Documentary Australia Foundation

EYE UNDER THE SEA - before the Eye under the Sea there was just darkness...

About the film

EYE UNDER THE SEA is an ongoing documentary series, presented by 2 Australian teenagers in search of finding solutions for the ocean. The 2 young people love watching underwater films and decide to take a look for themselves. But what they find is not at all like in the movies and they want to understand why. They embark on adventures with Australia's and the world's most legendary underwater photographers, filmmakers and marine scientists, who offer their first hand knowledge, experience and images that support it. The two are faced with what is really going on in the ocean. We travel with them on the tide of fear and enchantment, flashing back through portholes of time. Capturing a world of iconic movies, surprising inventions and startling discoveries that unveil the active role of underwater images in changing the world. Despite the challenges, the teenagers persist in creating new avenues to help the marine world.


The unique untold evolution of underwater image making is embedded as back stories throughout the series. Time travelling from the very first underwater photograph in 1856, to our falling in love with the ocean in the 50s, to our awakening to an ocean in peril and the creation of a healthy future ocean.

The two teenagers travel between the real and virtual ocean. They encounter the illustrious pioneers riding the wave of emerging technologies, marvel the Golden Age of underwater photography when mass media renders the ocean's beauty and its bounty accessible to all, and return to today's familiar multi-media flood of undersea pictures and scientific images that expose an ocean in peril. The two learn about predictive modelling techniques, so they can look into the near future that depends on the choices we make.

The documentary and multi-platform components are developed simultaneously. In the EYE UNDER THE SEA educational website and games, like in the documentary series, the two teenagers take the participants by the hand and immerses them into our planet's deep blue final frontier: inspiring you to extrapolate into a virtual ocean, creating your own future underwater world, interact with telepresence and oceanographic institutes, chat with underwater photographers, film makers and scientists, make your own marine film steering a real-time ROV, become a marine researcher collecting new species.
In both documentary and multi-platform CGI and animations are interrelated with an immediate identifiable branding and character.

Funding amount Sought

220000

Total Project Budget

AUD $220000

Length of Production

26 minutes

Stage of Production

Development

How does the project meet the aims of a philanthropic foundation?

EYE UNDER THE SEA where Fear and Enchantment for the Ocean meet.

While marine life is in peril, ocean resources have the potential to feed and fuel us indefinitely, only when we do things differently.
In the film we connect teenagers who aim to find solutions for marine life with the world's most infuencial experts, scientists, and authorities in underwater image making - bridging young people's dynamic virtual problem solving with the experience of the older generation.
Undersea images transformed our relationship to marine life, and through a virtual ocean we may transform again to a sustainable future. An interactive educational website facilitates and inspires everyone to be part of the solution! Like the documentary itself, it immerses the viewer into the deep blue final frontier of our planet.

From the early endeavours of underwater pioneers, to the latest in Oceanographic research, teachers and students will discover a comprehensive learning experience in deep oceanic exploration and adventure.

Looking to the future, students and other visitors develop informed opinions on strategies for sustainable management and the recovery of the ocean as our greatest bio diverse resource.

What outcomes do you hope to achieve by making this film and how will you measure its impact?

Knowledge is Power, and this project is full of information which will empower world-wide audiences to make a difference.

By following two motivated teenagers on a journey to find out what went wrong with the ocean, we aim to give people understanding of the consequences of our actions over time. We hope to inspire individuals and society to make a commitment to live with the ocean in a sustainable way.

The impact of the project will be measured by its penetration into worldwide visual and social media. This includes the popularity of the ongoing web-site, other cross-media expressions and the integration into worldwide educational institutes for all ages, for generations to come.

What is your education and outreach strategy

TARGET
Teachers and Students
Schools from Upper Primary to Senior Secondary
Home Schooling and Distance Education
Education Exhibitors, Questacon, Australian Museum, Powerhouse Museum, Maritime Museum
Sydney Aquarium, Australian Centre For The Moving Image


SCHOOL CURRICULUM RELEVANCE
Subject Areas:
HSIE Human Society In Its Environment, Geography, Environment, Science,Marine Biology
Syllabus Topics:
Underwater Photography - History and Evolution, Oceanography - What is it?
Oceanic Marine Life, Marine Biologists, Biodiversity and Species, Oceanic Health, Managing our Oceans, Oceanic Environmental Protection Agencies, Government Action in Marine Preservation, Impacts of Fishing industry, Sustainable Fishing Futures


MARKETING AND PUBLICITY

Teacher Endorsements:
Australian Science Teacher Association
Australian Geography Teacher Association

Direct Promotion to Schools:
National and State Annual Teacher Conventions
Science Week display

Screen Education:
Online Study Guide
Magazine Articles

Awards: (ATOM) Australian Teachers of Media Award

On-air: Promo tailing documentary screenings promoting web-site



Develop online cross-link relationship with the broadcasters on-air and online

Who are the filmmakers responsible for the project?

Executive Producer / Private Funding and Niche Marketing - Casper Pieters

Director / Co-Writer - David Swann

Producer / Co-Director / Writer / Researcher - Mariani Vermeend

Cinematographer - Wade Fairley
Cinematographer - Simon Cristidis

Presenters - 2 Australian teenagers

Narrator (preferred) - Alexandra Cousteau

Animation - Elka Kerkhofs
CGI - Deep Ocean Quest Productions / Hives Studios)

Historical Consultant - Dr Steven Weinberg

Marine Science consultant – Cristiana Damiano

Multi-platform Consultant - Anne Chesher

Web Design - Dale Simone