Producer Cameraman John Aitchinson asked me to do some sequence work on a Amber project he was doing with Sir David Attenborough. They wanted to shoot ants tending scale insects, milking them like cattle, however the scale insects were only about 1mm in size.
The ants were shot using PL mounted Zeiss Luminar microscope objectives using a focus stage and tilt wedge. Lighting was with a 400w Joker shot through a water scrim to absorb heat and a 5mm washer wrapped in foil positioned with an alligator clamp for fill. The sequence had to be shot outside in the rainforest to get the behaviour. Hence the plant, light stand, scrim stand, and tripod were all braced together with a number of magic arms. We waited for a calm windless day - at this magnification any breeze looked like a tornado.
Ants clip from Amber Time Machine
Producer Director Camera: John Aitchinson
Cinematography: Phil Savoie
Editor: Martin Elsbury
Aerial Cinematography: Robert Fulton
Super 16 Kodak 7218
Location: Costa Rica
Film Clips © BBC Natural History Unit
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All contents of this web site © Philip A, Savoie 2007
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