The Monitoring of the Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE) is an animal protection programme operating in 80 sites across Africa and Asia. Our film team travelled to Lower Zambezi National Park in Zambia to produce a collection of documentaries about the rangers. The end-goal was to attract donors.
We connected with Zimbabwean cinematographer Nigel, a member of our international collective of filmmakers.
Our London team camped out on the banks of the Zambezi for ten days. Surrounding them were herds of elephants and the vast wildlife of the floodplains.
From day one, the park rangers troop helped our team capture the watchful bond they share with the land and the animals.
360-degree filming aimed to immerse the viewer in the landscape and the sensory experience of being a ranger.
Unlike fixed cameras, 360-degree cameras capture footage in every direction at once, allowing viewers to curate their own experience by ‘dragging’ the screen and uncovering all perspectives.
The park and landscape posed distinct challenges for the crew.
Cinematographer Joseph explains that he mentally prepares himself for things to go wrong in difficult environments as they inevitably always do.
On several occasions the team's boat got stuck in dried-up riverbeds. Accustomed to this, the rangers easily freed the boat.
Attaching the 360-camera to the bottom of the drone caused the sensors to think the drone was on the ground when it was still in flight. The team worked to find techniques to get the drone down.
Director/Producer Sam wants to go further with 360 technology. One idea he’s exploring is to create interactive films with ‘clickable assets’ that navigate to different learning pathways, like video games. These films could be hosted on YouTube, where they could provide education and capacity-building to broad audiences.
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