Final project news item 2

`Earth` takes viewers on `breathtaking` global journey

(CNN) — A polar bear falls through thin Arctic ice while searching for food for his family. A humpback whale guides her calf on a perilous 4,000-mile journey. A herd of African elephants in search of water battles a sandstorm in the Kalahari Desert.

These dramatic scenes await viewers in “Earth,” a feature-length documentary hitting theaters Wednesday for Earth Day.

For British filmmakers Alastair Fothergill and Mark Linfield, surveying the whole planet for Earth’s most exotic species and magnificent landscapes was a daunting task.

“We wanted to tell an epic story about the whole planet,” co-director Fothergill told CNN in an interview. “We spent a record 2,000 days in the field. We filmed in 46 countries worldwide, on every continent.”

Fothergill and Linfield shot the footage for the film while making “Planet Earth,” the Emmy-award-winning nature series that aired on the BBC and the Discovery Channel in 2007.

But the filmmakers say “Earth” is not just a remix of the previous project.

“The movie has over 40 percent original footage. It has a very distinctly different story line than the TV series,” said Fothergill, who believes small TV screens don’t do justice to the images he and Linfield captured.

“Earth” is the first of a series of movies set to be released under the newly branded Disneynature label — a spin-off of “True-Life Adventure,” Disney’s first nature documentary series of the ’40s and ’50s.

Nature movies have made a big impression on national and international audiences in recent years. The 2005 documentary “March of the Penguins” cost roughly $3 million to make and sold over $127.4 million in tickets worldwide.

Disney plans to release one feature-length film a year. The next one is “Oceans” in 2010 followed by “Big Cats” and “Chimpanzees.” In honor of Earth Day 2009, Disney promised to plant a tree for each person who goes to see the movie on its opening weekend.

“Earth” examines the resilience of life in the face of ever-present danger through three stories of mothers and their young: polar bears in the Arctic, elephants in Africa’s Kalahari Desert and humpback whales in the tropical oceans. Thirty-nine other exotic species from all corners of the world get supporting roles.

The film is narrated by James Earl Jones, and George Fenton composed the score, which is performed by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.

–Even though my outcome for the final project was different from the original concept, this article followed my base concept. I wanted to show how the Earth is dying at this moment. One instance was the garbage mountain I used for the previous project. The concept for changed project became how the garbage can be used in a different way, and in a pleasurable way to us. That concept orgininally came out from my thought of dying Earth. While reading this article, I felt like there are many people who are concerning about Earth and actually run around to save Earth. I was really glad. By this documentary movie, I wish more and more people get interests in Earth and in saving Earth.

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