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.

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 the Save Our Seas Foundation called Rethink the Shark, and a film from Living Ocean Productions called Requiem. We did lots of activities from The Shark Packet of educational materials that I designed – from shark hats to shark scientific inquiry to shark bingo.

Then the students needed to come up with their own “public service announcement” about sharks. The “less famous” shark idea was suggested by a student who was reading the Collins Field Guide to Sharks of the World. Another student brought a shark costume from home, and the school already had a boat in its garden. The students spent a day making props – they were each responsible for drawing three different “lesser-known” sharks. The class divided other prop building needs, from making boat oars to the shark mural to the shark fins (as featured in Landshark Lawn Ornaments in The Shark Packet).

When we filmed this short little masterpiece, the students shared jobs on the film crew. We definitely had some challenges, since the boat was in the middle of a playground, with ambient kid sounds all around us. We had to wait for preschool classes to run by, a lacrosse practice to slow down, a basketball camp to take a break from bouncing balls . . . but eventually we were able to record a few good lines.

I am so, so very proud of all the students in our class this week! Their enthusiasm about sharks is certainly hard to ignore. I wholeheartedly agree that SHARKS ARE AWESOME.

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 designed to accompany the children’s program The Shark Riddle. You may download the whole activity and shark fin templates for free by clicking here. Just look for page 7 in the packet.

Hammerhead Shark Fins in a Hedge

Educational Standards
Comparing and contrasting characteristics of a group of animals.
Understanding that animals have adaptations to survive in an environment.
Using observations to ask questions and study the world.
Using communication skills to share important information with others.

Materials Needed
Pieces of cardboard (used cereal boxes, old packaging boxes, etc.) or posterboard, paintbrush, washable paint (in shark colors like black, brown, gray and blue), scissors or utility knife, pencil, wooden dowels (2 to 4 feet long), duct tape

Background on Dorsal Fins
When people think of sharks, they often imagine a shark’s dorsal fin suddenly slicing through the water, revealing the tip of a powerful predator lurking just below the surface.

In reality, the majority of shark species do not swim with their dorsal fins above the surface. Unlike whales, who must surface to breathe and therefore often end up with their dorsal fins above the water, sharks do not need to surface to breathe. Shark fins do break the surface when they feed on bait that people put in the water.  Shark fins also break the surface when sharks enter shallow water, to breed or give birth, such as the lemon shark pupping grounds in the mangrove forests of Florida. But most of the time, as described by the Biology of Sharks and Rays Web site, sharks usually swim far enough below the surface that we don’t see the fins.

When dorsal fins do break the surface, ­scientists can use the fin shape to identify individual sharks. For great white sharks,
the shape of the dorsal fin is as unique as human fingerprints are for identification. Scientists can see slight differences in the edges of the fins. They use these differences to recognize individual sharks and study the behaviors of different sharks in the water.

Shark fins come in many shapes and sizes. The great hammerhead shark’s fin is taller and pointier than some other species. The great white shark has a “typical” triangular fin shape, one that we have seen many times in movies. The horn shark is a small shark with a spine on its dorsal fins, which helps protect it from predators that try to bite it. Other sharks have shorter and wider dorsal fins. Some fins are basically one color. Some have spots or stripes.  The oceanic whitetip shark has a white tip on its dorsal fins. The blacktip reef shark has a black tip on its dorsal fins.

Why do sharks have fins anyway?  Sharks are fish, which means they have fins like fish.  Dorsal fins are the fins on the back (top) of the fish, used for stabilizing the fish in the water. A dorsal fin is like a keel of a sailboat, which helps it go straight. The dorsal fin works with the pectoral fins, which are like the wings of an airplane, to keep fish from rolling over. Fish also have a tail (or caudal) fin that provides speed and power. The tail fin of the thresher shark is actually used to stun prey.

The main dorsal fin is made mostly of cartilage and dermal collagen fibers, with little muscle tissue. Though it appears rigid, the dorsal fin can bend and warp to help with swimming.

Pre-Activity Discussion Questions
Imagine you are a marine biologist, who is seeing a shark fin for the first time. Make a list of words that come to mind when you think
of shark fins. Fear? Power? And what do shark fins look like? A sailboat’s sail? An ­airplane’s tail?

Take time to research sharks or watch The Shark Riddle, and make sketches of different kinds of fins. Which fins help keep a fish from rolling over?  The dorsal fin and pectoral fins help fish stay upright. Which fins give sharks their power and speed? The tail (or caudal) fin.

Compare the shape of a shark to the shape of an airplane. Compare the shape of a shark to the shape of a sailboat. Why are some
parts similar?

Procedure
Note: It is better for an adult to cut the shape out of cardboard for safety reasons. Then ­children can paint and decorate the fins.

1.     Choose the shape of a shark’s dorsal fin to use as your guide. You may use the hammerhead or great white fin templates provided in The Shark Packet, which you can trace, or you can use as a guide to draw a bigger version, depending on the size of your cardboard.

Cutting out the shark fin, very, very carefully

2.     Draw the shape of the shark’s fin on your cardboard sheet.
3.     Using scissors or a utility knife, carefully cut out the shape of the fin.

