I am so enthralled with this Fabien Cousteau fake shark idea that I
posted about earlier that I have to follow up with some more information about it. It is just too amazingly cool not
to.
So first of all I discovered this interview with Cousteau
over at Deeper Blue that is worth a read. But the best piece is the
one over at the Apple Pro site where the effort is discussed in much greater detail. The article talks about the
young (he’s 37) Cousteau’s upbringing (he is the son of famed explorer and environmentalist
Jean-Michel Cousteau and the grandson of the even more famous Jacques
Cousteau) and the use of the fake shark (affectionately known as “Troy”) to make an upcoming film called Mind of a
Demon (working title).
Cousteau says he was inspired to build the shark after reading a Tintin story called ‘Rackham le Rouge‘ when
he was seven years old. In the story, Tintin makes a sub in the shape of a shark to explore underwater. Interestingly
(and perhaps ominously) for the young Cousteau, his father also built a fake shark vehicle in 1989 and deployed it
underwater. That vehicle, we find out, was attacked by a large female Great White and demolished. One can only imagine
what would have happened if someone had been inside.
As a geek who uses Final Cut Pro for work, I was also very interested in the
technical discussion of how the film is being made
and cut using the Apple editing program. This is an all-around terrific article.