those who are relevant in the shark conservation movement, those who get things done vs the loony fringe who cling to outdated media quotes seemingly designed and crafted by the Paul Watson School of Media WTF!? is growing on a daily basis.

Adopting a straight and universal media narrative for sharks is not only important, it is imperative, if the movement is to stay relevant and frisky into 2013 and beyond.

Brother, you got a good shark quote?

The Wacky Gods of Mormonism and Mitt Romney

Jumping right in here for a moment. A lot has been said about the current GOP field and a lot has been said about Mitt Romney the man with the Presidential hairstyle. Frankly I like his hair which goes to show you just how far I have evolved as a voting prospect in the 2012 race.

I am also vaguely aware that Mitt Romney is a Mormon, slapping that religious construct in with the Amish, nice folks who believe in an all knowing deity with a white beard and a fluffy cloud.

That was until I saw the following video, made by Mormons, for Mormons, to explain their religion.

Seriously? Space Jesus? Star Base Khola? Endless Celestial Sex? UFO's? Negroes?...Negroes?

Far be it for me to say that folks cannot believe what they want in their own homes, or within their own church. But as we all know religion tends to shape folks perception of the wider world in which we live, as in George Bush's famous quotes "God would tell me, 'George go and fight these terrorists in Afghanistan'. And I did. And then God would tell me 'George, go and end the tyranny in Iraq'. And I did."

Mitt Romney's take on the wider world? After watching this video, you don't even want to know:

Mystery Missile The Science The Pathos

Bah. So a good friend sent us a link to a science-y blog with some big equations that apparently prove the Mystery Missile off California's coast this week is in fact...wait for it...a plane.

Since we're usually dumbfounded by fancy equations and by science folks in general we'll call this one done.

Too bad, a North Korea nuke boat with an errant missile off California's coast would have been a lot more fun.

Back to sharks after this:


This diagram is not to scale, but the math is the same regardless. The solid curved line is the surface of the earth. The dot at the top is San Clemente. The little triangle is Catalina. “d” is the distance to Catalina (d=35 miles). “c” the amount of Catalina that is visible above the horizon (c=0.05 miles, really a bit more, but let’s be conservative). “a” is the altitude of the plane, (a = 6 miles). “r” is the radius of the earth (r=3963 miles).

The green wavy line is the contrail. Notice it’s at a fixed height above the surface of the earth, and is going directly towards the OC.

The point labeled (0,0) is the center of the earth. (0,0) means X=0, Y=0, where X is horizontal and Y is vertical. What we want to know is how far away the plane is, the value x. We do this with cartesian geometry, noting that the lowest visible point of the trail is at the intersection of the dotted line, which is a circle of radius (r+a), hence the equation x^2 + y^2 = (r+a)^2 and the line labeled “sight line”, which is has the equation y=x*c/d. Combining these equations to solve for x yields a quadratic equation, which we can solve with Wolfram Alpha:

intersection of (y=r+x*c/d) and (x^2+y^2 = (r+a)^2)

and with the real numbers:

intersection of (y=r+x*c/d) and (x^2+y^2 = (r+a)^2) where a=6 and d=35 and c=0.05 and r=3963

Thanks to Ethan Stock for the hat tip!

Mystery Missile California Conspiracy?

Less than 24 hours after what looks to be a very large missile being launched off the California coast a plethora of wired sites have thrown their collective weight behind "it's just a jet theory".

Wired Online

Gizmondo

New Scientist

Are we certain this video is in fact a jet and if so would there not be an airline track of a plane over the ocean at the precise launch site and time yesterday?

See live airplane track site LAX.

For the money we think it's one of two of the following options:

A. The MythBusters Adam and Jamie foolin' around with season #1020 "Even Bigger"

B. The Balloon Boy Redux

As we said earlier today, the mystery will be solved. Only if we can get past the geeks on the tech sites calling this one done.

Hey Gizmondo, did you even watch the damn CBS video?

Shark Hoax Enjoys Airtime - Embarrassingly so for Dale Kobetich

Not even April 1st yet and photographer/surfer Dale Kobetich unloaded a whopper of a shark tale on an unsuspecting surf and shark crowd this week.

In this semi tragic story Dale faces off with a deadly mako (the one in this image) and manages to take some stunning images in the process.

The problem with this story and sadly for Dale is that he mis-judged his audience...completely.

The shark image world is a pretty savvy place and anyone can tell this animal is as dead as they get. A dried out stage prop for a completely faked story of man vs shark in California.

Why did he do it?

