In this video, I wanted to share with you the Man-eater of Matawan Shark Attack site by drone.
Location
Little did I know that the inspiration for Jaws took place just a few miles from my house in Matawan, NJ. The year was 1916. It was a hot July summer month. A local fisherman spotted a shark swimming in little Matawan Creek. The creek is a washbasin for the Raritan Bay that is connected to the Atlantic Ocean. But Matawan is more than a mile inland. So it was hard to fathom that a shark would be swimming in the waters. Everyone thought that the fisherman saw things. Maybe the heat was causing him to be delusional?
But a few hours later, a couple of boys were swimming in the creek to cool off. Suddenly, one of the boys, Lester Stillwell, was attacked by the shark. The other boys shouted for help. But unfortunately, it was too late.
Another person, Stanley Fischer, went into the water in hopes of saving the boy. He also was attacked by the shark and later died of his wounds. A third boy was also attacked later that day and fortunately survived.
A massive hunt for the shark ensued. Several sharks were caught and killed. One of the many sharks that were caught had human remains inside and was presumably the man-eater of Matawan.
The shark mural is painted over the archway of a tunnel for the NJ Transit Train crossing over Matawan Creek seen from High St. The attack site is just on the other side of the tunnel. Some pilings can still be seen that were near the site.
Flight Experience
This was the second part of a Jersey Droners event flown on Memorial Day. But I did not stick around long enough for this second part. I lived close by and figured I could stop in quick. There is not too much to capture at this site. So I stopped in quick the next morning.
When I arrived I realized that I did not have a memory card for my drone. I had removed the memory card the night before to upload all the videos from the previous day. Fortunately, the Air 2s has internal storage. So I was able to capture about 10 minutes of 4K video. It was not much and made for a short video shoot. But I got enough for this video.
Edit
I knew that I wanted to make it cinematic to give it a bit of a movie feel. The hardest thing was finding the right music to go along with the video. I found a tune by searching Jaws on Motion array. I was pleased with how it fit.
The video was also edited in a wider screen format. Instead of using a 16:9 format, I used a 2:1 format. So the resolution is 3840 × 1920.
The font is also Jaws inspired. It is called Amity Jack.
I also applied a bit more color grading and vignetting to get the cinematic feel. The overall lighting was not great. It probably would have been better to have gone in the afternoon when the shark mural would not have been backlighted. But I am doing it more for fun than for getting paid.
Final Thoughts
This was a fun little project. I want to do some more documentary-type stuff like this except take it to the next level. Instead of captioning, I am looking to add some dialogue to the video. I might even redo this video and narrate some of it.
I hope you enjoy this video of the Man-eater of Matawan Shark Attack site by drone. For any inquiries in regards to this video, visit my contact page.
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