Wildlife Film News 7

3. Webcasting/Streaming Video

Hardy Jones, long known as a producer of films related to the marine environment, especially whales and dolphins, has now added live webcasting and production of material for video streaming to Hardy Jones Production's repertoire.

"Much of my interest in producing wildlife films comes from a desire to preserve and protect dolphins and whales as well as their environment. I believe live webcasting can create a witness effect, allowing us to go live at very little cost."

A recent example occurred when fishermen at Futo, Japan rounded up more than 100 dolphins. Most of the dolphins were slaughtered while some were taken by Japanese marine parks for their shows. "We obtained video within 36 hours and had it on network television that evening.

"My hope for the future would be that we would be on the ground with cameras and dishes that would allow us to say to the perpetrators of such horrors you can do it but the whole world will see you.' We could save a lot of lives if we could do that."

Live webcasting can also be useful in promoting premiers of television programming and streaming video will allow producers to archive their programs on servers. "Within 18 months we will be able to log onto a site and download a natural history program for a fee of a couple dollars. This will give independents a whole new avenue for venue."

Jones is developing content and protocols with companies such as Intervu, Realnetworks, and TappedInto.com. He is now producing original internet programming which will be released on POP.com, the internet entertainment company founded by by Imagine Entertainment partners Brian Grazer and Ron Howard and DreamWorks founders Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen.

Jones' most recent production was a collaboration with the French megahit "Ushuaia", filming sperm whales in the West Indies and Dolphins in the Bahamas. "It was my first experience being interviewed on camera in French, kind of interesting describing how sperm whhales communicate in a language other than English."

Further info from: hardyjones@home.com

4. Bio-acoustics

Telinga Microphones now have mailing lists for announcements and discussions for bio-acoustic people, wildlife film-makers and others - see www.telinga.com. Here all participants can get consulting in technical matters, if they need to. Telinga will be there, but also other technical designers.

Here's an example of a relevant technical issue Telinga can help with:

This is Plug In Power:

Take a look at a typical electret microphone pre-amplifier. This electronic circuit is always (has to be!) very close to the microphone capsule:

The (blue) transistor circuit MUST be very close to the microphone element. But the (red) resistor R, the capacitor C and the battery can be moved far away! When these components are placed inside the recorder, that is Plug In Power! - and nothing else! It means that the resistor, the capacitor, and the battery that the microphone needs are placed inside the recorder/video, instead of in the microphone body! Most Walkmans and MD's have this arrangement nowadays, which means that you can power a microphone from the microphone input - without a battery of its own.

Summary: Using Plug In Power means that you don't have to think about an extra power box to the microphone or about microphone batteries! If the recorder/video runs, the microphone will run too.

The only disadvantage of using Plug In Power, is that the voltage at the point V. (above) is too low to drive an efficient active filter inside the microphone body.

As Klas Strandberg says "Plug In Power is so easy to handle, and Telinga has the microphones for it, low-noise enough to be used for natural history. I want people to know this, because when they see Plug In Power mic's on the open market, these mic's are too noisy for wildlife, and then people skip the whole Plug In Power approach as worthless! That would be really sad, because it does work! People have to realize this, or they will loose a really handy tool! This is especially important for the film-makers who hate sound making, and want to bother with it as little as possible."

Further info from: telinga@bahnhof.se

5. "Wings" dives deep

Wings Over Africa producer Phoebe Anderson and her crew have returned from Mozambique after filming the Rage of Reefs episode for this adventure series. Celebrated underwater filmmaker Peter Lamberti dived to remarkable depths to get the best possible footage.

6. Heart-tearing Sequence at Londolozi

In December the cameraman Elmon Mhlongo filmed an incredibly unique and heart-tearing sequence. One night at Londolozi Game Reserve a leopard attacked and killed a monkey with a newly born baby, of probably a few hours old. While the leopard ate the mother the baby monkey crept up close to the leopard thinking it was it's mother; calling, trying to snuggle, get warm. The leopard then departed and returned later in the night and killed the baby monkey.

