VR Film Release: Grandpa’s Reef (Bahura Ni Lolo)

By Ben Mirin, Safina Center Fellow

Apo Reef, Phillippines. Photo: Erina Molina

Lowering a hydrophone into a coral reef opens up a new world. Listening from above the surface, you can hear snapping shrimp by the millions creating a soundscape of pops and clicks, while turtles crunch down on sponges and fish gurgle through their air-filled swim bladders. It may not sound as melodious as a dawn chorus of singing birds, but the sheer eruption of voices can take your breath away.

And if that’s not enough, sometimes you can hear whales sing. So forget what I just said about any lack of melody. The ocean has its music on lock.

Deploying a hydrophone system on Apo Reef in The Philippines. Photo: Ben Mirin

In the spring of 2018, I traveled to the Philippines with a group of National Geographic Explorers to shoot a virtual reality film on Apo Reef, the second largest contiguous coral reef in the world. As a producer on the film, I helped develop the story, apply for grant funding, and recorded sound during production. Our work has just debuted on the National Geographic YouTube Channel, to an audience of over 14 million viewers, but perhaps the greatest success of the project lies in its multidisciplinary execution.

Photo: Erina Molina

A year after our team completed the film, a coming of age story about a young Filipino girl who takes up her grandfather’s efforts to protect an endangered coral reef, we collaborated with the Haribon Foundation to distribute and screen the work at local schools around the ocean town of Sablayan, Occidental Mindoro. Armed with VR headsets, two of our team members drove around to these schools in an “eco-van” to host live screenings for members of the community where our film takes place. You can watch the impact video of that campaign at this link.

The team made the film part of a 60-minute educational activity for middle- and high-school students, with accompanying lesson plans we have since made available at grandpasreef.com.

Photo: Erina Molina

It was a joy to work on this project, and explore how to environmentally educate and inspire children with media. We hope you enjoy the film, and encourage you to watch it with a Google Cardboard or similar VR headset if available.

Photo: Erina Molina

For more images from our production and distribution , you can like Grandpa’s Reef on Facebook. This project was made possible through an Explorer Collaboration Grant from the National Geographic Society. The team members were Ben Mirin, Vanina Harel, Erina Molina, Sara Camnasio, Kyle McBurnie, and Mateo Hernandez Almeyda.