THE PEOPLE
About Adam Ravetch
For more than three decades, Emmy Award-winning wildlife cinematographer Adam Ravetch has been one of a handful of filmmakers to shoot beneath the Polar ice caps.
A trademark of Adam’s Arctic career is his single-minded purpose to explore and weave undiscovered animal behavior into personal narratives. His Paramount Pictures movie, Arctic Tale, was told through the eyes of a walrus calf and polar bear cub. It warned us of a warming world as Adam revealed new behavior in the lives of polar bears, narwhal and beluga whales.
His groundbreaking – and ice breaking – work has been featured in programs for:
- National Geographic,
- BBC’s Landmark series Planet Earth & Frozen Planet
- Imax films – To The Arctic 3D & Wonders of the Arctic
- Disney+ Secrets of the Whales
- Feature length documentary film for Paramount Pictures - Arctic Tale
- 3D polar bear film for Universal Pictures – Ice Bear 3D
BACKGROUND & EXPERIENCE
University Education –
- Bachelor of Marine Zoology SDSU — 1980-1984
- Graduate studies at Cal State University Long Beach — 1985
- Our World Underwater Marine Bio Scholarship — 1985-1986
Scuba Training Qualifications
—From 1980-1984 — Trained and completed the following NAUI dive certifications:
- Open water diver
- Sport diver
- Advanced diver
- Dive Master
- Scientific diver
- Assistant Instructor
- Certified Basic Nitrox diver
- Dive Instructor
- Rock, Rips & Reefs diver
- Commercial Certification -1985
- Ocean Tech Systems Full Face Guardian Dive Mask Certified.
- Crossover Dive Instructor Courses for YMCA & PADI
Professional Cinematography
- 1986-1990 -Trained as an underwater cinema- tographer on the 100-part ½ hour series, The Last Frontier, Directed by John Stoneman.
- 2011 - Certified electric helicopter drone for his Universal Pictures 3D Polar Bear film.
- 2015 - FAA Remote Pilots in Command Certification
- 2019 – Certified on the F1, 6-axis gimbal mounted Shot Over. Used to capture a one of a kind behavior of polar bears hunting beluga whales.
FILM WORK
1997-2005 - Shot and produced 8 one-off films in the Arctic for
PBS Nature, PBS Living Eden & National Geographic Television
2007 - Paramount Pictures - Arctic Tale
Shot and co-directed the feature length film
narrated by Queen Latifah.
2012 - Universal Pictures/National Geographic Wild Shot and produced the only 3D TV film made
on Polar bears.
2018 - Discovery Channel Shark Week Series
Shot and Produced a one-off great white shark film revealing a new scientific discovery of an organized social-media type communication among Great White Sharks.
2022-2023 - In development
- An Arctic Journey
- Stereo Sphere Film on Sharks
- A film about the wild animals of Hollywood
2022-2023 Cinematography Contributions
- Plimsoll Productions: Titans, Apple TV Series
- Imax Films:
2 films for K2 Studios - Shark & Space themed
PBS WNET Nature:
Canada – Surviving the Wild North - Netflix Release: River Road Films - Islands
- Smithsonian Networks: Great Lakes Series
- Netflix Series: River Road Films / Wild Space Productions - Islands of the Sea Wolf
- Natural History New Zealand PBS: Big Ice – Polar Bear/Beluga Predation sequences.
2021/2022 Cinematography Contributions
Disney+: Red Rock Films - Secrets of the Whales
National Geographic Wild, Disney+: Merit Motion Picture - Kingdom of the Polar Bears
CBC: Wild Canada Weather Series – Nature of Things - Arctic Scenes.
1990-2022 Cinematography Contributions
- BBC Planet Earth – Polar Bear / Walrus Herd Predation
- BBC Frozen Planet & Sharks Series – Arctic Scenes
- Earth Disney Nature’s Feature film release – Polar Bear Predation on Walrus
- National Geographic Great Migrations Series – Arctic Scenes in (Russia & Alaska)
- Imax Film – To the Arctic 3D
- Imax Films – Wonders of the Arctic
- Blue Ant Media – Arctic Secrets Series
- GoPro Video of the Week – Swimming with Polar bears
- Smithsonian Networks - Polar Bear Town
- Independent Feature Film – Picture of His Life – Arctic scenes swimming polar bears.
