Oceanum voces - About the film

Inside the deep, dark hug of water

Life unfolds along a river of sound

Imagining what life might be like inside the ocean, Oceanum voces considers how life is connected through sound, and illustrates how this is being disrupted by anthropogenic noise (mechanical, man made noise). Ship engines, underwater blasts, sonar and oil drilling are filling the seas with sound, and researchers are increasingly trying to highlight the damage humanity’s growing acoustic footprint has on ocean life.

This animated short, with hand drawn, monochromatic visuals by the artist Dawn Dudek are made to illustrate the world as seen by cetaceans, which are 'L-cone monochromats' or 'colour blind'. Created in parallel to a melodic and poetic soundscape, we are taken beneath the water’s surface into the currents of sound that shape the ocean’s vast, interconnected ecosystem. Inspired by the groundbreaking work of marine scientists on the impact of anthropogenic noise, this film explores the ocean’s ambient environment. The narrative evolves by following a little known invertebrate, the hooded nudibranch, as it encounters other inhabitants of the cold, dark waters of the NorthEast Pacific Ocean brimming with life both large and small. Fluid and constantly adapting to different perspectives, the nudibranch's journey is both visual and sonic, charting the sensorial shift that takes place when moving from air to water, sight to sound, isolation to inclusion.

To contemplate the complex nature of life inside the ocean, we need to fully immerse ourselves, and enter a listening space where light fades but sounds are amplified. Sound travels approximately 5 times faster in water than in air; it surrounds and dominates the senses with ramifications for acoustically sensitive marine organisms and the functioning of marine ecosystems. In water we are enfolded in sound. When we begin to see that marine life has evolved along rivers of sound, we also become attuned to the devastating impact of anthropogenic noise. Now considered the largest threat to the ocean’s delicate, once harmonious ecosystem, noise can increase the risk of death by altering predator or prey detection and avoidance, interfere with reproduction and navigation, and contribute to permanent hearing loss.

The Process

Made in collaboration with consultant scientist and educator (Jackie Hildering, Marine Education and Research Society), the co-creative process of Oceanum voces reflects the open, borderless, and undefinable character of being together, underwater.

Dawn Dudek’s decision to begin with the hand-drawn fits with the film’s essential premise of trying to imagine and begin to outline the importance of sound in the underwater environment. “Using the traditional medium of ink and paint on paper is important for me in this process. Making hand-drawn marks that are imperfect, honest, and vulnerable are created with reverence to the world we share. Digitally compositing and animating the visuals myself allows for the drawings to be done freehand in a sketchbook style, giving the film a consistency when combining and editing the elements. This technique also lends itself to representing the experience of drifting below the surface and the organic movement of light through water. Creating visual drama without a spoken narrative and without using colours that we usually associate with the ocean is a creative challenge. My focus on contrasting elements, abstraction, movement, and sound will set this piece apart from other films that have been made about life under water.”

The viewers will be offered visually quiet moments to process the texture of the piece, which shifts between falling into darkness and the increased brightness of sound. This process is also reflected in the hydrophone recordings of whale and ship sounds, the soft murmur of the underwater chorus. This soundscape amplifies the emotional element of the story, providing the viewer with a new point of connection and the opportunity to contemplate the mysterious beauty of underwater sound. This process is also reflected in the use of poetry, written by Nico Kos-Earle, which quietly emerges out of the depths and takes the shape of either a song or a lament.

Nico Kos Earle 2023

With Dawn Dudek

Animations for Education

Completed in early October 2023, the above animations were developed alongside Oceanum voces the film. They were created with the Marine Education and Research Society (MERS) and were launched as part of a webinar and program dedicated to sharing how marine mammals rely on sound and the inpacts of ocean noise. Sound by OrcaLab; artist/animator Dawn Dudek; and funding through the North Island Marine Mammal Stewardship Association's Conservation Fund. Oceanvoices.ca

Webinar links:

Blue Marine Foundation Tea and Teach

Ocean Voices - science and art speaking for the importance of reducing ocean noise

The Science of Sound Webinar

Ocean Voices - The importance of sound to cetaceans / webinar recording

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