An elephant is killed every 15 minutes. Therefore 30 000 elephants are killed annually. A team of women took it upon themselves to do something about this peril. In August ten avid patrons set off on the Elephant Ignite Expedition to travel a distance of 10 000 kilometres through 10 southern African countries to shine a light on the plight of the world’s largest land animal. Earth Touch joins them as their official film production partner. Starting in South Africa they moved north, through Swaziland, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Malawi, Zambia, Tanzania, and will be finishing off in Kenya.
“The team is also traveling to bring awareness to the people on the ground working to save this iconic species,” explains Sarah Lustig, online producer at Earth Touch. “As of today, they have just entered their last country on the road, Kenya. Earth Touch had the privilege of joining them for the South African leg of the trip and we’ll be joining them again shortly to document the last two weeks of the trip in Kenya.”
Earth Touch has a long standing relationship with the expedition leader, Carla Geyser. “When she told us of her ambitious plans to set up this extraordinary journey, we were eager to get involved,” says Lustig. She further explains how Earth Touch prides itself on creating a community of like-minded greenies across the globe who are passionate and intent on understanding and protecting the planet’s wildlife and wild spaces. “Elephant Ignite was the perfect project with which to further this goal. We care about conservation and it was important for us to get involved in this amazing project in order to give the initiative and the projects on the ground as much exposure as possible,” adds Lustig.
“Africa’s elephants are in trouble, we can’t just sit around and do nothing about it,” says Geyser. “Elephants are facing a number of threats, including a severe shortage of funds that are needed for projects on the ground that could possibly be the line between saving them, or losing them as a species.”
This news documentary will follow the travels and work of this dedicated team of female pioneers on their journey across Africa to raise funds for elephant protection. “Earth Touch News Network will be documenting all the team’s work with the aim of raising as much awareness as possible for the various organisations working on the ground to save Africa’s elephants from the poaching scourge that has recently escalated across Africa,” adds Lustig. Emphasising that there are many remarkable people fighting for Earth’s wildlife and Earth Touch hopes to showcase their determination and passion.
Not only is Earth Touch focusing on the story of these women on a mission, they are ensuring that through their various online platforms, organisations on the ground receive as much awareness as possible. “The Elephant Ignite team is also dedicated to enriching the lives of local people with a specific focus on minimising human-animal conflict. Awareness and money has been raised for projects dedicated to ensuring that such conflicts are resolved and Earth Touch aims to document these stories,” explains Lustig.
Earth Touch will be producing individual short form video news stories for their online platforms, reporting on the tireless work of conservation and community outreach across Africa. “Using the powerful story-telling medium of film, to inspire people to take action and create awareness of the poaching crisis in order to ensure that Africa’s elephants, one of the continent’s most iconic animals, are here to stay for generations to come,” says Lustig.
She says the team consists of a colourful bunch of women who are fiercely passionate and dedicated to the conservation of all wildlife. “They are all great on camera, providing us with excellent commentary on the day-to-day expedition life. They all have this inherent wanderlust: every experience, new place, new elephant encounter is just as amazing as the next one. There is this enthusiasm for nature and wildlife that translates beautifully on camera. They are all such great filming subjects,” describes Lustig.
They are filming using the Sony F series line (F5 and the FS7 predominantly) and are shooting the entire piece on 4K. Lustig explains they are using a lot of Canon DSLR glass lenses with Metabones adaptors. Lustig and cameraman Tyrone Marcus both find the best results for this style of documentary are achieved by letting the subjects be themselves and by not hindering their experiences with a setup shooting style, therefore getting the most natural and honest reactions and responses from the people they are filming.
Lustig says they will be taking a GoPro OMNI 360 rig with to Kenya. “It’s a great opportunity to provide our audience with a completely immersive VR experience,” adds Lustig.
Earth Touch was on expedition with the team for the first two weeks in August and will be joining them again for the last two weeks of the expedition. Armed with handy cams and iPhones, the expedition crew have been filming their adventures in between professional filming dates. “We’ll have a release of the full length piece towards the end of the year but keep an eye on our website for updates on the team’s amazing adventures and short form features about some of the organisations we filmed at as well as snippets from the team’s cameras,” says Lustig.
One of the biggest challenges for Earth Touch has been the time where they could not be on the expedition. “We solved this by giving the team a very quick filming crash course on their iPhones and handy cams with implicit instructions to not film vertically,” explains Lustig. “I’ve had a look at the first set of footage and it’s great. Having the team film each other was a great way of getting some very intimate and heart-felt interviews,” she adds.
Music will be sourced from Audio Network and editing will be done using Premiere and Pro Tools to do the final mix.
Filming wildlife comes with its own set of challenges. It’s unpredictable with no guarantees, yet it is imperative to speak up for the life that suffers while greed consumes. As the expedition team’s journey comes to an end with the close of 2016, may it inspire more people to take action for what they care about, and may the African elephant find peace on their land.
