ANGARI | Sharks + 360 cameras = an award-winning, educational 360 mini-documentary.
It’s not every day that you get to swim with the most awesome (and most misunderstood) creature in the ocean. So when you do: you’ve got to make the most of it. That’s exactly what we did when we teamed up with the venerable ANGARI Foundation to produce the latest in their Generation Ocean 360 video series.
In this cutting edge 360 mini-documentary, we follow acclaimed shark researcher Dr. Stephen Kajiura in his undertaking to understand the migratory patterns of Blacktip Sharks. While Dr. Kajiura’s work spans decades, his more recent efforts have him both scouring the ocean depths and surveying the shoreline from the skies, all in effort to understand these magnificent creatures. And if you think we didn’t follow him to both those places, well, you’d be wrong.
Our 360 video specialists Emily Payton and Wilson Drake utilized the small form factor of our ever-versatile Insta360 One-X to capture some wild shots. We’re talking strapping a 360 camera to a soaring airplane kind of wild. Or connecting a 360 camera to a rock, dropping it down into the ocean, and letting sharks swim all around it kind of crazy. We took 360 cameras places they’ve never been before, and the end results speak for themselves: beautiful, novel angles that capture the majesty and mystery of what lies just off our coasts in equal measure.
From Under the Sea, to Into The Editing Bay
And as fun as the shoot itself was, post-production proved even more exciting. With her intimate knowledge of the source footage, Emily made relatively quick work of the overall edit. However, a new challenge emerged from the murky waters. The good folks at ANGARI wanted to animate a 3D model of the Blacktip Sharks to help drive home the look & feel of the animal. Luckily, we have our 3D Animation Lead, David Hixon, on our side.
David took the the task as he always does: with an eye for detail and a will to create the best damn animation possible. Admittedly, it took a lot of work and many, many rounds of revisions and finessing, but in the end David will tell you that the animation turned out...swimmingly.
After we completed the video, ANGARI submitted the video for consideration at numerous festivals. Much our delight (though not at all to our surprise) Generation Ocean: Sharks was not only accepted into a number of festivals, it won top honors in the Educational category at a few of them, including the Cannes World Film Festival.
