In 1989 , a team from theWoods Hole Oceanographic Institutionidentified the call of an animal who would issue forth to be fuck as " the world ’s lone whale " . The star - cross whale was call at a frequency of 52 Gustav Ludwig Hertz , higher than any whale metal money that share its migration pattern . The beast ’s identicalness had long been a enigma , which is why director Joshua Zeman decided to try and chase after it down in his latest filmThe Loneliest Whale : The hunt For 52 .
Now , if you ’re suppose that find one hulk out in the abyss is a magniloquent club for a movie crowd , you ’d be exactly right . Here , Zeman differentiate us about his motivations to go after down " 52 " , as well as providing some insights into the riotous life of a director .
The Loneliest Whale : The Search For 52is quite a departure from your previous oeuvre , The Sons of Sam . I ’m funny to have it away how you terminate up down this rabbit hole ?
You know , I think you involve a palate cleanser every now and then . Weirdly enough , thinking about it , it ’s not as much as a departure as you might remember . In a lot of ways , the sea are an incredible mystery that we have yet to solve . And the legend of this heavyweight , is he real ? Is he really lone ? That ’s kind of what filmmaking is , you know , it ’s exploring a story and answering the questions that you have .
What were some of the most shocking or profound things that came to light during your enquiry ?
That ’s really hard , there were so many . First of all , I had no approximation how piddling we actually live about the oceans and whales . Every clip I would speak to scientists , I ’d be like , “ Well you obviously know this , ” and they ’re like , really , we do n’t . And I ’ll be like , “ How do you not sleep together this ? ” And they ’d be like , “ Yeah , we do n’t always get a probability to contemplate hulk . We do n’t have them in captivity . ” Once you get out on the ocean , and you realize just how hard it is to like tag a whale and get data , you were like , “ Oh … now I see why . ”
Also , the importance of giant Song dynasty . I had no idea that Song dynasty of the Humpback Whale , an record album a guy wire list Roger Payne release in the 1970s , had been enormously popular . People would drop dose and put on headphones and listen to the songs of the whale and wonder how we could be kill something be so angelical that makes such a beautiful sound ? That led to the universe of Greenpeace , and the Save the Whales social movement .
When I saw these pictures of hundreds of thousands of people stick out at the Capitol holding big “ keep enter the giant ” it was just like , this is awe-inspiring . multitude were so emotional about it that they actually went out to do that . Understanding how that led to the green movement and business about our sea and nature and what we ’re doing to the environment . That same green movement has become one of the foremost pressing progeny of today . So , you could cut through the unripened movement all the direction back to giant song .
And then peradventure the last thing was , I had no idea that I would become a more empathetic and good person doing a movie about hulk . It aim me speaking to people about aloneness and nature and found myself suddenly becoming a better mortal . Strange to think there , you experience , here is a whale that made me be a better human being to other human being .
Yeah , that was something from the film I find really amazing too , like this polar record album underpins the reason why we still have hulk today . I must confess I ’ve in reality since bought a copy .
So , it ’s literally the root because we ’re so self - absorbed , ripe ? As a metal money we like to cogitate human existence are the best . So dead , when masses get word that album , they were like , “ Oh my god , what creature produce such a beautiful phone , better than any orchestral consort , better than in church . They must have something we do n’t have ; we have to stop killing them . ”
It was kind of a nerveless mo , but it just goes to show you what bastard we are as hoi polloi , that that ’s what it takes for us to break . But it was cool tracking the record album ’s success like it was 62 on the chart , and then National Geographic had this rip out record album that they mail around , and the fact that they direct those whale songs into blank space on Voyager . You on the spur of the moment make how crazy interconnected everything is . you may go ghostlike ; you may go foreign – if you need – you may go anywhere .
I feel like if we ever worked out a way to hack into what they ’re saying , they ’d be really gross out out to learn all of this
It ’s interesting that you mention that because that is actually the next footmark . Now we ’re using AI to mind to sperm hulk clicks and seek to ensure what they mean . So , it could happen , but interspecies communication is always a very hard matter for scientist , but I retrieve with AI , we will come to a better agreement .
What are some common misconception about exercise as a director ?
With this motion-picture show , I think , that I knew what the termination was going to be . You know , you hope that you have an ending , you pray that you have an ending , you spend a destiny of sleepless nights spill the beans with God and negociate for an ending . But you do n’t quite know , and so you really do have to envision it out by the fundament of your pants .
The other thing – and this is a example I keep learning – is that you could pose it all out , you could have all your consultation , you could write out what we think the script is work to be , but the smartest docudrama filmmakers – I ’m not saying I ’m one of them – then have that whole programme , but know when to throw it out the windowpane . And they know when to countenance the report spread in front of them rather than trying to shoehorn in , and that ’s a object lesson that I ’m still learning .
Any comic minute from the behind the scenes of this movie ?
Yeah , so there ’s a scene in the film where a fair sex is like , “ if you really require to chance this , you have to make the decision to go out and find oneself it . ” I figured that ’s easygoing for her to say , you know , I ’d already pass like five age making the cinema – but what she did n’t know was I had already get all the money from Kickstarter . So , I had like , $ 400,000 of people ’s money and she turn around to me and says , “ I think he ’s probably dead . ”
I did n’t know what I was going to do ! I think I was going to be the laughingstock of the film community of interests and never make another movie again . I would have to return everybody ’s $ 20 , and how was I even going to mayhap do that ? Like does Kickstarter even have like a repayment $ 400,000 option ? There were so many demolish moments in the film steeped in a awe of failure , but it was a lesson in learning how to turn nonstarter into something else .
Any advice you ’d give to someone concerned in follow a similar track in fact-finding documentary film filmmaking ?
It ’s tough . Like they say , “ If I knew what I knew , now , I do n’t get it on if I would have done it . ” It ’s been ten yr of my life so far and I ’m not sure if I would do it again . When you have an idea and people are telling you it ’s crazy , you have to have sex when to listen and when to follow through anyway .
When we first spoke to some scientists for this motion picture , they say it was crazy . That it was like bump a needle in the earth ’s largest hayrick . In some ways , perhaps I should have listened to them – but then we would n’t have the answers we have now . When anybody tells you something is really hard in film you have to investigate and work out if it ’s really as hard as it appears . Sometimes difficulty is a adept thing . Sometimes it ’s what sets you asunder .
you could streamThe Loneliest Whale : The Search For 52now .
