Dolphin Tale 2 (2014)

All grounds were inspected for hazards and sets were closed off and secured. Cast and crew members were introduced to the animals and instructed on their proper handling.

For all the scenes at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium Hospital, this was filmed at Clearwater Marine Aquarium, an operational facility where the marine animals actually live. Most of the action involved the animals’ normal behaviors.

The dolphins on screen were played by none other than Winter and Hope themselves, who during filming got to work with their usual trainers and aquarium staff members, in addition to working with actors who were well rehearsed and well instructed on how to handle and touch them. Most of the film involved the actors simply holding them in the water and moving with them, or trainers allowing them to swim at liberty in the background. Some actions involved actors swimming with or playing toys with Winter and Hope, which they were completely accustomed to. Some of their actions were created using CGI, and anytime Winter’s prosthetic tail was put on, this was her usual prosthetic tail. The actors were well rehearsed on adjusting the tail once trainers had already fitted Winter with the sleeve portion off camera (which actors pantomimed doing on camera). Trainers used their normal cues to get Winter and Hope to perform certain actions like jumping out of the water and swimming into different pools.

In the scene where Winter headbuts the actor, trainer on wall of pool above dolphin and actor. She cues Winter to move his head to the side in front of actor then swim off the platform. (Looks like dolphin smacks actor in the head with rostrum).

Whenever the dolphins are shown in “distress,” such as being carried in the gurney (as in the opening scene) or being carried by actors, or shown being transported in an ambulance, this was a fake animatronic prop dolphin created by production.

In the scene where Hope and Winter first meet each other, trainers put Winter on a mark in the center of the mail pool by throwing her fish. Hope was cued to swim around the perimeter of the pool at a fast pace.

Some of the dolphins’ actions were accomplished through a mixture of live action and CGI.

The dead dolphin at the bottom of the pool was a prop.

In the scene where Rufus, the pelican, looks through the hospital window, the pelican was filmed in front of a blue screen. Trainers cued the pelican to walk on a platform in front of the window. Whenever we see the pelican fly, trainers placed him at point A and another trainer cued him to fly to point B, including the rooftop and dock scenes. In the scene where Rufus runs through the crowd of people and steals a teddy bear from a woman’s purse and runs away with it in his beak, trainers placed the bird on its mark. Then they put a fish in the woman’s purse. On action, the pelican followed the woman and lunged for the fish. Trainer then cued bird to pick up the teddy bear, the bird followed direction. The bird was rewarded with a fish. Camera man sitting on ground next to teddy bear very close pov on pelican action. Trainers cue bird to walk through crowd of extras. Extras were instructed where bird would be walking.

In the scenes with the sea turtle, production used a combination of a real turtle and an animatronic. In the scene when the actress carries the turtle to the surgical suite, they used a real turtle in the scene. They also used a real turtle in the scene where they feed it lettuce. Trainers made sure turtle was returned to the water right after scene and provided with food. Production used an animatronic turtle in the scenes where he was carried in a sling, walking into the ocean, and when the kids first discover him in the ocean.

The scene with the tiny fish in the ocean were merely caught in their natural habitat.

Scenes with birds flying in the sky in the distance were created through CGI.