Let’s Talk More About “Dolphin Tale”

Winter, who plays herself in the movie "Dolphin Tale" gets cared for by a boy named Sawyer (Nathan Gamble) and Dr. Clay Hasket (Harry Connick, Jr.)

 

Dolphin Tale is a movie that has been inspired by the true story of Winter the dolphin. However, there was an artistic license on the story, including a scene where Sawyer finds Winter stranded on a beach. In reality, she was found by a fishermen in Florida’s Atlantic Coast. The story also focuses on the fictional story of how Sawyer befriended Winter and rally a group to raise money to both save her, and Clearwater Marine Aquarium. Movie magic helped turned CMA into a rundown facility with fake rust painted around the facility. Many props from the movie that were donated to the aquarium after filming ended. Many of the props have stickers indicating that they were props that were used in the movie.

During filming, which began in September 2010, CMA was closed for three months, but the aquarium remained a working animal hospital during the public closing. About 15 minutes after the movie wrapped in December, Clearwater Marine Aquarium received a call of a stranded baby dolphin named Hope, who was found in the exact location where Winter was found, five years and one day to Winter’s rescue. Hope, currently resides in the Dolphin Deck exhibit, the $300,000 pool was used in the movie and was later donated to the aquarium.

More Movie Facts:

• Filmed from September to December 2010
• 30 cast members, 250 crew members, and 800 extras
• Will be released on September 23rd, 2011 nation-wide.
• Clearwater Marine Aquarium CEO David Yates has admitted to starting a movement to get Winter nominated for a “best actress” Oscar nomination.
• The majority of  the movie was filmed at CMA and other various locations throughout Pinellas County, FL.
• The movie ran over three days over it’s projected date which is unheard of in Hollywood.

"Dolphin Tale" star Winter during a training session at Clearwater Marine Aquarium

 Facts on the Extras in the movie

• Extras had to pretend to talk, lip sinc, exaggerate movements, and had to react without hearing the actors.
• Twenty takes were sometimes required, timing mistakes of movement and backup.
• Herding extras is like controlling ants. About several hours was spent waiting around for the set to be readied.
• Extras were paid $75 and were only used to fill in the background holes, and some never even left their holding area to see the sets.

The movie stars Harry Connick Jr., Morgan Freeman, Ashley Judd, Kris Kristopherson and of course Winter as herself. It was produced by Alcon Entertainment with a $40 million budget and distributed by Warner Brothers. The film is also directed by child actor-turned-film director Charles Martin Smith.

To Teach A Dolphin How To Act-Getting Winter Ready for “Dolphin Tale”

It took a village to teach a dolphin named Winter how to act

As a lot of you may know, Winter, a bottlenose dolphin who resides at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium in Clearwater, FL will be playing herself in the upcoming film Dolphin Tale which will be released in theaters on September 23rd, 2011. The trainers at CMA had trained all the dolphins, including Winter, in the same matter that SeaWorld trainers would train their animals for behaviors for upcoming animal shows.  These behaviors were all established through positive reinforcement and desensitization.

Positive reinforcement-Trainers ask the animal through hand signals, imitation and whistle (bridge) to perform a behavior, and reward them when they perform it. Nothing was forced during this process.

To prepare Winter for her interactions with movie equipment, props, scenes, and actors, the trainers used desensitization-the process of slowly exposing Winter to the items and situations so that she would then, be able to become familiar and comfortable with them. In fact, all bright lights, groups of people, and large cameras would always remain close by in order to help get used to such interactions when filming the movie. For example:

• The staff has fashioned a fake “camera” made of gas cans and raised and lowered it on a fake boom (long stick that usually has a microphone attached) over her pool.
• Volunteers took shifts holding reflective boards to familiarize her to the bright lights.
• A large “blue screen”, similar to what weather people use, was placed in the pool.

The trick to desensitization is to go slowly with the training, pairing, every encounter with positive reinforcement/reward, and to make it fun! This way, the animal feels comfortable with the new experience and can enjoy these exciting interactions like a game.

Some of the new behaviors taught to Winter specifically for her movie role include:

• Tossing bottles in the air
• Responding to signals given by the actors

Winter, resting on her favorite movie prop, the floating bed.

Who’s Looking Forward to A “Dolphin Tale”?

The offical poster for "Dolphin Tale"

 

In case you are all wondering, Winter’s upcoming movie Dolphin Tale, it will be released to theaters by Warner Bros. on September 23rd, 2011 in theaters throughout both the United States, and Canada. The movie focuses on an 11-year-old-boy named Sawyer, who befriends Winter during her rehabilitation at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. From there on, Sawyer relies on his friends and family to save Winter by convincing a well-known doctor to create a prosthetic tail in order to help gain the animal’s ability to swim again.

Keep in mind that when you see one of CMA’s video presentations, the presentations will all begin with a trailer for Dolphin Tale before moving forward to the featured presentation.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to comment.

Thanks,

~Jenna~