who else in this forum is doing nature & natural history docs?

[Ken Corben]

Opcode,

When I was single my response to this query was always, "you don't have the right bra size." I had a male AC once immediately respond with, "I'll get the breast implants tomorrow - do you prefer C's or D's." LOL

Check your PM - the future is very exciting...

Sharky

[Friedrich Moser]

You sir are a creative thinker

By profession!

In the end from a technical POV it's a matter of stabilization: does a REDone with Birger Mount and electronically stabilized wide-angle optics need any additional gyro-stabilization? I remember to have read some impressions on those tests from BirgerEngineer. One will have to try, but I'm curious if it worked mounting a pan&tilt head on that kind of cableway they're actually using in my valley here to bring down the timber from the steep mountain slopes - those rope-systems are mobile, easily available and have ranges up to 1000 meters.

For those remote helicopter shoots: they're already doing them with the small Panasonic and Sony Camcorders. I think in this case it's a matter of stabilization and budget: I know what that one-day-shoot with Cineflex-HD in my upcoming production will cost, including mounting and unmounting, standby-fees... and yes, you get great panoramic shots, but mostly it's even more impressive to be closer when moving around your object.

Already in those specific themes: any probe-lenses that any of you would recommend for the REDcam? Light-weight dollies?

The reason why I asked Sharkguy about filming with a submarine is that I'd like to prepare something on the building of reefs. Could anyone also recommend me marine research institutes working on this topic?

Regards, Friedrich

[Albert Cheng]

Opcode,

When I was single my response to this query was always, "you don't have the right bra size." I had a male AC once immediately respond with, "I'll get the breast implants tomorrow - do you prefer C's or D's." LOL

Check your PM - the future is very exciting...

Sharky

LOL, that's hilarious.

The future is exciting indeed. I sent you back a PM.

[Ken Corben]

Ya,

His sense of humor was like mine - hysterical over the top. I always hired him as my AC on music vids and commercial work here in California. We would be cracking each other up on those 18 hour days on location.

On the nat history gigs if you only do one thing, like sound, it's hard to justify the flight and accommodation to the Arctic in the budget. I got hired on a major NG Explorer series as the pilot (Cessna 185 on wheel skis), underwater B camera, Surface A camera, aerial operator and rebreather technician. Only one paycheck of course.

But standing on the edge of the Arctic ice flow on a sunny day in a t-shirt with our Cessna in the background while filming a hundred or more belugas frolicking at your feet I turned to the producer and asked, "You're paying me to do this?"

Sharky

[planet e]

what is a rebreather technician?

i think that one of my peak moments was shooting a commercial documentary in bhutan and getting rare footage of a newborn baby takin. there aren't many takins left and seeing, let alone being able to shoot, the babies is unusual...

i'd love to hear more of other people's peak moments...

[Ken Corben]

what is a rebreather technician?

A rebreather technician is the guy that does the daily assembly, gas charging and system checks of the rebreathers on set/location. We used two of my modified O2 rebreathers to dive under the Arctic ice while filming the marine mammals for the series. Several of the more spectacular shots can be seen in the feature film Arctic Tale slated for release next month. The bubbleless life support system provides warmer breathing gas, extended range compared to Scuba and the holy grail of no bubbles.

[Moir]

Hi planet e

I visited Bhutan last year to photograph White-bellied Herons - what a wonderful country. Was the Takin wild or in the enclosure outside Thimpu?

Lots of great wildlife moments for me, but visiting an Emperor Penguin rookery with small chicks stands out. If only I'd been able to shoot it with a Red camera!

[Christian Munoz D]

"General question: who else of you is doing natur & natural history docs?"
Friedrich Moser

We are working on Natural History. Not with budgets as BBC NHU, but certainly we will be using the RED with several SRL lens and scopes for our work.

[QUOTE=blueandgreen;52522]

"I'm on my knees! Which parts of Planet Earth? I am watching it over and over again. They're of a tremendous beauty! Congratulations!"
Friedrich

Friedrich, you must see "Sonora: A Violent Eden" one of the Keith's Amazing docs with the great Sean Morris.