Winner Best Cinematography United Nations Association Film Festival 2020 - Mysteries Solved –
Cracked a centuries old question, what is the purpose of the narwhal’s tusk to reveal they use it to club and stun fish to feed. - Feature Documentary 2020: Ocean Souls – Narwhal footage
- Brand Ambassador highlighting Arctic scenes for Rolex and Honda.
1990-2022 Other Cinematography Contributions Outside the Arctic
- Discovery Channel’s Gold Rush White Water Season #4 & #5, Raw TV
- Smithsonian Great Lakes Untamed Series (2021)
- Smithsonian Channel’s America’s Wild Seasons
- Wild Canada Year Series - British Columbia Scenes
- CBC: Nature of Things -Human Evolution
- PBS” Sea Gypsies
- Nulo: Filmed Michael Phelps underwater for a commercial
Virtual Reality Filmmaking 2015-2022
Filmed underwater in Stereo 360-degree, using high end above water and underwater stereo rigs to show Virtual Reality in:
- California
- Mexico
- Indonesia
- Bahamas
- Caribbean
- Costa Rica
- Micronesia
- Africa
Companion pieces used in other productions
- Disney: The Finest Hours
- Bahamas: Immotion Aquarium film rides
- Mandalay Bay - Las Vegas: Undersea Explorer – Swim into Shark Reef
- SeaWorld - Abu Dhabi – One Ocean ThinkWell
FILMING ANIMAL BEHAVIORAL FIRSTS
- Narwhal -First and only to crack a centuries old mystery and question of what is the purpose of the narwhal’s tusk? Filming them using their ivory tusk as clubs to stun fish to feed
- Polar Bear Predation on walrus herds
- Mother Polar bear and cub predation on Beluga Whale
- Discovered the birthing grounds of the Eastern Atlantic Walrus; walrus calves with umbilical cord still attached
- Herds of walrus migrating underwater
- Greenland Shark under ice with National Geographic Magazine
- Detailed documentation of how polar bears swim and migrate by the sun, stars and northern lights.
- A polar bear (in 3D) scaling an 800’ cliff to feed on thick-billed murres
- Attach a camera to a polar bear to document mysteries of their own world. Used in a 5-year USGS study
- Narwhal in breathing holes in their wintering grounds at -40 degrees in the Davis Strait.
- Beluga Whales feeding on Capelin (fish) underwater.
- A newborn bowhead whale, only days old in its breathing holes from above and beneath the spring ice.
- A Bowhead whale being followed by pods of beluga whales to navigate the spring ice of the North West Passage.
- Bowhead whales mating in masses.
- Great White Sharks - new footage that supports a brand new theory on feeding.
MAJOR AWARDS
Polar Bear Film - Ice Bear 3D
- Best Nature and Science Documentary - Canadian Screen Award
- Best Cinematography - Canadian Screen Award
- Outstanding Cinematography Nomination - News & Documentary Emmy Awards.
Emmy for Cinematography Contributions
Prime-Time Emmy -
Disney +’s, The Secrets of the Whales
News and Documentary Emmy -
National Geographic Great Migrations Series
News and Documentary Emmy -
BBC Frozen Planet Series
Best Film of the Year -
Giant Screen Cinema Association -
To the Arctic - Imax Film
MAJOR AWARDS
Polar Bear Film - Ice Bear 3D
- Best Nature and Science Documentary - Canadian Screen Award
- Best Cinematography - Canadian Screen Award
- Outstanding Cinematography Nomination - News & Documentary Emmy Awards.
Lowell Thomas Award For Exploration -
Explorers Club & Rolex -
(Other recipients - Buzz Aldrin; Edmund Hillary, Chuck Yeager, and David Attenborough).
Palme d’Or -
The Antibes Festival Mondial De L’Image Sous-Marine (Oscars of underwater photography) for National Geographic - Tooth Titans 2002.
2022 NOGI FELLOW FOR THE ARTS -
The Academy of Underwater Arts & Sciences
The NOGI Awards are considered the Oscar of the Ocean World. In 61 years, only 240 people have received the award, which includes Jacque Cousteau and James Cameron.
2018 Diver of the Year Award -
Our World Underwater - Dive Show
1985 Rolex Scholar -
Our World Underwater - Scholarship Society