Elmon Mhlongo is a full time cameraman based at Londolozi Game Reserve and films for Londolozi Productions. He is the first Shangaan cameraman and has spent a lifetime in the bush, first as a poacher then as a tracker for John Varty who later taught him how to use the film camera (Ari Super 16mm).

Elmon is still unable to read and write but has incredible bush knowledge and has produced some incredible footage. Elmon has recently completed a documentary that was co-directed with Karin Slater called: The Tracker, which tells of his life story and is due to be released by Explore International this year.

The sequence was not shot for a particular film although Londolozi Productions is known for it's interest in the big cats and was one of the first camera teams to habituate and film leopard close up in the wild.

Londolozi Productions Stock footage library is up and running.

African Wildlife footage from various locations: South Africa, Masai Mara, Zambia and the Kalahari collected over the last 15 years.

Dramatic hunting sequences of leopard, lion, cheetah and crocodile.

Breathtaking scenics.

Cultural footage.

Kodak Super 16 Fine Grain Film

Contact: Lizzie Farren

e:mail: londoz3@global.co.za

ph: +27-11-8038723

fx: 8038741

web: www.londolozi.co.za

Following the catastrophic flash flood that demolished 90 metres of 3m-high perimeter wall and flooded both the Viewfinders office and Jean Hartley's house on the night of 1st December 1999, here is an update on the situation in January 2000.

The house and office are still drying out. What was slimy sludge became semi-dried hard caked mud, which is now slowly turning to fine, still evil-smelling dust. The wood panelled floor, skirting boards, and the bottom several inches of doors and cupboards are shrinking, warping and cracking into convoluted shapes and will never be the same again. Paintwork on the walls that were covered in water is now blistering, and the plaster underneath is bubbling and cracking.

Damage seems far more serious than was originally thought. We are not just talking of a new wall and a coat of paint - the cess pit was flooded and damaged and needs to be rebuilt.

The entire water system, sanitary fittings etc. need to be sterilised or replaced. The electric wiring has to be removed, the conduits dried, and all new wiring put in. Telephones have to be reconnected. Fitted carpets have to be replaced, together with all other floor surfaces, skirtings and some doors. The property will have to be termite-proofed again, and the tarmac drive that was badly damaged will need to be resurfaced.

The insurers have appointed architects, engineers, electrical and plumbing consultants, quantity surveyors, etc. to 'assess' the damage. All these people were, of course, away during the second half of December and early January celebrating Christmas, the biggest moon for 133 years, the winter solstice, New Year, Millenium, and whatever else they had to celebrate. So progress has been deadly slow. However, the plan is that a Bill of Quantities will be prepared during the course of January after which tenders will be called from several contractors.

Only after that has all happened will the insurers commit themselves to a pay-out figure, and issue a cheque. It's a long winding road. Assuming that this paper trail is finished during January, and assuming that there is actually a building contractor out there who would be prepared to do this work, it will take at least a month for them to put everything back the way it was. Maybe, with a few miracles on our side, we may be able to move back by the end of February or early March. What surprises everyone is that the insurers actually want us to rebuild the wall, and to reinstate the whole property, knowing that this could very well happen again. They are even prepared to re-insure for flood. Yes, really.

For the time being, Jean is camping in a very small guesthouse, the living room of which is now 'the office'. We have mobile telephones, which are expensive and do not always work. We have email (by way of a 50 metre cable across the garden through a bathroom window), and access to a fax machine.

We have started 2000 at a run - as at 11 January we are already on eleven crews this year. Those eleven days include three public holidays. So even with no house, no office, inadequate communications, and only one computer, our clients seem to be confident that Viewfinders is still capable of working under pressure, performing regular miracles, and offering the kind of service that they have come to expect over the past 12½ years. We thank them for their faith in us, and will continue to do our best.

Viewfinders Ltd
P O Box 14098
Nairobi, Kenya
Mobiles: +254 72 516039(Jean); 510425(Juliet); 510435(Delulu)
Fax c/o: +254 2 522170
Email: viewfinders@net2000ke.com

8. Oxford Scientific Films' amazing year!

Oxford Scientific Films had an amazing year in 1999 and is now proud to announce that one of its recent films, "Heroes of the High Frontier" has been selected as one of the few contenders for a 1999 Best of the Show Grand Award Trophy at the New York Festivals.