Painting the cardboard shark fin with the finesse of person who doesn't paint very much

4.     Paint one side of the fin and let the paint dry.

Taping a dowel to the back of your glorious and hilarious landshark fin

5.     After the paint dries, firmly tape a wooden dowel with duct tape to the back side of the fin.
6.     Choose an interesting shark fact to feature with your fin.  You can make another sign that features this fact, or you may even write the fact on the painted fin. You can find an entire list of amazing shark facts in The Shark Packet, available for download.

Shark fins peek above a well-trimmed hedge. Do you think neighbors will notice when they walk by?

7.     Choose an interesting place outside and stick the wooden dowel in the dirt, with the fin showing as if it were swimming through some bushes, flowers, etc. If several people make fins, it looks like an entire school of sharks are swimming through someone’s garden! Place your signs with shark facts near the fins, and you’ll have a powerful, attention-getting tool to help people learn about sharks!
Note: Since these are made of cardboard, they can be damaged by water, like rain. If you want to make these fins last longer outside, try re-using and cutting old plastic or foam.

A welcome Sisbro board, with waving pirate flag at Jacob Wismer Elementary

Here’s a joke: What does a computer call its dad? Read the answer below, from a 3rd grade student, in this blog post.

We just had the most amazing time performing author visits at Jacob Wismer Elementary in Beaverton, Oregon! It began with an extraordinary school welcome, complete with a hand-painted Sisbro pirate flag in the entry way of the school. Then we proceeded to do four assemblies. When the first group (of third and fourth graders) arrived bright and early at 8:30am, most of them were wearing pirate hats, and some kids even sported eye patches. The students were so well-prepared for our visit that it made our job easy. The third grade even presented us with a banner they made (see below).

Welcome Sisbro Banner from Jacob Wismer Elementary Author Visit

Our assembly was called “Oceans, Writing and Pirates Ahoy!” in which we share how we made the underwater movie The Riddle in a Bottle, and the accompanying children’s book A Pirate’s Quest. It’s basically an author/filmmaker visit about the creative process. Both the book and movie have pirates in them, so it was a pirate-filled day. It was also a riddle-filled day.

The students at the school brought us more “riddles in bottles” than any other school before. Just like the riddle in our own movie, the kids wrote their own riddles, put them in decorated bottles . . . and then brought them to us to be solved.

Riddles in Bottles From Students at the Author Visit

So what does a computer call its dad?

Answer: Data (pronounced dada)

Here’s another riddle from a student: We are four in the mountain. We are in the South, not the North.

Answer: Mount Rushmore

Jane, Rob and Laura with their pirate hooks held high

We really had a great author visit, and a special thanks goes out to Jane, the media specialist who hosted us, who is a dynamic performer of her own. Below is a photo of us with Jane, full of energy after an entire day of programs.

Wild Shorts is a new series of wildlife shorts by us at Sisbro Studios.  Basically we just thought it would be fun to post a short animal-related clip each week, along with some facts about that animal. In our first installment, The Snowman Thief, a very clever pine marten (a member of the weasel family) shows its skills as a thief after meeting a snowman.  This footage was shot by Carl Sams while filming for the wildlife movie First Snow in the Woods.  Pine martens live mostly in the northern regions of North America, and are usually active when the sun is low or after dark. Pine martens are very good hunters and are so curious that you can lure one out of its den by making a series of mouse-like squeaks.

Well folks, what do toasters have to do with gardening? And what do toasters have to do with sharks? And where can you get a shark microphone? If you are wondering about any of these questions, I suggest you watch this short, shark-related piece. When I was visiting the Sanibel Sea School to film children at a shark camp for The Riddle Solvers shark episode, I conducted some behind-the-scenes interviews for fun, in the blazing hot Florida sun, and this is what happened. And I should mention that you’ll see some stunning HD footage of sharks, from the Save Our Seas Foundation’s amazing library of footage.

Robert sleeps in a bed on the beach during the shark lullaby, on the Oregon coast

I am going to state the obvious here – cameras don’t like water.  Water and electronics hardly ever mix in a good way.  Cameras also don’t like sand.  Sand is very tiny and very good at finding all of the tiny crevices on a camera.  Knowing this, then why on earth did we decide to make a movie on the beach?  Because it looked awesome – that’s  why!

Riddle Solvers Take 7

We just finished filming for eight days out on the beautiful and rugged Oregon coast.  We chose places with wicked names, like The Devil’s Punchbowl and Heceta Head, which I think translates to “even worse than The Devil’s Punchbowl.”  Every day, we had to know exactly what the tide was doing, because at high tide our filming locations were quite literally underwater…several feet underwater.  We also had to know what the weather was doing, because late October and early November is when Mother Nature turns her weather machine from “good” to “bad.”

Robert chisels a megalodon tooth out of rock

So after eight days, our crew of ten returned home soggy and sandy and exhausted from hauling our riddle solving stand up and down a flight of 102 stairs.  But it was all worth it to solve a mysterious riddle found inside an ancient shark journal.  Stay tuned for our newest Riddle Solvers episode: The Shark Riddle.