March Of The Penguins

Another documentary known for it's cinematography, as well as being about animals, is March of the Penguins (2005). This was once again listed as a film to into if researching cinematography. 

The story follows the 'cycle of life' of penguins in the Antarctica. Every autumn, the penguins leave the ocean, having to march for over twenty days to Oamack. Once here, they choose their partners, procreate, protect and feed their young. The females, after giving the egg to the father, leaves to return to the ocean for food for herself and the chick. All family members face a struggle to survive through the harsh winters and be reunited.  

I enjoyed the film from a cinematographer's view. Laurent Client and Jérôme Maison created beautiful images, and captured amazing footage that brought the piece together. The opening establishing shots are beautifully composed. 

These shots alone signify how isolated and empty the location is. It seems abandoned, lifeless, until the penguins are introduced. You definitely get this feel from the shots, which is something to definitely remember. Shots need to mean something to the story, and this is clever and beautiful way of showing how the place is so quiet - you get a sense of death and moving on from the visual, which is then backed up further with the narration. 

The opening shots of the penguins are brilliantly framed in my view. They keep the animals slightly off centre, showing the space around them. At this early stage, I find this, as a viewer, helpful as I'm now familiarising myself with the location of the film, as well as having focus on the subject. 

The use of long shots is also clever. This alone signifies the length and distance of the journey that the penguins have to endure. The long shot shows many penguins there are and keeps the detail clear. I love these shots, because you clearly understand how far they are going, and think its important to think about these points for my project. For example, we're aiming to show a struggle in our future project, therefore I aim to research further into how to show a struggle in the best possible way through Cinematography. 

In regard to shots, I definitely enjoyed the style of Close Ups the cinematographers chose. They so so much detail, and also emotion in certain scenes (for example when a chick dies, or an egg is lost). The closer you are the more personal it feels - which is definitely a note to take for ours. If we're always far away, we seem out of reach, unable to be involved or help in anyway, whereas (in our production) we get inside the cages, and capture close ups of the animals, it feels more personal to the audience and they feel like they are here, more involved and are able to help, they aren't mere viewers. In previous shoots, I was able to get into certain animal pens which worked really well. Such close ups will create emotion within the audience and hopefully allow them to feel part of the film. 

Even though Cinematography is more than a beautiful image, it is definitely a good advantage. This film shows some beautiful landscapes (and time lapses) to explore their location. The long shots of the scene allows audience to familiarise as stated previously, but also see something they may not have seen before - as the climate in the Antarctica is under freezing and is habited solely by these emperor penguins. 

I feel that the cinematographers have been successful in capturing great footage, and has taught me a few things to take into consideration for my own future projects. Here are some shots I wanted to note because they stood out to me:

This Extreme Close Up shows how up and personal the cinematographers came with these penguins. It's beautiful shot and shows detail in their features.

I liked this long shot, showing all the penguins paired up. It looks emotional because of the amount of animals pairing up, you see how these animals are just like us. Also, the lighting, the sunset makes it a more 'romantic' setting - therefore I think this is a great shot.

This shot shows how close the penguins are in the romantic setting, and also the detail of the animals up close.

This shot shows how alone the penguin is - the struggle the urgency the father has for the mother's return - the sunset and silhouette work perfectly together, and I love the framing also.

The close up of this shot is incredible. We see the egg crack and freeze - as the life leaves it. It's emotional and because it's so close, as an audience member it drags you in.