New York Festivals
There are only five Grand Awards in the New York Festivals competition, one for each major overall category. The final winners will be announced on 21 January 2000 at the New York Festivals awards dinner. The Festivals have been going for 42 years and their web site is www.nyfests.com. "Heroes of the High Frontier" is also nominated for a Gold Award in the Nature and Wildlife Category.

Heroes of the High Frontier - Synopsis
A National Geographic Special
Produced by Tim Scoones, Oxford Scientific Films

It floats high above our familiar world, an archipelago of green islands covering an area the size of the continental United States. It holds 40% of all the creatures on this planet, though we know less about it than we do of the bottom of the sea. The last region on Earth to survive almost unmarked by human intervention, it is an untapped source of life-giving drugs and
harbours the potential of great economic wealth. It is the rainforest canopy, the final frontier for human exploration of our living planet.

Until now, scientists could only guess what wonders it might hold, but now we know that even their wildest imaginings pale in comparison to reality. For in the last 10 years, a new breed of adventurer has evolved to go where no person had gone before. Up into the living labyrinth they climb - mostly young and athletic, canopy explorers are part circus trapeze artist, part scientist. Dangling from ropes, suspended by booms, flying in microlights, floating suspended beneath dirigibles - they risk their lives as they delve into the secrets of a brave new world where serpents fly, apes swing, and whole forests burst into bloom overnight.

"Heroes of the High Frontier" is also:
* Joint winner, Caccialanza Prize for best scientific content, Valle
D'Aosta International Nature Film Festival, Colne, Italy, 1999
* Winner of the Grand Prize, Nature at the Grenoble Nature and
Enviroment Festival, FRAPNA, France, 1999
* Short-listed for the Best Conservation/Environment film, Jackson
Hole Wildlife Film Festival, 1999
* Winner of the Special Prize of the Jury at the Festival
International du Film D'Aventure, les Ecrans de l'Aventure, in Dijon, France, 1999

"Heroes of the High Frontier" was first broadcast in the UK on C4 as "High Tree Heroes" in Nov 98. It's US premiere broadcast was on NBC as a National Geographic Special, "Exploring the High Frontier" in Jan 99.

The Forbidden Fruit
"The Forbidden Fruit", produced by Oxford Scientific Films' Sean Morris for BBC Natural World and WNET Nature, has also scooped a handful of prizes this year. This has been especially gratifying as so many eminent camerafolk, scientists and production professionals contributed to the film. OSF is very grateful to them all.

Synopsis:
Plants live in every conceivable niche, but how can they get around when they are literally rooted to the spot? The Forbidden Fruit reveals the ingenious ways in which plants strive for mobility. They crawl, float, fly, hitch-hike - not as adult plants but as seeds in their countless billions. The seeds are the storm-troopers of the plant world, an army of highly
mobile invaders that carry future generations to new lands.

"The Forbidden Fruit" was first broadcast on 22 March 1998.

The full list of awards for "The Forbidden Fruit" (so far!) is:

1999
CineEco'99, Seia, Portugal IPAMB Environmental Education Prize
Maremma Doc International Documentary Film Festival, Italy Grand Prix of the Public Pioneer Award, Best Scientific Film
Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival, USA Finalist in Award for Innovation
Japan Wildlife Festival Best of the Show award
Education TV & Media Association Awards, Bournemouth, UK Broadcast Award (non-compulsory education)

1998
13th International Nature & Environment Film Festival, Grenoble, France Jury's Favourite Prize
MediaNet Awards (The International Competition for Cultural Programmes and Documentaries), Munich Silver Prize

That's the end of blowing our own trumpet for another millennium.
We look forward to working with you in 2000.

Oxford Scientific Films, Lower Road, Long Hanborough, OXON OX8 8LL, UK
T: +44 1993 881 881, F: +44 1993 882 808
www.osf.uk.com

That's it! Send me YOUR news for the next issue and for the site.

This newsletter goes out to 1,000 people in the wildlife film-making industry worldwide.

Piers Warren

Producer