MEDIA RELEASE
VANCOUVER, BC April 21, 2015 – World Oceans Day has taken on new meaning to the production team at Parallax Film Productions. After spending months filming their latest project called Bahama Blue, a bunker oil spill occurred in their hometown Vancouver, just as they were delivering the final episodes.
“We just have a new appreciation for how catastrophic an event like this can be. We know how vulnerable many species are to manmade pollution,” says Director and Executive Producer Ian Herring, “It’s a shame that we only truly appreciate wildlife when it’s threatened or gone.”
The team chose a different theme for their series, though, to capture the beauty and diversity of wildlife in the Bahamas. “We’ve taken a page out of (David) Attenborough’s book,” says Herring, “the best way to motivate people to protect the environment is to inspire them, not just lecture them.”
Parallax started by focusing on the classic A-List Species: sharks, dolphins and whales, but quickly learned that just like there are no small roles, only small actors, the Bahamas were filled with countless extraordinary creatures: rare species of iguana found nowhere else on earth, tiny tree crabs who need to stay wet to breath and a type of comb jelly that predates the dinosaurs. The series blends rich 4k cinematography and macro photography, that allowed the team to film creatures ranging from tiny thimble jellyfish to giant sperm whales. Its signature ‘tide lapses’ and intimate aerials set the creatures in their environment: a view of the Bahamas beyond the beaches.
The series is something of a departure for the Parallax team who is best known for its science and history programming. Their most recent project, Battle Castle, blended computer-generated images, beauty location footage with battle reconstructions to tell the stories of six great castles and their sieges. But Herring believes he’s recapturing something of an art lost to many Canadian filmmakers and he’s convinced that Canadian viewers want to see it. He cites a recent survey they showed that 63% of Canadians or nearly 17 million people obtained their information about Nature through visual media in the previous year, narrowly surpassing those who got information from print sources.[i]
Bahama Blue premieres in Canada on Love Nature Wednesday, May 6 at 10 pm Eastern. Love Nature is a premium nature and wildlife channel, which showcases the animals, landscapes and wonders of our world in a commercial free, family friendly format. Herring likes its placement on a commercial free channel. “We want to take the audience with us on a cinematic journey to this unique spot,” he explains, “without the ads, people stay immersed in the stories.”
Love Nature also sees the power of episodes to inspire. “Bahama Blue lets us see nature in a spectacular new light with beautiful 4k content,” says Marcia Martin, SVP, Original Content, Blue Ant Media. “Airing this stunning new series on the Love Nature Channel allows us to further connect people to the beauty and wonder of nature.”
World Oceans Day is June 8, just before the sixth and final episode of Bahama Blue. Parallax intends to support the worldwide event by sponsoring a Twitter chat with one of Bahama Blue’s underwater cameramen, Andy Brandy Casagrande, to discuss his role creating images that inspire ocean conservation.
Bahama Blue will broadcast in French Canada in the winter of 2016.
Bahama Blue is also scheduled to air starting:
- May 5 in Eastern Europe, Middle East, Africa (EEMA) on Animal Planet
- May 24 in Italy on Focus TV.
Other international broadcast dates are forthcoming.
For more information and interview requests, please contact:
Delanne Young
Parallax Film Productions
1.604.531.2244
delanne@parallaxfilm.com
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Bahama Blue
Bahama Blue premieres weekly on Wednesdays at 10PM ET/PT on Love Nature. (Check local listings at: http://tv.lovenature.com/schedule/)
Promotional trailer:
https://vimeo.com/124883805
Associated links:
http://parallaxfilm.com/series/bahama-blue/
www.facebook.com/bahamablue
www.twitter.com/bahamabluetv
www.instagram.com/bahamabluetv
About Parallax Films
Parallax Film Productions, founded in 1996 by Ian Herring, has delivered more than forty-five hours of blue chip factual programs to broadcasters all over the world. The team uses the latest in film technology to provide powerful storytelling with unprecedented visuals in HD, 3D and 4k for multiple media platforms. Parallax’s recent series Battle Castle, a television and convergent media project, received a nomination for Best Historical or Biographical Series in the 2013 Canadian Screen Awards and seven Leo Award nominations of which they won four, including Best Documentary Series. Their international broadcasters and partners to-date are Discovery Channels (US, Canada and International), National Geographic Channels (US, Canada and International), Love Nature (Canada) History Channel (US), Channel 4 (UK), FIVE (UK), DMAX (Germany), RAI (Italy), TV Asahi (Japan), PBS NOVA and Nature, History Television (Canada), BBC Worldwide and Parthenon Entertainment.
Associated links:
www.parallaxfilm.com
[i] Source: Federal, Provincial, and Territorial Governments of Canada, 2012 Canadian Nature Survey: Awareness, participation, and expenditures in nature-based recreation, conservation, and subsistence activities, p. 23
