Production Notes

After making significant breakthroughs in the large format industry with computer animated films such as 3D Mania: Encounter in the Third Dimension, Alien Adventure and Haunted Castle, producer/director Ben Stassen has created the world’s first wildlife adventure in three dimensions. Wild Safari will play in dome, giant screen 2D and 3D theaters worldwide.

“This film will work very well in dome and large format 2D theaters as well as those that play 3D because it’s very dynamic,” says Ben Stassen, “There are more moving shots in it than any other large format film I’ve seen. Going on a game drive with a park ranger as a guide is a narrative concept that works very well.”

Viewers as Passengers

Uniquely formatted, Wild Safari 3D places the viewer in the passenger seat of an open-air vehicle going on a game drive in South Africa. “I wanted to take a game drive to a very literal level,” says Stassen, “and actually position the audience in the back seat of the jeep.” Taking the audience on the tour is ranger Liesl Eichenberger, a highly knowledgeable young ranger with considerable experience at the Shamwari Game Reserve in South Africa.

“The first time we encounter Liesl,” says Stassen, “we see her from the back of an open-air vehicle. She says ‘Welcome, I’m going to take you on a game drive through South Africa.’” “When people come as tourists to the game reserves,” says Eichenberger, “they are guided by one ranger for their entire stay. You have to be entertaining and act as a host.”

The 3D Point of View

The use of three dimensions in Wild Safari 3D accentuates audience involvement in the film. “3D enables you to truly take the audience and put them in the filmic space,” says Stassen. “I wanted to bring the audience close to the wild life in a real setting. In 2D the experience is very dramatic. 3D also underscores the experience.”

State-of-the-art satellite 3D imaging is used to locate the real life settings. “The opening of the film uses a new generation of satellite imaging,” says Stassen. “It incorporates three satellites to create the 3D information with a texture map. On top of that, we use a really high resolution weather satellite to make a 3D flyover.”

To build the 3D technology to film the wildlife, Stassen called on award-winning stereoscopic cinematographer Sean Phillips. “It was a great challenge to expand large format 3D into wildlife photography,” says Phillips, “But, in many ways, I think we succeeded.” To film the wildlife in 3D, Phillips assembled a remarkable new 3D rig. “I've done a bit of wildlife filming, but by far most of what I've shot with animals has been under controlled conditions with trainers or wranglers. In South Africa the rangers and trackers led us to the Big Five, but we had to be able to instantly film them on their own terms, and at a wide range of focal lengths and distances.”

The Big Five

The central idea of Wild Safari 3D was to concentrate on filming of the Big Five. “The term ‘Big Five’ came from the hunting days of the 19^th century,” says Stassen. “The Big Five were the most fearsome animals to hunt when people were coming to Africa to kill them for trophies.” The Big Five consists of the elephant, the Cape buffalo, the rhino, the leopard and the lion. “When tourists in the present day go to South Africa, the challenge with a photo safari or a tour is to see all the animals on one trip,” says Stassen. “So that’s the idea for the film.”

Filming the ‘Big Five’, however, can still be a dangerous proposition. “One time a lion got upset at our presence and jumped at us,” reports Stassen. “We all sat down calmly. When we moved close to the lion a second time, he jumped again. Liesl put the vehicle in gear and we were gone. The first time a lion roars, he is warning you. The second time, he will attack. That lion could have grabbed any of us out of the open-air vehicle. So, it was tricky.”

With the aid of famed wildlife documentary filmmaker John Varty and his trackers, Stassen and his team were able to photograph the elusive leopard. “We got extremely lucky,” says Stassen. “We found a male leopard on the branch of a tree with a female leopard below trying to attract his attention. The male disappeared and then landed right in front of our camera. Within seconds the female reappeared from behind a tree, circled and moved right in front of the male. Without John Varty, I never would have been able to photograph the leopards.”

Touring Game Reserves

From mid-May to the end of June 2004, Stassen and his team visited six National Parks in South Africa, concentrating on one animal for each of the game reserves visited. The rainy season, from February to April, had just concluded. “There was water everywhere,” says Stassen “so it made it harder to catch up to the animals by going to a waterhole and waiting for them to appear.”

The team began their tour in southernmost South Africa. “We started in Shamwari and Addo which are two game reserves within ten miles of each other,” says Stassen. “Addo Elephant National Park has the largest elephant herds in South Africa.”

The team then flew north to Hluhluwe-Umfolozi, the oldest National Park in Africa. Located on the east coast of Africa, it was founded in 1895 and preserves buffalos and rhinos. “In 1920, there were as few as 50 white rhinos left in the world,” notes Stassen. “All of them were in Hluhluwe-Umfolozi. Many of the white rhinos in the world today originated there.”

Leopards and lions thrive at Kruger National Park and that is where the Wild Safari 3D team, with the help of John Varty, photographed the leopards. “The leopards are becoming accustomed to human presence,” says Stassen. “They are still very hard to find, but once you spot one, you can get closer now.”

With stops at Madikwe and Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, the team concluded the tour by filming lions and giraffes. “We got some good lion sequences in the Kalahari where we came upon a pride of twelve lions,” says Stassen. “The lions of the Kalahari are the most beautiful and the strongest because the conditions there are extreme. It’s very hot and food is scarce so the lions are strong.”

The Conservation Message

To make Wild Safari 3D, nWave Pictures worked with the South African Tourism. “We are proud to work with nWave on an historic first for wildlife filming in 3D,” says Rick Menell, Chairman of South African Tourism. “And we are sure that this unique giant screen film will further important conservation efforts.”

Producer Charlotte Huggins sees conservation and life-long learning as an important part of the nWave philosophy. “With our second conservation film,” says Huggins, “we are demonstrating the nWave commitment to science, education and the environment.”

Stassen is in agreement. “It is primarily because of filmmaking activities since the 1970s that we can now enjoy leopards,” he observes. “I felt that if I could bring the audience close enough to the wildlife, and in 3D, they would gain a greater appreciation for them.”