"Imagine gliding through water with the resistance of air. Imagine you are a dolphin."
Dolphin Glide is the latest project from legendary surfer
George Greenough. Dolphin Glide is a surf film like no other. It's surfing but from the perspective of a dolphin, you are in the water behind the wave, seeing it boil and flow past you to the beat of a killer sound track. The film was done entirely in 35 mm and shot near
Byron Bay Australia.
Dolphin Glide is unlike any other film I have ever seen; the imagery is incredible. I must have blinked twice during the whole screening; it was that amazing. The whole film consists of shots from behind the wave, underneath the wave and in a few shots, through the wave. You're presented with images of roiling surf, air bubbles busting out from the face as the heavy surf crashes overhead. Waves rhythmically break on screen, lit from within by emeraldic, flaming shafts of light, the next waves rolls in from the perspective of a dolphin and the single droplets of water are blood red on the face of the camera as it breaks through for another breath and a quick pause before plunging back into the water. You see what the dolphin might see and the soundtrack is filled with bits of dolphin song, so you can hear as well.
It's all ocean waves, from underneath, sparkling, rushing, boiling, crashing, floating, weightless, bathed in shimmering silver-blue-green-gold colored lights. That's all, but it creates a flood of emotion, watching this thing made me want to laugh and hoot, yet somehow I was at the verge of tears. Why had no one prepared me for that?
For all you folks interested in the technical parts of this thing, Dolphin Glide was filmed by George Greenough over the last 5 years on 35mm film with his overcranked purpose-built Mitchell camera specially modified to be mounted at the front of his surf boat. George filmed on good days at dawn when the conditions were just right.
I waited 3 years to see this movie. I saw it presented to the public for the first and probably the last time, sadly there were only about 200 people at the screening during the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, most of them gave this movie a good rating and will probably carry the images with them for years to come.