Speechless Web Series

Speechless | Nature without music or narration

The following short films form my ongoing Speechless web series which began in 2013. I wanted to share amazing nature experiences from remote regions by creating an immersive experience where the viewer could get a real sense of time and place. Eventually, I found the most accurate and effective way I could convey these scenes were to present raw video with real time audio and clean edits, void of spoken narrative and music. With no music to stir the emotions and no one telling you what to think, the experience is all yours.

My 2015 feature documentary, Speechless – The Polar Realm, was born from these episodes, incorporating music in the process to develop more of a narrative.

New episodes will be added on an irregular basis as they are created, so please visit again. For now, enjoy the series!

Blue Duck / Whio

The Blue Duck, or Whio, survives only on exceptionally clean and clear, fast-flowing New Zealand rivers.

This iconic freshwater species was once abundant throughout mainland New Zealand, however introduced predators, habitat loss and disturbance mean they number now less than 3000 and that population is declining.

This was our first good look at a Whio in the wild, while hiking in Kahurangi National Park.

Read more about the Whio and the conservation efforts to save it here:
doc.govt.nz/whio

Cinematography and Editing: Richard Sidey
richardsidey.com

Sound Recording: Aliscia Young
alisciayoung.com

Produced by Galaxiid
galaxiid.com

Great Bear Rainforest

In this Speechless episode I spend time with two Spirit Bears, as they fish for salmon on a river deep in Canada’s Great Bear Rainforest.

In Gitga’at mythology, the creator, the Raven, asked the Black Bear to turn one in every ten cubs white to serve as a reminder of when the world was covered in ice.

At the end of this short film, a Spirit Bear steps into a single ray of light that evades the dense canopy overhead. The bear’s white fur catches the light, illuminating the bear in an otherwise dark setting, and depicts the name given to the white bear by the local Gitga’at First Nation – Moksgm’ol (Ghost Bear).

Filmed by Richard Sidey with invitation from the Gitga’at First Nation.

Read a photo story from these encounters

Produced by Galaxiid
© 2017 Galaxiid Limited | All Rights Reserved

Enderby Island, New Zealand

Yellow-eyed penguins come ashore on a beach full of New Zealand Sea Lions, before making their way into an ancient Rata forest on Enderby Island, part of the Auckland Islands in New Zealand’s subantarctic region. Filmed over a couple of hours during a short visit in early summer 2014.