Posted by Robert on January 26th, 2012
Jen, Bryce and reluctant Judy meet the basking shark.
In a rare event last week, a giant basking shark was spotted several miles inland on the Big Island of Hawaii. Upon closer inspection, onlookers found this 23’ specimen to be made of fabric and air and accompanying screenings of our newest film, The Shark Riddle.
We’d like to thank the Waimea Ocean Film Festival for making it possible for us to share our shark presentation with the people of Hawaii. Through a combination of film, breakfast talks, Q&As, receptions, art exhibits and activities, the festival is designed to inspire, educate and engage participants in a celebration of the ocean and island culture, and an increased awareness of the same. Throughout the week, we shared The Shark Riddle at a variety of public screenings as well as a school presentation for students at the Hawaii Preparatory Academy.
Rob & Laura with HPA students
With funding from the Save Our Seas Foundation, we designed this inflatable shark as a way for people feel what it’s like to stand next to a true giant of the ocean, and to open minds to the true diversity of sharks. The basking shark is the second largest fish in the ocean, growing to 33 feet, and is completely harmless to humans as it only eats plankton.
Sisbro at the Kahilu Theater
And as an added bonus, the Waimea Ocean Film Festival awarded us with the Overall Best Creative Work!
Posted by Robert on December 8th, 2011
Laura and Rob at the Hatfield Marine Science Center
It’s huge! Not full grown, but at 23 feet, it’s still a huge shark! It’s a basking shark, the world’s second largest species of fish, and right now this one lives in my garage. It’s not a real basking shark of course. It’s an inflatable, made of fabric and air. But it looks about as realistic as an inflatable shark can look I think. We spent a couple of months designing this shark with the help of the custom-inflatables company Landmark Creations out of Minnesota. This basking shark will now spend its life as an ambassador for sharks everywhere as it allows people to feel what it’s like to stand next to a true giant among sharks. We designed this inflatable shark as part of a grant from the Save Our Seas Foundation that has opened the door for us to visit aquariums, museums, schools and libraries to promote “Shark Days,” a series of family friendly shark events based around our film The Shark Riddle. We created The Shark Riddle (through SOSF support) with the goal of spreading two simple messages – 1) Sharks are important for a healthy ocean, and 2) Sharks are very diverse.
And what better way to share the diversity of sharks than to bring along a life-sized basking shark – a giant among sharks with a huge gaping mouth designed for feeding on the tiniest creatures drifting in the ocean’s current.
Rob at the Seattle Aquarium
Posted by Laura on October 13th, 2011
In my last entry about the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival, I was spinning excitedly in my office chair because we were named Finalists for Best Children’s Program. But guess what? We WON!!!!! So now I’m whirling so fast that I imagine I might launch myself, still sitting in this office chair, into orbit where I can gaze proudly down toward the world, and think, “Huh, there sure is a lot of water on the surface of the Earth” and “I wish I had brought a warm jacket” and “How do I get down from here?”
Laura Sams, Caroline Brett, Robert Sams
In the most prestigious nature film festival in the world, in a competition of all the major broadcasters . . . The Shark Riddle (which we made with the Save Our Seas Foundation) won Best Children’s Program of the Year. Read more »
Posted by Laura on September 16th, 2011
Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival, Photo by Tom Mangelsen
If you see us twirling with arms wide atop the Grand Teton Mountains (or at least twirling over-enthusiastically in our office chairs), it is because The Shark Riddle is a finalist at the 2011 Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival. We are finalists for Best Children’s Program, up against some steep competition – My Pantanal, by Panthera, and Turtle Vision, from nWave Pictures Distribution. But alas, we are thrilled to be part of the competition! Robert and I are preparing for our journey to the festival at the Jackson Lake Lodge, in the middle of the Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.
We are taking daily baths in moose repellant, running relay races to see who can lace his/her hiking shoes more quickly, practicing our firm yet friendly handshakes for all that networking and, of course, staring at movies without blinking for 30 minutes at a time – so we won’t miss any moment of the wonderful films in this year’s festival.
Internationally renowned as the largest and most prestigious competition of the nature genre, this year’s Festival competition included 510 films from more than 30 countries entering — a record number of submissions competing for 22 special category awards. More than eighty judges from North America, Europe, Asia and Africa participated in the preliminary selections.
