Sachtler ™
A Vitec Group brand
Sachtler ™
A Vitec Group brand
Renowned underwater photographer Jonathan Bird travels the world in search of adventures explaining the mysteries below the beautiful blue water. Jonathan Bird is a professional Emmy Award-winning underwater cinematographer with experience in all aspects of underwater wildlife cinematography and still photography. He has shot and produced films for television that have aired all over the world, most recently for National Geographic Channel International. A former broadcasting professor at New England Institute of Art and Communications, he is the author of several books, a frequent contributor to diving magazines, and has produced educational films about marine life for use in schools and libraries.
Jonathan Bird’s Blue World is an educational family-oriented underwater adventure series co-produced by Bird’s production company and the non-profit organization Oceanic Research Group. Hosted by naturalist and underwater photographer Jonathan Bird, the magazine-style series is geared towards educating anyone from six to sixty about life under water. Each seven to ten minute segment contains a complete adventure story, with educational components. Stories range from a "Sharkwreck Mystery” to underwater cavern exploration, swimming with ‘Jaws’ to the incredible dolphin world and more. Delivered via television in three package format or for internet in single packs, each is self-contained and combines stunning underwater footage and above water commentary about a variety of subjects from marine research to recent discoveries.
“We shot the first nine episodes in Standard Definition using DVCPRO broadcast cameras that were large, heavy and cumbersome,” explains Jonathan Bird. “When the writing was on the wall that we had to switch to HD, we examined and evaluated the cameras available for our modest budget and decided that HDV cameras were our best option. Although I was not used to shooting with such a small and lightweight camera and I knew it would take some getting used to, I was thrilled that we would be able to lug smaller gear around the world. With airline baggage restrictions getting tighter all the time,
it was becoming increasingly difficult and expensive to carry large ENG cameras to our remote locations.”
“One of the benefits of using smaller cameras is smaller tripods,” Bird explains. “I’m a little spoiled in that I have always liked using very high quality tripods, and in HD it is more important than ever to have a solid, dependable tripod with an excellent fluid head for smooth camera moves. But, since we literally carried our gear to the ends of the earth, we wanted the lightest, most compact tripods we could use and still get the strength and quality we required. That pretty much means Sachtler to me,” he emphasizes. “The Sachtler line of DV tripods is exactly what we need and they have never failed us in the field. They are lightweight, strong, steady and reliable, with an excellent feature set. Just because we are now using little cameras doesn’t mean we don’t need top quality in every respect. Sachtler never fails to deliver. For this series, we are using the Sachtler FSB 2.
We just returned from Mexico, where we shot scenics on a beach and stand-ups in the surf using our Sachtler tripod. Soon we’ll be on our way to Malaysia to do a segment about sea turtles, where we will be working at night, with the turtles nesting on remote beaches. In these conditions, our Sachtler tripods are subjected to gritty sand and salt air for weeks on end. I never have to worry about them holding up because I know that they will be just fine. The Sachtlers are the most reliable pieces of gear we have.”
The pilot of Jonathan Bird’s Blue World won the prestigious CINE Golden Eagle Award and was a featured selection at the Chicago International Children’s Film Festival. The first seven episodes of the series are available at www.blueworldTV.com and three more are currently in post-production. The website includes study guides for educators. Bird is working with the non-profit education organization, Oceanic Research Group to fund this complete second season of 20 segments, all shot in HD with Sachtler equipment.
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