Premiere of New Park Film and Visitor Center Exhibits

Date: May 5, 2011
Contact: Yvonee Menard, 805-658-5725

Channel Islands National Park Superintendent Russell Galipeau is pleased to announce the premiere of a new park film Treasure in the Sea and visitor center exhibits on Saturday, May 7, 2011. “We hope our new film and exhibits will help connect people to their national park and inspire them to protect the park’s precious resources,” said Superintendent Galipeau.

The film, an essential educational product for the park, will be shown every half hour from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. for the premiere at the Robert J. Lagomarsino Visitor Center in Ventura Harbor. It replaces an outdated original film from 1982. The park also welcomes a whole new look in the visitor center with engaging and interactive exhibits on a variety of marine and terrestrial resources.

The National Park Service and Aperture Films, Ltd., a southern California film company, produced the new high-definition film that contains stunning IMAX-quality aerials and 3-D animations. Filming took place over a two-year period covering all four seasons on the ground, in the air, and underwater.

The film is narrated by actor Kevin Costner, an avid Channel Islands enthusiast and diver. Costner describes his connection to the Channel Islands saying, “I grew up fishing at the islands and later in life really began to enjoy them while diving with my kids. Providing this narration was a way that I could give back to the islands for all the great experiences I’ve had. I hope this film helps others to appreciate this national treasure.”

The filming process was comprehensive and challenging. Over 50 hours of footage was compiled, including aerial footage filmed using a high-end gyroscopic aerial camera system mounted to the nose of a helicopter. With limited transportation available on the islands, crews had to hand-carry heavy gear such as cameras, cranes, batteries, and dollies to each shooting location on the remote islands.

New Exhibits Give a Deeper Understanding of the Park
 
The recently completed visitor center and marine life exhibits were done as the first phase of a two-part design process. The second phase will feature ocean-related displays for the tower and hands-on activities and a play area for children in the outdoor amphitheater.

The new visitor center exhibits interpret the stories and issues associated with the park’s marine and island resources for over 200,000 visitors annually, many of whom never set foot on the park islands.

The engaging displays feature stunning graphics, inspiring quotes, large acrylic windows to view live marine life, and a crawl in a cave for kids of all ages. Terrestrial and shoreline dioramas include models of various resources found throughout the islands, including an archeological site, a male elephant seal, sea and shorebirds, an island fox, an island jay, coreopsis, and a bald eagle.

Two touchscreen computer programs help tell the complex story of island geology and the excavation of the pygmy mammoth. Sounds of the ocean, seabirds, elephant seals, and Chumash music help to enhance the interpretive experience.

Features that increase opportunities for revealing park stories to sight, hearing, or mobility impaired visitors include wheelchair access to all sides of the marine life exhibit, view ports, Braille signs, tactile species identification tiles, and sound effects. Assisted listening systems with audio description are available for those with hearing or vision impairments.

The design of the new visitor center exhibits was a collaboration between the National Park Service and Henley Company, a design firm from Topanga, California. The exhibits were fabricated and installed by Turner Exhibits from Seattle, WA. Species models were fabricated and installed by Carr Exhibits from San Luis Obispo, California. The design, fabrication, and installation of the marine life exhibit was completed by David L. Manwarren Corporation from Rancho Cucamonga, California.

About the Filmmakers
The film’s producer and director is Aperture Films President Joshua Colover. Colover graduated from the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University where he received the Martin Scorsese Scholarship and the Wasserman Award for his directing efforts. In 2003, Colover produced the feature documentary Farther Than the Eye Can See, an epic and inspirational story of a blind man’s quest to climb Mt. Everest. It received Emmy nominations for Best Documentary and Best Cinematography and has been recognized as one of the 20 best adventure films ever produced.

Camera teams shooting aerial, ground, and underwater photography were managed by the film’s editor and cinematographer Chris Blum. Blum has worked in formats ranging from super 8mm up to 15/70 (IMAX) and is credited on more than 25 major large-format and documentary productions. He has worked on locations around the world as far reaching as the Greenland ice caps and the remote jungles of Indonesia.

Aperture has created media for the United States Army, National Science Foundation, National Park Service, National Federation of the Blind, United States Patent Office, and many leading museums around the globe.

For a preview of the film visit: https://www.nps.gov/chis/photosmultimedia/a-treasure-in-the-sea.htm

The complete film will be posted on the park website on May 7, 2011.