The Riddle Solvers: The Shark Riddle Poster
In the meantime, do you want to see what has made The Shark Riddle one of the three best nature-based children’s programs of the year? Enjoy a clip of The Great White Shark Song by clicking here. Or enjoy a strange but alluring look at shark teeth (and shark dentists) by clicking here. Overall the film is designed to help children and their families learn two things: 1)Sharks are diverse and 2)Sharks are important for a healthy ocean. It all begins with the discovery of a magic journal filled with sketches of shark teeth, and it continues with a quest to find a tooth from the biggest fish in the ocean. Robert and I purposely wrote a script, with our colleague Dave Cain, that would give people a truly new look at sharks. For example – when we wrote music, we purposely decided to do the exact opposite of the Jaws theme – by writing a shark lullaby. And instead of learning about sharks from people in the water, we used the viewpoint of a remora fish – the fish that suction cups its head to the sides of sharks for a free ride. I really think the movie is one of the most marvelous, musical and magical films about sharks ever made for children, with incredibly vivid, high definition footage of over 20 shark species.
The 2011 award winners will be selected by a distinguished panel in Jackson Hole preceding the five-day industry conference held in Grand Teton Park at the Jackson Lake Lodge October 3-7, and will be announced at a Gala celebration on Thursday, October 6th. We will let you know what happens. In the meantime, I’m starting to get dizzy from all this excited twirling in my chair. Plus it makes it hard to type, since I can only type as I swing around past the keyboard in my chair twirling frenzy.
Posted by Laura on August 13th, 2011
Get ready for a quirky, wonderful look at the “less famous” sharks of the world, in a video made by the students in our Shark Week class at Portland Saturday Academy, Summer 2011. We spent the entire week studying sharks, as well as looking at how the media portrays sharks in different films. We watched our own children’s film about sharks called The Shark Riddle, as well as the short clips from Read more »
Posted by Laura on August 7th, 2011
Middle school students color great white shark sheet
What things kill more people per year than shark attacks? During our “Shark Science Week: A Global Perspective” class this week at Portland Saturday Academy, a group of smart middle school students were challenged with creating a shark-themed mural on a bed sheet – with information they thought was important to share with other people. They decided to create a tableau of “Things more deadly than sharks.” Read more »
Posted by Laura on August 4th, 2011
Landshark Lawn Ornaments with Shark Fact Sign
Looking for a way to shark attack your school yard, your neighbor’s garden or your own flower bed? Make these shark fins, place them near amazing shark facts, and you have a funny and educational way to share your passion for sharks! This is also a great way to recycle old cardboard. And the fins look hilarious swimming through a garden. This activity is from The Shark Packet, a curriculum guide Read more »
Posted by Laura on August 2nd, 2011
Laura Sams wears a great white shark hat and ponders deep thoughts about peanut butter on toast
Robert Sams wears a hammerhead shark hat with much pride in his coloring skills
Have you always wanted to wear a shark on your head? Me too. Here is your chance to make a great white shark or hammerhead shark hat. It is an activity from The Shark Packet of educational activities Read more »
Posted by Laura on July 4th, 2011
Blacktip Reef Shark on Bed Sheet
When you can’t fall asleep at night, do you count sharks? With over 450 kinds of sharks (the exact number is debated – but there are definitely a lot), there are really a lot of choices to help you fall lazily into a dreamy, peaceful sleep. From the small epaulette shark, which lives in the shallows, walks on its fins and sucks up worms . . . to the biggest fish in the ocean, the whale shark. The whale shark is huge, but it’s a peaceful animal that cruises around filtering the water for zooplankton.
This picture shows a twin-bed sheet, decorated with a life-size version of a Read more »
Posted by Laura on July 1st, 2011
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Well folks, if you are looking for an incredible bedtime story with wildlife sounds, dragons and an army of squirrels . . . listen to this story created by 2nd-5th graders at our Animal Audio summer class with Portland Saturday Academy. Just click the little arrow above to hear the story. The class was a sound-filled week – identifying animal sounds, making animal sounds with our voices, building animal sound crafts (turning a straw into a duck call), Read more »
