Adventures on "EARTH"

A male polar bear crashes through the Arctic pack ice in a desperate hunt for food.The elephants of the Kalahari Desert battle drought,heat and lions in a search for water.And a mother humpback whale brings her newborn calf on a journey that takes them from the tropical seas of the Equator to the frozen extremes of Antarctica. These are the "stars"of the new film Earth,which opened nationwide on Earth Day(April 22). Narrated by actor James Earl Jones,Earth marks the debut of Disneynature,the first new Disney-branded label in 60 years,and echoes the classic True-Life Adventures series,which won eight Oscars between 1948 and 1960.
Directors Alastair Fothergill and Mark Linfield traveled the length of the globe to create the film,which details not only the daily struggles and triumphs faced by animals in the wild,but also the impact of global warming upon the environment.Selecting exactly which creatures to follow was inspired by the path of the Sun as it makes its annual journey from north to south across our planet."That seemed to be a wonderful storyline for us,Alastair says." "We wanted a story that had an epic feel as well as an emotional resonance,and the sun's journey from north to south,which creates the seasons,has a very emotional impact on many poeple and animals."
After selecting their "cast", Alastair and Mark set about capturing their lives in the most intimate detail ever captured on film. The key to the film's visual success was the arrival of high-definition cameras on the market,which,when combined with a system called the Cineflex heligimble,mounted to a helicopter,allowed them to capture incredible close-ups from just under a mile away.That allowed us to film sequences like the wolves running down the caribou in Canada,Alastair notes."And we'd never been able to keep up with the humpbacked whale in a boat.It was revolutionary technology that really helped us to make the movie".
Though the effects of global warming are indirectly addressed in the film,Alastair and Mark hope that audiences are inspired by what they see in EARTH to think about the world around them."We want them to come out of the cinema inspired and realize that there'sa lot out there that's worth saving."They are particularly encouraged by Disney's initiative to plant a tree in the Atlantic Forest region of Brazil for every ticket for the film sold in the United States during its first week in theaters."Its an extraordinary idea that could have an enormous impact on the region,"Alastair notes."Its been a wonderful experience to work with Disney".





DR LEE