Who knows, who cares, suffice to say Dale must be wondering the same questions right about now as well. With April Fools still a few months away, this story would have been a world class contender - instead it is a world class bogus effort.

Editors Note: Click here to see a live mako shot notice the difference?

Editors Other Note: Dale comes clean, admits fakery, of course we already knew that.

Jaws 3D - Blog Reader Notices and Reports

Shark Diver Gabriel Beyrent sent in this story.

As the JAWS franchise slowly slid into the realm of comedy (sharks with personal vendettas?) there's a movement to bring back shark horror in next generation 3D.

As the industry knows there's a titanic footrace at the moment to provide 3D content to both cinema and television, with most of the major players looking for good franchise programming. Alas, Jaws would be the last 3D effort that would make any sense with today's smarter more sympathetic shark public.

We have evolved a long way since the 197o's.

Story by Monika B at Cinbematical

When we hear a ridiculous rumor, it's quite easy to become either incensed at the sheer audaciousness of the claim, or laugh it off as too stupid to be true. Take this latest goodie: Cinema Blend reports that a source at Universal Pictures claims that since audiences are expecting more from their movies, the studio wants to tap into the franchise pile for 3D magic, and are "strongly considering" a remake of Jaws "in hopes of dazzling younger audiences with new special effects."

The notion makes sense. If there's one movie that would look downright gorgeous in Real D 3D, it's Jaws. However, folks, that's not all. That same insider claims that Tracy Morgan has been considered for the role of Richard Dreyfus' Matt Hooper, but it's "uncertain" whether he's still in the running. To hedge their gossip bets, Cinema Blend states that this is a new source and could be hooey just as much as it could be truth.

It's easy to shudder when thinking of a comedic Jaws led by Morgan, because the thought sounds downright terrible, but let's back up. See that shark up there with the super-visible robot metal in his mouth? That's the big beast of Jaws 4. After that monstrosity of moviemaking, is it really that ridiculous to imagine Morgan facing off against a 3D shark?

It's either the stupidest, most moronic rumor of the year, or a sad reminder of where Hollywood is heading in the future. You make the call ...

Hawaii - Hobbling through conservation and commercial shark diving

Small island politics often breed strange laws, and non stranger then the seven anti-shark diving bills currently circulating through Hawaii's political center in Oahu.

At least one politician sensing the oncoming political circus surrounding sharks has added an anti-shark fin bill to the mix, that's the only good shark news coming from this island.

RTSea's Blog covered the entire political mess nicely in a post last week. Fine reading and summary of small island politics at it's best or absolute worst, depending if you happen to care about sharks, tourism, conservation, and good old fashioned mid term electioneering.

Read here.

Shark Diving Industry - Threats of Violence?

The last report we ever expected to see coming from the Maldives and the South Ari Atoll, home of an excellent regional whale shark research program, might involve commercial operations in the area threatening violence at knife point.

From the Dhivehi Observer this week tales of "ugliness on the high seas" as commercial operations come into conflict with regional researchers over whale shark gold.

This is not a new tale, shark diving operations that are in conflict with each other are the stuff of legends within the commercial shark diving industry. Up until today these conflicts usually stayed quiet and never appeared on the front page:

"MV Orion and MV Southern Cross crews have allegedly threatened to ram rival boats and stand accused of throwing heavy dive weights at tourists and dhoni crews from nearby Diva Resort. Most shockingly, in January, the crew of MV Southern Cross boarded a dhoni belonging to the Maldives Whale Shark Research Programme, foreign researchers who monitor the sharks. The MV Southern Cross crew threatened at KNIFE POINT to kill the researchers unless they quit the area."

For the record we fully support the efforts of the Maldives Whale Shark Program and have done so for a few years. Small minded industry ugliness is not a new phenomenon. Calling it out for public consumption is.

The owner operators of both the MV Orion and MV Southern Cross must be made to understand that user groups have rights to animals as much as they do. A smart minded operation would seek ways to incorporate research into the fabric of its dive and marketing efforts, a win-win solution to user group conflicts under the banner of conservation shark diving.

Hopefully these well known dive operators will realize their errors before it is too late and commercial whale shark diving in Maldives becomes tainted by irreparable scandal.

Sea Shepherd - Mastering Reality Disasters?

We would like to congratulate Sea Shepherd and Animal Planet on a fantastic staged event for television - perhaps one of the best staged disaster moments of 2010.

As production people ourselves we know the hazards and very real dangers of staging live disasters for television. It's a highly technical world only professionals can effectively operate in.

