Two new web videos by Sea Studios

Dr. Sumaila, director of the Fisheries Economics Research Unit at the University of British Columbia Fishery Center, talks about overfishing, its impact on the Ghanaian economy, and the global ramifications of a fish shortage in Africa.


Captain Charles Moore, founder of the Algalita Research Institute, highlights some of the problems of plastic contamination.

Strange Days on Planet Earth Premiere in Washington DC

After weeks of color correction and sound mix at the Skywalker Ranch, we are finally ready to show our film at the Environmental Film Festival in Washington, D.C. We arrive to find the lobby of National Geographic decorated with large Strange Days posters; the ticker outside the building invites people to come and watch. Overwhelming, exciting and a bit unnerving. Then we begin to worry whether we will fill the auditorium.
We worry in vain.
In front of a full audience, Strange Days displays all its glorious colors, sounds and exciting scenes. The audience gasps at the sight of albatross chicks bellies full of plastic and responds loudly at scenes that excite them.
The final credits roll at a thundering applause. Yes. It is a success! Now we must spread the word: watch April 23rd on PBS.

Here's a taste of what's to come on Season II of Strange Days on Planet Earth:

Finishing Strange Days on Planet Earth

We are in the final stage of our film: color correction, sound layback and mastering and sound mixing.

Video Arts in San Francisco is where we are doing Visual FX, Color Correction, Sound laybacks and Mastering. Video Arts is a 20 year old post production house that specializes in high definition post production and finishes documentaries for PBS and Theatrical release on a regular basis.
Next week, Skywalker Ranch for the soundmix.

Strange Days on Planet Earth Host Shoot

Well it finally happened...we filmed our host, Edward Norton in LA. We would have filmed him earlier in the month, but a freak storm put an end to that plan.

The second planned shoot went very smoothly. Our line producer, Brook Holston spent weeks working on the pre-production plans. We only had two days, but we managed to film all of the scenes starring Edward Norton for both new episodes of "Strange Days on Planet Earth". "Dirty Secrets" and "Dangerous Catch" will be premiering on PBS in April 2008 (the day after Earth Day).

This shoot was especially exciting for me because I was brought on as the still photographer. This was the first time I had been on a crew where it was my sole responsibility to take photos. Normally, I am a PA (production assistant), so my job usually consists of doing whatever anyone tells me. Plus, I always take photos anyway. But this time I had the pleasure of focusing on just the photography. Also, someone hooked me up with a headset so I could listen in to all the production-speak. I am a scientist and a photographer by background, so the whole LA film scene was new to me. We had a 40 person + film crew this time. There were assistants for the assistants! Everything had to be perfectly choreographed so that we could film Edward Norton at all of the correct locations in the perfect light. We shot at a pier, a culvert, a fish market, a parking lot, a beach, and a water treatment plant.





Imagine getting that many people set up, tore down, and moved around in just two days. Kudos Brook!

Ahead of the Curve 2

Following up on the hugely successful Ahead of the Curve: Business Responds to Climate Change, SSF began production in December on a companion short film that will highlight the positive efforts being made by state governments around the country to address this pressing issue. Right off the bat, producer Rob Whittlesey and associate producer Julie Crawford got a reminder course in why we don’t call this problem ‘global warming.’ For five hours they sat in a packed plane waiting for clearance to take off from Boston’s snowy Logan International. This was a December storm to warm the cockles of any misguided climate change denier. In the end, with a final dose of de-icer at the head of the runway but no food in the galley, they were able to leave New England on their way to sunny Phoenix Arizona, where they had an appointment the next day with Arizona’s dynamic governor, Janet Napolitano.


Interview with Janet Napolitano, Governor of Arizona

Unfortunately, they were booked through Cleveland. Upon arrival they learned their connection to Phoenix had departed ‘on time’ many hours earlier. Worse, it was the last flight of the day to the southwest. Fortunately, there are many fine airport hotels to choose from in Cleveland and they found one that offers shuttles back to the airport even before the sun has risen. Their reward for that chilly ride was the news that the crack of dawn flight they’d been booked onto wasn’t actually going to leave at the crack of dawn. Seems the crew hadn’t yet had it’s required down time. Undaunted, our intrepid travelers, grande lattes in hand, soldiered on. By early afternoon, they had indeed arrived in Phoenix, where the kind folks at the governor’s office welcomed them with open arms. Eight hours and two interviews later, they were on a red eye home. Pretty glam life this filmmaking.

In the weeks since, Rob’s made a mad dash to California to interview Terry Tamminen and then flew on to wintry Minnesota, where, joined by Julie, he interviewed Govenor Tim Pawlenty and the charming mayor of Minnetonka Jan Callison.


Interview with Tim Pawlenty, Governor of Minnesota


Interview with Jan Callison, mayor of Minnetonka

Upcoming trips to Maryland and Florida loom, after which it’ll be time to hunker down in the editing room, safe hopefully from the vagaries of winter weather.

From the Edit Room with Stephanie Munroe

I have to say that as an editor from Boston, Sea Studios is not exactly a hardship post. The waves are crashing right outside the edit room window, seals are barking and sometimes a sea otter will bobble right past, rolling and scratching. There is probably not a more dramatic scene to be observed from any work place.

As if the view weren’t reward enough, the films made here are challenging and exciting. The STRANGE DAYS Series is fascinating to put together and the support system from the top down is unmatched. Everybody wants to make things work and you share the electricity and excitement of success - this is what filmmaking should be about and I’m thrilled the spirit still exists out here in Monterey.


Stephanie works her magic on the new Strange Days episodes scheduled to air on PBS in April 2008...



Mark Shelley and David Elisco join in on the fun...

“Once Upon a Tide”

Sea Studios Foundation, Monterey, CA 8/15/07.
In addition to producing science documentaries like “Shape of Life" and "Strange Days on Planet Earth" , we are starting to depart from traditional science narratives. “Once Upon a Tide” is a live-action / animated fable designed to touch people’s hearts by witnessing the journey of a little girl named Olive. Olive lives in a world, set in a time, not unlike our own, where a spell has been cast causing people to forget about the ocean and its importance to our lives. Luckily for Olive, she finds a shell that helps open her eyes to the magic of the ocean. Here are some stills from the film:



Animation created by LAIKA/house

Yesterday we shot two of the live action scenes in Monterey. We had what I thought was a big crew, a director, a DP, a sound recordist, an AC, a grip, a gaffer, two caterers, several producers, a child actress, her mother, a make up artist, a prop designer, me, and a crane operator. I guess that isn’t big by Hollywood standards, but it was the biggest shoot I had been on.



Everything went great. Olive, our star was good as gold. The weather cooperated for the most part. We thought our big hero, dune jib shot would be ruined by fog. But the sun came out just in time and we were rewarded with a beautiful sunset. It was a fabulous day!

Signing off for now...Hannah Smith Walker (Sea Studios Production / Post Coordinator)