Thousands of Malibu residents and visitors watch migrating gray whales off the coast each year from November through April. But, unless the giant mammals come unusually close to land, usually all anyone can see, way out in the far distance, is the spout of water vapor from 10 to 40 feet high that a whale makes when it exhales.
Local resident Hunter Evans wanted to be able to take a closer look at the magnificent creatures that were so close, yet so far away, from the shores of his hometown.
Evans, 23, who graduated from Viewpoint School and then Santa Clara University, had returned to live in Malibu as a self-employed marketing consultant after a stint in Silicon Valley. He’d been following advancements in consumer drone technology and “always wanted a drone.” When makers finally released a “more foolproof” model that would stop itself from crashing into a wall, he decided it was time to buy one.
He started off with a small, less expensive drone that he could use to practice flying, maneuvering and filming at the same time, but Evan’s learning curve was a short one.
“My full-time hobby growing up was remote-control vehicles,” he said. Only one week later, he upgraded to a larger drone.
Evans also has a background in film, both professionally and personally.
“I started in high school on an independent feature film, editing a trailer, and later interned for producer / director David Dobkin (known for ‘Wedding Crashers’ 2005). I got to read scripts, etc. I did a commercial shoot for a company named Traxxis that makes remote control cars, boats and drones, and I had also used their products growing up.”
His background in both film and remote-control vehicles made Evans the perfect candidate to take on the challenge of making videos with drone technology. One of his goals was to try to get videos of dolphins or whales swimming off the coast of Malibu — not an easy task considering that a drone’s range is about three miles, they can move at 45 mph (faster with a tailwind) and most have a battery that only lasts about 12-25 minutes.
“I waited for a month trying to get those whales,” he said. “When we went down to the beach one day [at Paradise Cove] and saw the whale spouts,” he knew it was time to try getting his video. He was able to get 20 minutes of a mother gray whale and her calf heading north to Alaska.
It took Evans several hours on the computer to edit the video, apply color correction and find just the right music track.
“I wanted something relaxing, like a meditation,” he said. Drones don’t record audio, so sound has to be added.
Evans’ father, Jack Evans of Malibu Park, posted the resulting video on the Nextdoor website on April 24 to several neighborhoods in western Malibu, with a note that said, “This week the gray whales migration has been passing through Malibu on a daily basis … Here is an incredible video our son shot off of Paradise Cove.”
It became a local sensation that some posted on Facebook, and got an almost unprecedented 40 responses from Nextdoor members and over 2,000 views on YouTube.
One neighbor said, “Beautiful! I see [whales] all the time, but not from that perspective. Amazing film! Thank you for sharing!” Another said, “This is really beautiful. I was watching the whales on Saturday from my deck off Encinal and PCH with binoculars, but this is so much better.”
Evans said he was also contacted by two viral video companies who wanted to market it, so he’s giving one of them a 30-day shot to “pitch it to news networks,” etc.
In the short period of time since the whale video was uploaded, Evans captured drone footage of a pod of dolphins swimming off the coast of Malibu Road, as well as a couple of other whale mother and calf pairs heading north. He has now uploaded a second video that includes both whales and dolphins.
In the meantime, Evans is now using his drone video expertise to help market real estate listings, and also pursues another pastime: in the past year, he’s amassed 16,000 followers on Instagram by sharing photos of his blue BMW under the name @YasMadness.
“Nothing is fun unless you can share it,” he said. “That’s why I love filming.”
View more of Evans’ work at hunterevans.com.
