The Great Tidepool started out as a natural history film about California Central Coasts’ tidepools. But as we began to identify the filmed tidepool creatures, we found in short order that the most useful guidebook was Between Pacific Tides. The way the creatures were arranged in the book (by habitat) and the way they were described (ecologically) was so informative, so engaging and so eye opening that we decided to make a movie about the book. That quickly led us to the man behind the book, Ed Ricketts, and the scientific systems he worked with. Though there is much to say about Ed Ricketts, we were determined to keep our focus on his science. What we think happened was that it revealed Ed Ricketts himself in a new way.
The story of the Great Tidepool is based on the handwritten notebooks and other materials written by Ed Ricketts. The scientific system shown in the film has been pulled together from our research on those primary documents. The ideas are not derivative from speculation pulled together by past research or researchers. So, any mistakes in the movie are from our own ability (or lack of ability) to deliver the information that we found in the materials written by Ed Ricketts.
When carefully reviewing all the notes, three-by-five cards, four-by-six cards, correspondence, and artifacts it became clear that Ed Ricketts was a kind and generous person. He always gave credit, where credit was due and shared information with anyone who wanted it. He was always thinking about the creatures. But, above all, it was clear to us that Ed Ricketts’ mind was focused on organizing. His systems, his notebooks, his whole archive ripples with organizational methods and process. That organized thinking, we believe is in a large part who Ed Ricketts was.
The most thrilling aspect to us about making The Great Tidepool was the fact that no one else had revealed Ed Ricketts’ scientific system before. We remember researching, pulling the pieces together and discovering what Ed Ricketts had laid out. That system had never been explained before and it was very much one of those academic discoveries where something had been hidden for decades and a lone researcher “figures it out.” This bit might seem a bit braggadocious (and perhaps it is), but the sensation was so thrilling that we used it as our goal for the narrative of the movie (and all our subsequent movies). What we wanted, more than anything else, was to have the viewer feel a similar sensation of discovery as they watched the movie. A revelation. Something they can feel, just as we did, and perhaps just as Ed Ricketts did when he made his observations and reclassified the tidepool creatures. We can only assume that his life and his work must have been a daily scientific thrill.
All of the footage comes from the Great Tidepool itself, filmed over two and a half years in all conditions, at all times of the year and in all weather and all tide levels. All the footage of the creatures was taken using a hand made underwater filming system. That system included a plastic bucket with a piece of glass glued to the inside so that the Mark IV Cannon camera could fit inside and shoot through the glass. All the footage of creatures during low tide was taken hand-held by carefully walking within The Great Tidepool and taking care to step lightly and when possible step only on rocks. Filming took about 2 and half years.