Multi-million dollar staged disasters are often canceled at the last minute due to OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) non-compliance or studio fears of death and dismemberment. Sea Shepherd on the other hand have found a way to circumvent all of the requirements for staged disaster television by only allowing volunteer crews and staging the events against non-paid, non-union, Japanese whalers.

By-passing all clean environmental requirements for television productions by producing this man made disaster in the Antarctic ocean was another master stroke. The clean up of several thousand gallons of bio diesel spilled by the Ady Gil and retrieval of the vessel from the sea floor would have cost Sea Shepherd and Whale Wars Productions millions if this disaster had been filmed in the USA.

Brilliant!

Managing to move Sea Shepherds $2 million dollar vessel Ady Gil into the path of Japanese whalers was a quirk of nautical timing by a seasoned captain who knew his vessel and the direction wind, waves, and engines were carrying it. Catching the whole thing on video from the Bob Barker at just the right angle was pure reality television.

We were doubly impressed with the witty and show branding quote from SSCS Paul Watson immediately after the stunt, "Now we're in a Real Whale War!" reminding the global audience that this is, after all, Must See TV!

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society have clearly evolved from earlier staged productions such as Paul Watsons being shot by Japanese whalers. In terms of production quality and emotional leverage that earlier staged event was not one of the top three of the 2007 reality television season.

Kudos to Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, Paul Watson, and Animal Planet for once again bravely leading the way into a new decade of reality television firsts. The televised disaster staging they have created together keeps getting better and better, and their complete and ongoing circumvention of all production norms and safety regulations allows their organization to literally shoot-for-the-moon.

We're looking forward to more man made disasters in the coming months!

More on Sea Shepherd Conservation Society here.

Shark Conservation or Stuntwork?

Leon Deschamps a “Western Australia conservationist,” would like you to believe the only way you can prove Tiger sharks are not dangerous is by riding on top of a dead whale while Tigers feed on it. Seriously.

Additionally Leon and his crew have video proof that petting these feeding animals is actually some form of shark conservation.

It is not.

The Department of Environment and Conservation in Australia have seen through this charade calling this stunt “highly irresponsible and dangerous behaviour.”

We have to agree. This video serves as a wake up call to all would be "shark conservationists," who promote the notion that sharks are anything but top ocean predators. Those few who ride sharks and put themselves into questionable situations with sharks under the guise of "shark conservation."

2009 was a strange year for this off brand of "shark conservationist." Featuring stuntmen playing guitars while surrounded by white sharks, and others who presented their flesh to sharks to prove some sort of conservation point.

Shark conservation is and should always be solid measures for conservation success not stunt work and this disturbing slide towards stunt work in the name of shark conservation continues to malign the entire effort.

More commentary from the Dorsal Fin Blog.

Scamming The Blog - Useless Film Promotion

A few weeks ago we got a series of emails from blog reader "Ethan" directing us to a seemingly "leaked clip" from a new film questioning the fundamental numbers of shark conservation. Ethan also contacted other Blue Bloggers with the same clip.

"100 million animals are killed each year."

As it turns out the leaked clip was not so leaked and is part of a half assed production now titled "The Shark Con." The premise being if you absolutely enrage dedicated members of the shark conservation movement by highlighting a few zero credibility, lowbrow naysayers, people will buy your film.

As we did not buy Tiburon Productions last half assed shark film we'll be giving this next effort a wide berth and are a little disappointed they did not approach us directly so we could have told them officially to go "crawl back under a rock."

In the interests of watching folks lose their minds to outrage here is the You Tube clip they are peddling around to anyone who will watch so you can post nasty controversial messages like this one:

"You're full of shit and I think you know you are full of shit. This is an attempt to make money and protect your interests by deliberately deceiving people. Find something useful to do with your time instead of destroying species that have every right to exist and which are vital for the health of our oceans."

On a personal note, with as much shark footage as Tiburon Productions have in the can and obvious desire to be part of the shark conservation movement, why bother with this effort?

Manufacturing controversy is as easy as following Sea Shepherds Whale Wars and a media world where facts mean little. Providing real and tangible solutions to shark declines is where the grunt work begins.

That is what we call shark conservation.

What, you afraid of some heavy lifting boys?

Sea Shepherd - Whale Defense Meat Grinder?

We're not sure if anyone stopped for a minute during the "1 Million dollar big check moment" with Sea Shepherd last month to really think about the acquisition of their high speed Earthrace vessel.

Renamed the Ady Gil and painted a nice black, the self styled eco warriors from Sea Shepherd have been touting this ship as their new weapon against Japanese whaling.

All we noticed were the two giant propellers at the back of the vessel that to us looked like big trouble for whales.

