• Blogs
• Tradeshows
• Partners
• White Papers
• Events

Special OPS

Mar 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Kristinha M. Anding

Covert capture with the Oceanic Preservation Society.

By sea

“All aspects” includes water-based perspectives, as well. During the OPS' many covert missions to the cove, a big part of going undercover meant going underwater to plant cameras and hydrophones.

Chief among these was the “blood cam,” a Sony HVR-A1U in a modified Gates housing and concrete encasement Hutchins built in a hotel bathroom and Hambleton placed on the bottom of the lagoon the night before the slaughter. Hutchins also customized two Gates videocamera housings to hold Cetacean Research Technology C54 hydrophones, specially designed to record dolphin and whale vocalizations.

“We placed them directly underneath the spots where they hand off from the big drive boats to the small drive boats,” says Hambleton, noting that a cetacean communications researcher later analyzed the dolphin cries for the film. “It's horrifying. This is real sound that will be in the movie; it's not foley.”

Other water cams included extra A1Us as well as Sony HVR-Z1Us and an HDW-F900. On the last mission, world-champion freediver Mandy-Rae Cruickshank and her husband, Kirk Krack, joined the OPS team to plant several cameras on the lagoon floor.

In addition, the OPS placed 560-line pencil cams from Helmet Camera's HC-2 Land, Sea and Air Xtreme Kit on headgear worn by pro surfer Karina Petroni and journalist Peter Heller as they paddled out to the lagoon on surfboards in peaceful demonstration against the dolphin killings. Footage shot with these cameras showing Japanese fisherman thrusting large sticks at the protestors' surfboards made it into the news coverage of several major media outlets last fall.

By air

Of course, no special ops mission would be complete without a few aerial tactics, and the OPS didn't disappoint. To capture aerial footage during the surfers' protest, the OPS used a remote-controlled helicopter, purchased in Boulder and flown by expert RC pilot and engineer James Mack, that carried a gyro-stabilized A1U, also operated by remote control.

Chisholm says there were multiple hurdles to overcome with the RC helicopter, from acclimating the machine to the sea-level altitude of Taiji to configuring it to work in the coastal town's damp weather. Another big challenge was the fact that Mack, hidden on the ridge in full camo, was essentially flying the helicopter blindly.

“[Mack] was relying on the camera operator, who was holding a video monitor, the Sony HDV Video Walkman,” Chisholm says. “He was able to articulate what was necessary for the movement of the helicopter [to Mack] by viewing it through a handheld monitor. But they didn't have eyes on the actual flying device at all times. It was rough.”

The OPS also brought a 30ft. Minizepp blimp painted, appropriately, like a whale and outfitted with a Sony HDR-SR8 camera, but the team never quite pulled off the stunt. According to Chisholm, the blimp was inflated in a truck that was driven to the location, but upon arrival, it was intercepted by police. The zeppelin was affectionately named “Kathy,” after a trained Flipper dolphin that had died in O'Barry's arms.

The big picture

As exciting as the lagoon mission was, the footage obtained from those shoots speaks to only part of the film's message. The big picture, according to Psihoyos, is about connecting the dots between the dolphin slaughter, the high levels of mercury found in the bodies of the cetaceans (as well as other apex predators such as tuna), and the causes of this oceanic pollution. The OPS did plenty of legwork to prove its point and make a difference, including getting dolphin meat tested for mercury contamination and then successfully convincing Taiji officials to remove the toxic protein from the local school lunch menus.

Psihoyos is quick to point out that this isn't a just film about villainizing the Japanese — noting that everyone who uses fossil fuels, the biggest source of mercury in the environment, is responsible for the pollution. To do its part, the nonprofit is installing a 23kW solar system at its Boulder facility, buying electric cars, and keeping track of its own carbon footprint for the film.

“We were victorious over the whalers and got this massive international attention,” says Psihoyos, speaking of news coverage last fall that was made possible by OPS footage. “But really, the takeaway [of the film] is: We are fouling our own nest in a big way, to the point where we can't eat the fish that's coming out of our own oceans. Seventy-five percent of the world relies on seafood as a main source of protein, and if we lose access to the fish, then we are facing the biggest health crisis that humanity has ever experienced. This is a real heads up.”

The Rising is set to release in June. For more information about the OPS, visit www.opsociety.org.

---

What precarious positions has your job as a digital content creator put you in? To give us your story or to comment on this article, email the Digital Content Producer editorial staff at feedback@digitalcontentproducer.com.

© 2008 Penton Media, Inc.