Jackson Wild: Nature. Media. Impact.
  • Home
  • About
    • Get Involved >
      • Donate
      • Become a Partner
      • Volunteer
      • Internships
    • Board of Directors
    • Advisory Council
    • Our Team
    • News Room
    • Shop
    • Contact Us
  • Summit
    • 2022 Summit >
      • Summit Photos
      • Program & Schedule
      • Transportation >
        • Airport Transportation
      • Speakers
      • 2022 Partners
      • About Burgenland
    • Summit Archive >
      • 2021 Summit >
        • 2021 Summit Sessions
        • Program & Schedule 2021
        • Speakers
        • 2021 Partners
      • 2020 Virtual Summit >
        • Speakers 2020
        • 2020 Partners
      • 2019 Summit >
        • 2019 Program & Schedule
        • 2019 Session Recordings
        • 2019 Programming
        • 2019 Exhibitors >
          • Exhibitor Workshops
          • XR Demos
        • 2019 Partners
      • 2017 Festival & Summit
      • 2015 Festival & Summit
      • 2013 Festival & Summit
  • Awards
    • Media Awards >
      • 2022 Media Awards
      • 2021 Media Awards
      • 2020 Media Awards
      • 2019 Media Awards >
        • 2019 Judges
      • Media Awards Archive
    • Special Jury Recognitions >
      • 2022 Special Jury
      • 2021 Special Jury
    • World Wildlife Day Film Showcase >
      • Conservation Heroes
      • Recovering Species
      • Forests
      • Biodiversity >
        • Biodiversity: Final Jury
      • Living Oceans >
        • Ocean Finalists & Winners
        • Living Oceans Final Jury
      • Big Cats
      • Elephants
    • Legacy Award
    • Rising Star Award
    • On Tour >
      • Films
      • Schedule
      • Host an Event
      • Tour FAQ
  • Frontiers
    • Media Lab >
      • 2022 Media Lab
      • 2021 Media Lab >
        • 2021 Media Lab Fellows
        • 2021 Media Lab: South Africa
        • 2021 Media Lab Mentors
      • 2020 Media Lab >
        • 2020 Media Lab Fellows
        • 2020 Media Lab Contributors
      • 2019 Media Lab >
        • 2019 Media Lab Fellows
    • Summit Fellowship >
      • 2022 Summit Fellows
      • 2021 Summit Fellows
      • 2020 Summit Fellows
      • 2019 Summit Fellows
    • Cinematography Lab
    • Partner Labs >
      • African Conservation Voices >
        • Kenya
        • Rwanda
      • 2020 Wild Women Media Lab: Africa
      • 2020 Summit Kenya Lab
  • Collective
    • Narration Writing Masterclass
    • Action Coalitions >
      • 2021 Action Coalitions
      • 2020 Action Coalitions
    • Gear Hub
    • Virtual Event Details
  • Blog

Wild Talk

Filmmaker Q+A with Howard Hall, Director & Cinematographer of Soul of the Ocean

2/21/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture
Photo Courtesy of Soul of the Ocean
Q: What inspired this story?  
Howard: This film was inspired by a lifelong love of marine wilderness and a fascination with marine  animals behavior.

Q: Describe some of the challenges faced while making this film/program?
During the ten years spent gathering footage for this film, the environment changed dramatically.  Some animals that were included in unfinished sequences completely disappeared.

Q: What did you learn from your experience making this film/program?
I learned that the concept of mutualism (symbiosis) can be extended to the relationship between marine animals and diving ecotourists.  In many places, the only reason populations of some animals survive is because they are valued by sport divers.  The economies of some island communities entirely depend upon the business brought by sport divers. 
Picture
Photo Courtesy of Soul of the Ocean
Q: How do you approach storytelling?
Promoting conservation is, of course, an extremely important goal of wildlife filmmakers.  But there are many ways films can do that.  We prefer to make films that depict the beauty of an environment thus creating an increased sense of value for audiences who will, then, be more inclined to act when they learn of specific threats to these wildlife ecosystems.  Making paying audiences feel bad about human impact upon ecosystems can be counterproductive.

Q: What impact do you hope this film/program will have?
I hope this film makes people fall in love with marine creatures and ecosystems.  We also hope the film helps demonstrate that the presence of sport divers is a valuable force for the protection of these systems.

Q: Did the film team use any unusual techniques or unique imaging technology?
Rebreathers were used by our crew to capture many of the animal behavior sequences and allowed our crew to spend hours at a time underwater with subjects.  We also captured footage in the highest resolution possible at the time.  At the beginning of production, we used 4K cameras.  By the end of production, we were capturing in 8K. 
Picture
Photo Courtesy of Soul of the Ocean
Q: What is your favorite shot and why?
My favorite shot is of a blue whale feeding underwater.  I’ve had two opportunities to film this behavior during the last 30 years.  The first was in 1989 which I captured it on 16mm film.  I had to wait until 2015 for a second opportunity, which I captured in 5K. 

