Yes that’s an Oscar we’re holding! I guess the shelf full of them right behind us kinda gives it away. Let’s just say we’re practicing for the real thing! Dream big right!?
John Taylor (Wildlife Media Chair) and I are charging around LA meeting with film industry executives about BEARTREK. Exhausting but fun! It has been so wonderful to enjoy the response to what we are doing. “A film that funds conservation? How very cool” said one movie professional. We’re leaving our first LA visit with great feelings about completing BEARTREK this year, and launching our massive campaign to change the world. Thanks for your support!
Recently our friend Terri asked us a great question on Facebook:
“Enjoying Bears of Last Frontier again! Chris, I know you & Joe are filming here, but about how many others are in the crew such as filming the salmon feed? Just curious. Looking forward to the other parts especially the Polar Bears. Thanks again!”
Most people don’t really know who is behind the scenes. It can’t just be Joe right? Well, not exactly. Here’s the response from Chris:
“Hi Terri – so glad you are enjoying the series! Believe it or not Joe is pretty much it on 95% of the shows – he has a knack of covering a lot of material with just one camera. And we love to keep the crew small, low impact, and nimble. So yes, most of the time it is just Joe and I, but we also had some spectacular help from Brenda Phillips who came in to film some of the scenes in episode 1 with her Canon 5D, and Dean Cannon joined us for a few days to shoot second camera, and was also out filming Anchorage bears when Joe and I couldn’t be there. Dean is also a specialist with the ‘Phantom’ which is a super high speed camera that gets mind-blowing slow motion shots (like those slow mo’s of the salmon and the bears charging through the water). Nim Pontecorvo was on location most of the time as sound person. Then of course there is lot’s of help behind the scenes and during editing! Thanks for your question! Keep your eye out for more of our films this year – I head to Siberia to host a show about tigers in March for PBS, and our BBC Wolf series will be on Discovery sometime this spring – watch this space. I’m also working on a brand new BBC bear series with some amazing film makers from the Planet Earth team this year which will be pretty epic. -Chris”
This is the gigantic crew that filmed Bears of the Last Frontier:
Chris Morgan, Brenda Phillips, Dean Cannon, Joe Pontecorvo, Nim Pontecorvo during filming of bears of the Last Frontier episode 1 ‘City of Bears’.
Filmed by Brenda Phillips on location in Peru. Canon 5D Mk II.
Some clips from the small high-elevation town of Incawasi in Peru where we filmed for BEARTREK in November 2010. It was like stepping back in time after a grueling ride up dozens of switchbacks to a little village and a warm welcome at about 12,000 feet. The women were dressed in immaculate, colorful clothing – even while working in the fields. And all heads turned as we entered town – not many gringos make it this far! it is amazing to think that the spectacled bear can be found at these high elevations, and often even higher. But their historic range also includes the coast, making them South America’s most wide-ranging mammal as far as elevation is concerned. They have been eliminated from most of their coastal range, but still call the high Andes home in five South American countries – Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. I can’t wait to share some of the incredible footage of these bears that we obtained in Peru – climbing sheer cliff walls to feed on snails! Like nothing you have ever seen a bear do before. But for that you’ll have to wait for the release of our feature-length film BEARTREK in 2013. In the meantime follow us at these sites:
