Project

Silently Rising

Year

2018-2020

Role

Cinematography + Editorial

Summary

We worked closely with Bogdan P. Onac, University of South Florida professor, to produce a documentary for a National Science Foundation grant to highlight their research to discover accurate, historical sea level information as a function of global temperature.

We flew out to Mallorca, Spain to film Bogdan Onac and his University of South Florida students as they investigated caves along Mallorca's coastline. Because of Mallorca's unique location, its sea caves hold the key to unlocking knowledge about historical sea levels. Ancient tides have left mineral deposits along Mallorca's cave formations that can be dated to give us accurate sea level data from specific time periods. We then followed the journey of Mallorca's speleothem samples as they traveled to the University of New Mexico for accurate Uranium/Thorium dating.

  • A wide shot of the coastline of an unknown island in Florida
  • A photograph from a mountain of a valley and coastline of Mallorca
  • Bogdan P. Onac, Giuseppe Lucia, and Joan J. Fornós inspecting speleothems in at Universitat de les Illes Balears
  • Bogdan P. Onac and Joan J. Fornós inspecting speleothems in at Universitat de les Illes Balears
Bogdan P. Onac along with researchers and students standing on an arch along the Mallorcan coastline
  • Bogdan P. Onac walking through the water in a cave to get to a speleothem
  • Bogdan P. Onac pointing at a speleothem forming in a coastal cave in Mallorca

Inside the Arta Cave, we filmed large formations, and cored a sample to show the audience what the work is like to obtain samples and prepare them for dating.

  • Bogdan P. Onac pointing out features in Arta Cave in Mallora, Spain
  • Bogdan P. Onac laying out an extension cord to drill in Arta Cave in Mallora, Spain
Bogdan P. Onac drilling into a speleothem in Arta Cave in Mallora, Spain
  • Joan J. Fornós removing a core sample from a drill in Arta Cave in Mallora, Spain
  • Bogdan P. Onac inspecting a core sample in Arta Cave in Mallora, Spain
  • Researchers exiting Arta Cave in Mallorca, Spain
  • Researchers exiting Arta Cave in Mallorca, Spain backlit by the ocean
Driving through the Mallorcan countryside

At the University of New Mexico, in a world renowned radiogenic isotope lab, the samples from Mallorca's coastline caves are cleaned, prepared, and ultimately dated using an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer.

Entrance to the University of New Mexico
  • Acids in small bottles in a fume extractor in the lab at the University of New Mexico
  • A hand holding a small container to show how acids are mixed with samples in the lab at the University of New Mexico
  • Victor J. Polyak holding up a sample to show how speleothems are crushed into powders for dating in the lab at the University of New Mexico.
  • Hands squeezing a bottle to add acid to samples in the lab at the University of New Mexico
A logbook for the samples in the lab at the University of New Mexico
Looking into the dark glass cover a mass spectrometer to see the plasma glowing inside.
  • Victor J. Polyak and graduate student, Oana A. Dumitru, looking at data from the mass spectrometer on computer monitors
  • Yemane Asmeron giving an interview in the lab at the University of New Mexico.

Additional graphics were created to illustrate key moments in the film—including a 3D cave complete with its own tide.

  • A still from an animation showing how ocean water left deposits that made speleothems with bulges that can be sampled to determine the water levels at various dates
  • A still from an animation showing how Uranium decays into Thorium and Lead.
A still from an animation of the earth as viewed from space showing 116,000 years ago

This mini documentary was an amazing experience to shoot. It was the first time Sev and I had travelled to Spain—which is the home of our ancestors—and we couldn't have asked for better travelling companions or a more beautiful location.

  • Behind the scenes shot of Joe Clay carrying the camera used in the documentary on a hike with Bogdan P. Onac and his students in Mallorca, Spain.
  • Bogdan P. Onac and Joan J. Fornós leading a hike in Mallorca, Spain for Bogdan's students.
Behind the scenes still of Joe Clay filming at the edge of a body of water in the Torrent de Pareis in Mallorca, Spain.

Work done at Yellow Dog Party

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