A History of Macdonald Productions
Bill Macdonald
Biographical Information
Independent Producer of Televised Documentaries
A walk through time...
Bill Macdonald Productions is a film production enterprise whose mission is to document aquatic resources, marine life, and watersheds. We employ our video archive of over 1000 hours to produce educational programming on watershed awareness. We make broadcast quality promotional videos that capture the very best in underwater experiences at the world’s foremost dive resorts and live-a-board dive vessels.
Burrud Productions
In 1988, Bill Macdonald began his association with Burrud Productions
during the filming of Tarawa and Big Cats as an associate producer and
cameraman. By 1989, Macdonald was promoted to supervising producer for
the Treasure of San Felipe, an episode in the treasure series hosted by
Philip-Michael Thomas (Miami Vice). Also, Macdonald was associate producer
for Kokoweef Treasure, and underwater cameraman for Secrets of the Sacred
Wells (both episodes involved cave exploration and cave diving).
The Cousteau Society
Bill Macdonald has over thirty years of filming experience that includes
a six year period as an integral member of The Cousteau Society's diving
and filming team from 1975 through 1980. Bill worked directly for the
late Philippe Cousteau from whom he learned the Cousteau philosophy. As
environmental spokesperson for The Cousteau Society, Bill Macdonald presented
over 350 lectures to American university audiences. As the Marine Awareness
Coordinator for The Cousteau Society, Bill Macdonald sailed aboard Calypso
during the Mediterranean Pollution study which established an environmental
baseline study in coastal Mediterranean waters. Macdonald shared these
findings in a worldwide university lecture program for The Cousteau Society.
OTEC (Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion)
In 1981, in his first major independent production, Bill Macdonald documented
the worlds largest ocean energy test platform off Hawaii's Kona Coast:
OTEC-1. Today, the film stands as the sole historical document of the
United States best effort in a field. OTEC stands for ocean thermal energy
conversion a process that when refined, may some day revolutionize a way
for tropical island peoples to extract energy from the sea, while harvesting
pelagic fishes and conducting aqua culture in the process. While in Hawaii,
Bill Macdonald was commissioned by Sea Grant to document the fabrication
and deployment of a State of Hawaii program of fish aggregation devices
throughout the island chain. In documenting the above deployments, Macdonald
has a working background with ocean systems capable of enhancing productivity
which, in turn, has a potential to boost ocean productivity and the humans
using it.
Comcast Cablevision
In 1982, Macdonald returns to the mainland to produce, film, and host
: "Coastal Focus" a series of ten half-hour programs on Southern California
action sports for Comcast Cablevision: SCUBA diving; surfing; outrigger
canoe racing; and ballooning.
Truth Aquatics
Another sport diving film: "Diving California's Channel Islands" (1983)uses
a sound track from Crosby, Stills and Nash (CSN) to illustrate live-aboard
diving in California's Channel Islands. Diving California's Channel Islands
is a longtime corporate video for Truth Aquatics with 1000's of copies
in distribution to sport diving groups in the USA and overseas. This program
(with updates and revisions) has been in circulation for almost fifteen
years.
Crosby, Stills and Nash
Crosby, Stills, and Nash chose The Cousteau Society (in 1976) to produce
and edit a musical visual to their hit song :"Wind on the Water" a moving
tribute to whales and dolphins. Bill Macdonald, then a Cousteau Society
Marine Awareness director was assigned by Jacques Yve Cousteau to produce
the visual program from the Cousteau Society film archives. This film
is still featured in their concerts that makes a strong case for the preservation
and protection of these gentle mammals. As the film rolls on a large screen
above the stage, the song in played in unison with the picture. Tens of
millions of viewers have seen this live in concerts, on television, or
via home video over a period now exceeding twenty years.
Handicapped SCUBA Diving
In 1984, Bill Macdonald Productions produced: "Freedom in Depth" a definitive film on handicapped SCUBA diving, hosted by Jean-Michel Cousteau. Freedom in Depth depicts disabled humans finding freedom
from gravity through the buoyant properties of aquatic adventure.
In the present...
Over the last several years, with support and assistance from his wife Susan (herself an accomplished undersea photographer and researcher), Bill produced two marine awareness videos, "Indonesian Safari", "Secrets of California Waters" and More secrets of California waters (1999) to assist in understanding tropical reef and kelp environments. Recent productions Include: Diving Promotional for Kungkungan Bay Resort and Dive Asia Pacific (1999). In 2000 we completed Bizarre Denizens of the Lembeh Straits. These Latest Productions can be viewed in their entirety in our Preview section of this site, utilizing Quicktime 4 technology.
Resort Promotional Programs
Since 1982 we have been specializing in documenting and promoting some
of the world's prime dive destinations. Truth Aquatics, in California,
Hotel Cabo San Lucas in Baja and Sipadan Is, Malaysia were the focus of
early promotions during the 1980's.
In the 1990s Macdonald Productions was active in the Indo Pacific region with numerous expeditions to the world's most biologically diverse marine environment. These expeditions have documented many fascinating subjects, and some of the marine creatures are relatively new to human awareness, including the mimic octopus, pygmy sea horse, and the venomous snake blenny. For More information on Resort Promotional Programs contact us.
"Indonesian Safari" (1994) depicts the worlds most prolific and fragile reef ecosystems; in 1997 segments on Bali reefs and bizarre critters of Sulawesi were added. This program is used to depict Indonesia diving by the Indonesian government and Garuda Indonesia Airlines.
In
Secrets of California Waters (1996) and More Secrets of California Waters
(1999), Susan and Bill have compiled an impressive series of sequences
revealing creatures and events most divers rarely encounter. The program
focuses on basking sharks, elephant seal harems, sea lion behavior, and
secluded locations seldom visited by humans. Videotaped over a four year
period, Secrets of California Waters is a prime example of kelp environment
awareness. From the smallest plankton to the largest inhabitant, the program
has drawn rave reviews. So much so, that The Discovery Channel has commissioned
much of the underwater material in a soon-to-be-released one-hour special
on the Channel Islands National Park marine sanctuary.