Best,
Christian

[planet e]

thanks for the description, sharkguy. the only underwater i do is snorkeling around with a splashbag and an old GL2 on the occasional beach vacation, so it's good to know these things.

the takin was wild, although that's an oxymoron, because they have the deepest, gentlest vibe of any mammal i've ever encountered, which makes them the perfect national animal of bhutan. a most amazing place....

true story. i was in a monastery shooting, and the lama who was showing me around was talking with another fellow, and i was a little bored, so i looked out the window and saw, across a valley, a guy in robes sitting on a precipice with several prayer flags behind him. so, using a 20x zoom, i zoomed in to frame a shot, and the guy, who was initially looking out over the deep valley, turned in my direction as soon as i locked onto him, and he looked right at me and turned away, like he didn't want his picture taken. i was stunned, because i was an entire valley away, behind a monastery window. i gave up on the shot, and looked around the room for something else to shoot. i tried it a second time, and got the exact same response, the second i zoomed in on him. i took the shot anyway, but it was quite clear i had invaded his space.

that's a pretty clear, uncluttered vibe, of a guy who can feel your camera a mountain away, from within a building....

wondrous place, bhutan. quite magical.

[Denis Buhot]

Hi planet e,

I'm working on a 50min prime-time tv-doc, basicly for Austria/Germany, but also an english version for the international market on the region I'm living in (www.suedtirol.info). I made my RED-reservation some days ago, it should ship in early 2008, so I hope I can shoot most of the project already Redcode 4k.

For me personally, quite a few novelties come together: First, I'm upgrading from Beta SP. Second, it's the first time I'm filming alpine wildlife (chamois, ibex, golden eagle, bearded vulture, snow grouse, marmot ...) - up to now most of my work was about man&nature. So, the places where I'll be shooting are the same, but the approach is pretty different. Third, for me it's a major leap from the quality-POV, concerning both storytelling and shooting, because I'm moving from the regional scale to the international one (but with an experienced partner who in fact runs the production and does the post. My part is screenwriting/directing/camera-work).

Luckily, the commissioning editor behind the project warned me already in november not to buy equipment at that time for there were great changes to expect in the camera market... When I first checked out the RED-site, I thought it was a joke: a ridiculously cheap cam double as good as Arri's D20 (that I had seen at IBC 2004 and perceived as from another sphere), and also, just watching those renderings all the time with very little test-footage from a sensor called "mysterium"... until this NAB I considered it the fancy of a mad millionaire, although a dream I'd have liked to share.

Well, since NAB I consider it something pretty serious and it will be a bomb, especially in our field of work: the ability to use an imense range of lenses at the tenth of the cost (or less) it would have been with HDCam (+CineStyle lenses...). The ability out in the field to do a rough-cut in order to check if the scenes visually worked (within a one-step-only workflow !). And: its 4k, so it fits well for cinema or the projection in info-points of national parks or so, too.

I started this thread to get together expertise & expectations of those REDusers who will be working in the outbacks. Which lens options did/do you choose? What power supply? Temperature/humidity issues? Third party accessories? And, last but not least, making 4k stock footage available (just to put an example: for a doc I made last year about the geological history of a canyon in the Italian Dolomites I needed footage from the Bahamas to show how a certain geological strata looked like 200 million years ago). Stock footage that's not touristic or commercial-like can be very precious, as is the possibility to engage someone living next-door to a certain motive.

So, it would be great to create a plattform within this plattform that is not so much dedicated to the feature-film/indie-film issue, but that could be a nice place to drop by just to pick up some usefull information for all those interested in nature / natural history / scientific filming.

Regards,
Friedrich Moser

Hi there, I am a french independent wildlife cinematographer. Last thing I did was a 50' about the european eagle-owl. I'm considering going red myself, and I'd love to know where you're standing now...is it the coming thing for us, as it seems ? Checked out flaws or impediments for our specific use ? What format do you expect to shoot in, especially using heavy 35mm canon or Nikon telephotos ? thanks for answering me, I'm getting confused a bit, since, as you know, being a wildlife specialist is often quite enough to go busy with! Regards, Denis