Title:

Wild Ocean

Formats:

2D and 3D (Available in 15/70, 10/70, and 8/70)

Description:

Each year a feeding frenzy of sharks, dolphins, whales and other big game fish takes place along the Wild Coast of South Africa, as billions of sardines migrate up the KwaZulu-Natal Coast. Wild Ocean delves into this underwater struggle and examines the effects that global warming and over fishing have had on the great migration and local people.

Filming Locations:

Indian Ocean, South Africa Transkei & KwaZulu-Natal Coasts

 

Production Companies:

Giant Screen Films, Yes/No Productions

Producers:

Don Kempf, Steve Kempf, David Marks

Distributed by:

Giant Screen Films

Theater Support Provided by:

3D Film Interest Group

Directors/Writers/Editors:

Steve McNicholas and Luke Cresswell

Score:

Original music by award-winning directors Luke Cresswell and Steve McNicholas.

Sound design & mix:

Mike Roberts and Brian Eimer

Director of Photography:

Reed Smoot

Underwater Director of Photography:

D.J. Roller

Length of Film:

39:49

Release Date:

March 2008

WILD OCEAN IS A SPECTACULAR UNDERWATER ADVENTURE WHERE AFRICA MEETS THE SEA

 

[EVANSTON, IL -- February 1, 2008] - Wild Ocean is an action-packed, inspirational IMAX® documentary exploring the interplay between man and our endangered ocean ecosystem. The film, presented in 2D and 3D giant screen theaters, highlights one of nature's greatest migration spectacles, plunging viewers into an underwater feeding frenzy, an epic struggle for survival where whales, sharks, dolphins, seals, gannets and billions of fish collide with the most voracious sea predator, mankind. Filmed off the Wild Coast of South Africa and set to the rhythm of the local people, Wild Ocean reveals the economic and cultural impact of the ocean while celebrating the communal efforts to protect our invaluable marine resources.

 

Wild Ocean premiered at the Giant Screen Cinema Association's 2008 Film Expo in London on March 4-6 and opened in theaters worldwide on March 15, 2008.

 

The film chronicles a massive annual feeding frenzy; billions of sardines travel up the KwaZulu-Natal shoreline, known to locals as the Wild Coast. For the people living along the African shore, this migration has provided a food source for countless generations while farther out at sea ocean predators come from great distances to feast. Bottlenose dolphins create superpods, thousands strong, to track down the huge shoals using sonar. Sharks sense blood in the water and join the hunt. Seals and common dolphins chase the fish from cooler currents up the coast into the warmer tropical waters. Diving birds, Cape Gannets, join the battle with aerial attacks from the sky. All of these animals are drawn to the scene, enmeshed in one of the most incredible mass feeding melees in the natural world. Eat—or get eaten.

 

Unfortunately such a richness of life is now rare in our seas. For centuries the ocean was considered a vast limitless resource. As fishing practices grew more industrialized and efficient throughout the 20th century, entire fish stocks around North America, Europe, and Asia began to collapse. The fish, hauled onto boats by the ton, were an integral part of a complex marine ecosystem, a link in a great food chain on which many predators depend. Eventually, entire fish species were decimated and the ocean predator populations went into a steep decline. Now a new threat, global climate change, threatens to further damage the fragile ocean ecology. While Wild Ocean explores the causes and effects of man's impact, it an inspirational film looking toward a bright future, taking audiences to a rare unspoiled marine wilderness to glimpse what the oceans of the world once looked like. The film champions the creation of marine reserves necessary to bring our oceans back to life. South Africa leads the way.

 

Wild Ocean is a timely and uplifting film that celebrates the life in our oceans, the animals that now depend on us to survive. It is a film about the people that come together to protect our world. Hope is alive on the Wild Coast, where Africa meets the sea.