With a top speed of 45 knots the renamed Ady Gil credits at least one very serious collision with "submerged debris" during her life at sea.

"Shortly after leaving Palau on day 34, Earthrace struck submerged debris which sheared two blades off the port propeller and bent the drive shaft. This necessitated a return to Palau in order to assess the damage and remove the prop."

The propellers are German-designed, carbon propellers that are 36 inches in diameter.

To date Sea Shepherd have not provided "propeller shrouding" for these whirling Ginsu Knives of the Antarctic and intend on putting this vessel in between Japans harpoon vessels and the whales. Propeller shrouding would protect whales from these extreme blades while still allowing this vessel to "close intercept" with the animals and Japanese whalers.

Did Sea Shepherd or anyone in the eco media stop to think about this?

Clearly, in the rush to congratulate yet another futile season of reality television, no one did.

OT - The Barnes Varmint Granade

You Tube is a remarkable place for interesting videos...and then there are days like today:

Shark Diving Gear - Must Have?

This industry blog get's a lot of emails each week. Here's one of the stranger ones:

Dear Sirs,

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With Aqua Nautas helmets, the participants will not need any regulators, scuba tanks, weights or any other diving gears, nor need to regulate their breaths. They can breathe normally just as breathing on the surface. Any ages of 12+ can use these helmets. Participants do not even have to take off their prescription glasses!

As we all know, Shark cage diving is an excellent and fun activity; but unfortunately it is limited mostly to scuba divers or people that know how to regulate their breath or snorkeling. This makes it difficult and fearsome for many other tourists/participants to enjoy this great activity. This is where our helmets can help increase your sales. Our helmets will give the opportunity to those feared or non experienced participants to do and enjoy this great activity easily.

In addition, by using our helmets, the participants faces and smiles will be completely visible in the pictures, thus this will also increase Photo/Video clip CD sales of your company. Aqua Nautas helmets can operate either with Scuba tanks or low pressure air compressors.

We believe that Aqua Nautas can be a great addition to your current excellent activity, and will increase your sales. I am attaching a picture for your reference

Please visit us for more information at www.aqua-nautas.com

Should you wish to receive further information and pricing, please do not hesitate to reply to this very e mail, and we will gladly get back to you with a quotation.

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Sharkin' - Bling Style, Yo!

Another reason to subscribe to the Chum Slick Blog. Some might call this a "time suck" we call it "Gold Standard You Tube":

Creature From The Black Lagoon!?

This summer Universal Studios is pinning hopes, dreams, and ticket sales on their all new interactive show:

Creature From The Black Lagoon - The Musical!

We could not have made this up if we tried. No this is not an Underwater Onion and yes, that is the actual show poster.

The show features lead actors wearing 120lb Black Lagoon monster suits "gargling" through plaintive songs of...love?

On behalf of Universal Studios Hollywood, I am very excited to share with you that “Creature From The Black Lagoon – A Raging Rockin’ Show” will debut on July 1, 2009!

The hip, musical stage adaptation of the Universal horror classic movie boasts an all-original score, acrobatic choreography and dazzling Broadway-level production values thanks to an award-winning theatrical production team.

You're tempted to see this in person but the idea of actually spending money for a "Raging Rockin" remake of this film classic seems a bit off putting.

Kind of like paying money to see a train wreck, at night, in the rain.

Any ideas for next seasons line up?

Kicking the Shark Diving Industry

Interesting. A chop shop comes up with two iterations of a new shark show concept called either "Shark Divers" or "Shark Business". They are both posted on You Tube to see who's interested and what, if any, ensuing media hits these two concept shows get.

Sounds familiar? It should we invented the idea.

The problem with this is that what you are watching is damaging our industry and whoever is behind this cares nothing for the many hard working operators worldwide who are trying, on a daily basis, to show our industry in a positive light. These operators care about sharks, they support research, and work tirelessly for local and regional shark causes.We spoke with Mike Lever (featured in "Shark Divers") owner of Nautilus Explorer today who has no idea how these videos came to pass - quote:

"There's no way we would do this kind of televised crap, we agree that divers should remain in cages, those are not our divers outside the cages at Isla Guadalupe"

That's it. While Hawaii decides the fate of two operations in their waters, Mexico continues to debate having shark operations in their waters, and the Bahamas has the fate of Tiger Beach in committee - one misguided media chop shop decided, alone and all by themselves, it was in the best interests of our 100 million dollar commercial shark diving industry to show the entire planet its worst face.

What a difference a "few clips" can make to the perception of a global industry.

Speaking of Media - "Gannet Man?"

Attention Discovery Networks:



Kudos to Blogfish for pointing this out.