Q: What were some of the specific editing challenges you had to address?
Color grading underwater images can be extremely challenging.  In some cases, getting a good color balance was just impossible. 

Q: What were the biggest influences on how you approached writing this project?
I wrote the first draft of the narration in the same style I have used in many of my earlier films.  Our editor/writer, Mark Fletcher, suggested we try something different and wrote a narration that is much less pedantic and quite lyrical.  Moving to this style of writing while still maintaining accurate information about the subjects was a challenge, but also seemed more effective for a feature film audience who may be less often exposed to natural history films.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    July 2021
    June 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    September 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015

    Categories

    All
    Astronomy
    Bajau
    Conservation
    Documentary
    Film Festival
    Filmmaking
    Fishing
    Grand Teton
    Indonesia
    Jackson Hole
    Jago
    National Park
    Nonprofit
    Observatory
    Ocean
    Oceanconservation
    Physics
    Planetarium
    Science
    Solar Eclipse
    Stargazing
    Tetons
    Tourism
    Wildlfie
    Wyoming

    RSS Feed

Subscribe to our e-newsletter
Support us with a donation
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture

About Us

Board of Directors
​Shop
Get Involved
Our Team
Privacy Policy
Join our Mailing List
​News Room
​Donate
​
Code of Conduct

Summits

2022 Summit
2021 Summit

2020 Summit
2019 Summit
Become a Partner
Volunteer
​Archive

Awards

Media Awards
Special Jury Recognitions
2022 Media Awards
​2021 Media Awards
2020 Media Awards
2019 Media Awards
​Legacy Awards
​
On Tour
World Wildlife Day Film Showcase

Frontiers

Media Lab
​​African Conservation Voices
​Summit Fellowship

Contact Us

Jackson Wild
240 S. Glenwood, Suite 112
PO Box 3940
Jackson, WY 83001
307-200-3286

info@jacksonwild.org

SITEMAP

  • Home
  • About
    • Get Involved >
      • Donate
      • Become a Partner
      • Volunteer
      • Internships
    • Board of Directors
    • Advisory Council
    • Our Team
    • News Room
    • Shop
    • Contact Us
  • Summit
    • 2022 Summit >
      • Summit Photos
      • Program & Schedule
      • Transportation >
        • Airport Transportation
      • Speakers
      • 2022 Partners
      • About Burgenland
    • Summit Archive >
      • 2021 Summit >
        • 2021 Summit Sessions
        • Program & Schedule 2021
        • Speakers
        • 2021 Partners
      • 2020 Virtual Summit >
        • Speakers 2020
        • 2020 Partners
      • 2019 Summit >
        • 2019 Program & Schedule
        • 2019 Session Recordings
        • 2019 Programming
        • 2019 Exhibitors >
          • Exhibitor Workshops
          • XR Demos
        • 2019 Partners
      • 2017 Festival & Summit
      • 2015 Festival & Summit
      • 2013 Festival & Summit
  • Awards
    • Media Awards >
      • 2022 Media Awards
      • 2021 Media Awards
      • 2020 Media Awards
      • 2019 Media Awards >
        • 2019 Judges
      • Media Awards Archive
    • Special Jury Recognitions >
      • 2022 Special Jury
      • 2021 Special Jury
    • World Wildlife Day Film Showcase >
      • Conservation Heroes
      • Recovering Species
      • Forests
      • Biodiversity >
        • Biodiversity: Final Jury
      • Living Oceans >
        • Ocean Finalists & Winners
        • Living Oceans Final Jury
      • Big Cats
      • Elephants
    • Legacy Award
    • Rising Star Award
    • On Tour >
      • Films
      • Schedule
      • Host an Event
      • Tour FAQ
  • Frontiers
    • Media Lab >
      • 2022 Media Lab
      • 2021 Media Lab >
        • 2021 Media Lab Fellows
        • 2021 Media Lab: South Africa
        • 2021 Media Lab Mentors
      • 2020 Media Lab >
        • 2020 Media Lab Fellows
        • 2020 Media Lab Contributors
      • 2019 Media Lab >
        • 2019 Media Lab Fellows
    • Summit Fellowship >
      • 2022 Summit Fellows
      • 2021 Summit Fellows
      • 2020 Summit Fellows
      • 2019 Summit Fellows
    • Cinematography Lab
    • Partner Labs >
      • African Conservation Voices >
        • Kenya
        • Rwanda
      • 2020 Wild Women Media Lab: Africa
      • 2020 Summit Kenya Lab
  • Collective
    • Narration Writing Masterclass
    • Action Coalitions >
      • 2021 Action Coalitions
      • 2020 Action Coalitions
    • Gear Hub
    • Virtual Event Details
  • Blog