 

Wild Ocean is a production of Giant Screen Films and Yes/No Productions. The film is written and directed by Luke Cresswell and Steve McNicholas, the Academy Award nominated creators of the international sensation STOMP. Cresswell and McNicholas have previously teamed with Giant Screen Films on the award- winning giant-screen film, Pulse: a STOMP Odyssey. Photography is by award winning director of photography, Reed Smoot with underwater photography by D.J. Roller. Original music by Cresswell and McNicholas with sound design and mix by Mike Roberts and Brian Eimer.

READING LIST

If present trends continue, we may end up eating jellyfish because there will be few large fish left. Callum Roberts

If you only read one book about the ocean, make sure it is the Unnatural History of the Sea, by Professor Callum Roberts: this is the book that inspired the film makers to focus the film's final message on the concept of marine reserves...

They also recommend:

Cod by Mark Kurlansky (different fish, but relevant theme)

Wild Seas, Secret Shores of Africa by Thomas P Peschak (great photographs)

Mkambati and the Wild Coast by Div de Villiers and Dr Ian Player (may be hard to find, but the one book to get if you are interested in the Wild Coast region.).

Suggested Reading for Children and Young Adults:

A SEA FULL OF SHARKS by Betsy Maestro and Giulio Maestro (1997) ISBN: 0590431013

ALL THE WAY TO THE OCEAN by Joel Harper (2006) ISBN: 0971425418

BENEATH BLUE WATERS: MEETINGS WITH REMARKABLE DEEP-SEA CREATURES by Deborah Kovacs and Kate Madin (1996) ISBN: 0670856533

COME TO THE OCEAN'S EDGE: A NATURAL CYCLE BOOK by Laurence P. Pringle (2003) ISBN: 1563977796

DIVE! MY ADVENTURES IN THE DEEP FRONTIER by Sylvia A. Earle (1999) ISBN: 0792271440

DOLPHINS by Sylvia M. James (2002) ISBN: 1590340108

EARTH'S WATER CRISIS: WHAT IF WE DO NOTHING? by Rob Bowden (2007) ISBN: 0836881540

JACQUES COUSTEAU by Lesley A. Dutemple (2000) ISBN: 0822549794

LIFE IN THE OCEANS by Lucy Baker (1999) ISBN: 1854340433

MARINE MANNAL PRESERVATION by Peggy Thomas (2000) ISBN: 076131458X

MEETING DOLPHINS by Kathleen Dudzinski (2000) ISBN: 0792271297

OCEAN FOOD CHAINS by Emma Lynch (2007) ISBN: 0431119023

OCEANS: HOW WE USE THE SEAS by Dana Desonie (2007) ISBN: 0816062161

PENGUINS! by Gail Gibbons (2000) ISBN: 0439061326

SEA CRITTERS by Sylvia A. Earle (2000) ISBN: 0792255844

SEA SOUP: ZOOPLANKTON by Mary M. Cerullo (2002) ISBN: 0884482197

SEAS OF LIFE: OCEAN WORLD by BBC Discovery Channel (2002) ISBN: 0606222758

SEASHORE LIFE ON ROCKY COASTS by Judith Connor (1993) ISBN: 1878244051

SHARKS by Seymour Simon (2006) ISBN: 0060877138

SHARKS AND OTHER MONSTERS OF THE DEEP by Philip Steele (1998) ISBN: 0789429675

THE ILLUSTRATED WORLD ENCYCLOPEDIA OF MARINE FISHES AND SEA

CREATURES by Derek Hall (2007) ISBN: 0754817253

THE MAGIC SCHOOL BUS ON THE OCEAN FLOOR by Joanna Cole (1994) ISBN: 0590414313

THE OCEAN BOOK: AQUARIUM AND SEASIDE ACTIVITIES AND IDEAS FOR ALLAGES by the Center for Marine Conservation (1989) ISBN: 0471620785

THE OCEANS by Lisa A. Wroble (1998) ISBN: 1560064641

WHO EATS WHAT? FOOD CHAINS AND FOOD WEBS by Patricia Lauber and Holly Keller (1995) ISBN: 0064451300

Suggested REading for Adults:

50 WAYS TO SAVE THE OCEAN by David Helvarg (2006) ISBN: 1930722664

DEEP SEA ODYSSEY by Yves Paccalet (2004) ISBN: 1844300544

DEFYING OCEAN'S END: AN AGENDA FOR ACTION by Linda K. Glover and Sylvia A. Earle (2004) ISBN: 1559637552

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE SEA by Richard Ellis (2000) ISBN: 0375403744

FISH, MARKETS, AND FISHERMEN: THE ECONOMICS OF OVERFISHING by Suzanne Iudicello, Michael L. Weber, and Robert Wieland (1999) ISBN: 1559636432

HEAL THE OCEAN: SOLUTIONS FOR SAVING OUR SEAS by Rodney M. Fujita (2003) ISBN: 0865715009

MARINE CONSERVATION BIOLOGY: THE SCIENCE OF MAINTAINING THE SEA'S BIODIVERSITY by Michael E. Soule, Elliott A. Norse, and Larry B. Crowder (2005) ISBN: 1559636629

PLANET OCEAN: PHOTO STORIES FROM THE ‘DEFENDING OUR OCEANS' VOYAGE by Sara Holden (2007) ISBN: 1904456790

SEA CHANGE: A MESSAGE OF THE OCEANS by Sylvia A. Earle (1996) ISBN: 0449910652

SONG FOR THE BLUE OCEAN by Carl Safina (1999) ISBN: 0805061223

SWIMMING IN CIRCLES: AQUACULTURE AND THE END OF WILD OCEANS by Paul Molyneaux (2006) ISBN: 1560257563

THE DEEP: THE EXTRAORDINARY CREATURES OF THE ABYSS by Claire Nouvian (2007) ISBN: 0226595668

THE EMPTY OCEAN by Richard Ellis (2004) ISBN: 1559636378

THE LIVING OCEAN: UNDERSTANDING AND PROTECTING MARINE BIODIVERSITY by Boyce Thorne-Miller and Sylvia A. Earle (1999) ISBN: 1559636785

THE MOST IMPORTANT FISH IN THE SEA: MENHADEN AND AMERICA by H. Bruce Franklin (2007) ISBN: 1597261246

THE OCEANS by Ellen J. Prager and Sylvia A. Earle (2001) ISBN: 0071381775

THE SEA AROUND US by Rachel Carson (1991) ISBN: 0195069978

OCEAN LINKS:

The following websites offer more information about the topics explored in Wild Ocean.

Florida Museum of Natural History

www.flmnh.ufl.edu/Fish

The Ichthyology department at the Florida Museum of Natural History curates this online collection of resources for learning about marine biology. The Image Gallery, Biological Profiles, and Education areas of their website are particularly useful for extending your Wild Ocean experience.

 

KwaZulu-Natal Coast

wikipedia.org/wiki/KwaZulu-Natal_Province

Find out more about the KwaZulu-Natal Province of South Africa where the Wild Coast is located. It is along the province's shoreline that the Wild Ocean movie and the magnificent feeding frenzy take place.

 

MarineBio Conservation Topics

marinebio.org/Oceans/Conservation

Ocean conservation can be a challenging subject for K-12 classrooms, particularly if you don't live near an ocean. This site provides some suggestions for getting started with a simple focus on how to consider the issues that impact the health and survival of Earth's oceans.

 

Monterey Bay Aquarium Conservation Programs

www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr

The Monterey Bay Aquarium in California suggests ways that you can get involved in protecting the oceans. Some activities are based along the California Coastline, but others are relevant no matter where you live.

 

NOAA Education

www.education.noaa.gov

The Education Office at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration provides an educational gateway to its vast array of ocean-related resources.

 

Oceanlink

oceanlink.island.net

Provided by the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre in Canada, Oceanlink offers a variety of resources for students and adults who want to learn more about marine biology.

 

SeaWeb Resources

www.seaweb.org/resources.php

Dedicated to preserving healthy oceans, SeaWeb publishes a monthly newsletter and other resources that can help you stay informed about happenings in ocean conservation science and activities.