SerpApi.Org
Directed by French filmmaker Luc Jacquet, March of the Penguins is one of the most famous nature documentaries, where you get a chance to have a closer look at penguins’ lives without having to deal with Antarctica’s freezing weather.
The movie premiered in France as The Emperor’s Journey at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival before opening in theaters across the United States that same year.
It took thirteen months for the two isolated cinematographers Laurent Chalet and Jérôme Maison to shoot the documentary living in freezing weather.
They shot more than 120 hours of film on land and underwater, but extreme weather made it difficult for them to view any of the footage.
“There were too many tech problems. For me it was very important to film them in water because they’re very beautiful, and very at ease in the water, it’s really their element. The underwater world, the light and the strangeness of it, is really the documentary in the real sense of the word, but we didn’t go any deeper than 30 feet.” Luc Jacquet said.
The film followed emperor penguins on their 70-mile journey between the ocean and their breeding grounds. Male penguins would have to protect unhatched eggs while females travel to the ocean for food. Later, both parents feed their young chicks before walking back to the sea.
In an interview about the movie, Luc Jacquet said, “We worked with such intensity on a human level and it was such an incredible adventure that for me the small tech issues were not important. The climate we worked in was extreme but not too extreme, we went to -37c and this meant that standard equipment would still work in these temperatures.”
The documentary saw great success around the world. The original French version used human actors to make it sound like the penguins were talking to each other.
For the American release, actor Morgan Freeman provided simple narration. The movie was the highest-grossing documentary, making over $77 million in the United States alone.
The film’s success was followed by a penguin trend, leading to the animated movie Happy Feet and a March of the Penguins 2: The Next Step.
Ask us! What questions do you have about content, strategy, pop culture, lifestyle, wellness, history or more? We may use your question in an upcoming article!
Like MediaFeed’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was syndicated by MediaFeed.co
