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Live From...
Roaring Into Theaters
Aired November 18, 2003 - 15:12 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: The king of beasts will soon be larger than life as it roars into IMAX theaters. The new movie from National Geographic is giving us an unprecedented look at the life of lions. "Roar: Lions of the Kalahari" was shot in Botswana.
And filmmaker Tim Liversedge is here in Atlanta now, where the movie is getting read to make its IMAX debut.
This is just some incredible footage. If people have seen some documentaries before or other films on lions, what is so different about what they'll see in this?
TIM LIVERSEDGE, FILMMAKER: Well, Heidi, what's really different is that it was filmed with a giant camera and it is only going to be seen in IMAX theaters.
And that means that the roar, which is one of the most powerful sounds in nature, will be heard on speakers that are sometimes 20,000 watts in size. And the roar (INAUDIBLE) even as far away as 100 yards. And that roar can be heard from five miles away. So you wouldn't really get that impression of what it's like on television.
And, further, when you have -- when you're in a dark theater, with that massive screen, it's really like being there.
COLLINS: Right.
LIVERSEDGE: And so the sound and those huge images just make this an experience. It's very like being there. And so the television can't do that.
COLLINS: Very true to life.
We're looking at some of the video clips right here. And I know that you were able -- this is a flyover now that you were able to do. I know that you got incredibly close, like right in the middle of some of these hunting scenes that we're seeing now as a lioness is going after a gazelle. Is this at one of the water holes?
LIVERSEDGE: Yes.
I was very lucky. I found a scene of an isolated water hole, the only water for many, many miles around. And it was attracting quite a lot of animals, like springboks. And this group of lions had set up there, and an enormous male, who is actually one of the biggest ever recorded from the Kalahari. And these two lionesses that we particularly focused on were absolutely wonderful. And they were hunting on land as flat as a billiard table.
COLLINS: They miss a lot, don't they?
LIVERSEDGE: Well, they do.
And the one thing about this film is, in fact, even when they don't miss and they catch something, many people don't like to see a violent kill on screen at all. What happened here, mostly, is that the kill disappeared in a big cloud of dust.
COLLINS: Right.
LIVERSEDGE: So it's somewhat sanitized.
So in the IMAX screen, where lots of children go into these theaters, it's very well accepted.
(CROSSTALK)
LIVERSEDGE: Yes, this is that huge lion. He probably weighed between 550 and 600 pounds, one of the largest lions ever recorded. We didn't actually weigh him, but he was once upon a time measured when he was actually anesthetized for something else. But he is a totally wild, totally wild lion.
COLLINS: What is it like, Tim, being out there right next to the animals? There was a time, I think I read, where one of the animals was so focused on hunting that it kind of lost sight of you and lost focus on you altogether, went on about their business and kind of brushed your leg as they went by.
LIVERSEDGE: Yes.
Again, with that giant camera, one has to be really close, because long lenses don't really work on those big cameras. So we had to habituate the animals used to us, also to the noise of the camera, which sounds like a tractor. And, as a result, we ended up right in the middle of where they were hunting, right on the edge of this water hole. And every now and then, a lioness would use me as cover.
And I was standing, actually, not always in a Land Rover, but sometimes just on the ground with this big tripod. Once you put it there, you couldn't move it. And, occasionally, a lioness would use me as cover, and creep up straight up to, me but focused on the animal at the water hole.
COLLINS: And that was OK with you?
(LAUGHTER)
LIVERSEDGE: Well, I had a fire extinguisher in my pocket. And you never look at a big cat directly in the eye. So I would kind of half look back to see where this lioness was and I would keep this fire extinguisher directed towards her with one hand, the other hand on the camera button while waiting for her to make a move. The other difficulty was that that giant camera takes about 2 1/2 seconds to run up to speed. And the lioness could cover about 50 yards in 2 1/2 seconds.
COLLINS: Fifty yards in 2 1/2 seconds?
LIVERSEDGE: That's right.
So I had to anticipate when she was going to move. She also had to be used to the sound of camera enough not to flinch when I pressed the button before she started running. So I would look for her tail twitch, muscles move. And I would try and judge the moment where she was going to launch on an attack, very difficult stuff, especially when the film costs $1,000 a minute to run. And you can imagine, many times, nothing happened when you ran that shot.
COLLINS: Right.
LIVERSEDGE: So it's actually very difficult medium to work in. And this is why very few real live action films about nature have not been made. This is, I think, one of the only ones.
COLLINS: Well, it is definitely going to be a treat for people who get to see this. It will be coming out soon for most of the IMAX theaters. December, is that right?
LIVERSEDGE: Well, it's coming out here in Atlanta on the 6th of December and will be running for at least six months. And next year, in about May, it should be in most of the other IMAXes around the world.
COLLINS: Wonderful.
Before we let you go, quickly, what did you learn as you left from there, whether it was something about the behavior of the lions or just something that you took away?
LIVERSEDGE: Well, I never put myself normally in danger's way. And here, to get the shot, perhaps I was pushing at the limit a bit. But it just confirmed that, in fact, most wild animals and even lions are really focused on what they really eat. And they're not out there to catch people, which is, of course, what everybody imagines they would do if they had the opportunity. But they don't.
They're very specialized. They live on what they've learned to hunt. And those are wild lions, I'm talking about. Obviously, in zoos and in other situations, it's not like that.
COLLINS: Right.
LIVERSEDGE: But in the wild, you're pretty safe.
COLLINS: Well, we look forward to being able to see this film. Once again, the title of it is "Roar; Lions of the Kalahari." And we've been talking with Tim Liversedge.
Thanks so much.
(CROSSTALK)
LIVERSEDGE: Thank you very much, Heidi.
COLLINS: Thanks for being here.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired November 18, 2003 - 15:12 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: The king of beasts will soon be larger than life as it roars into IMAX theaters. The new movie from National Geographic is giving us an unprecedented look at the life of lions. "Roar: Lions of the Kalahari" was shot in Botswana.
And filmmaker Tim Liversedge is here in Atlanta now, where the movie is getting read to make its IMAX debut.
This is just some incredible footage. If people have seen some documentaries before or other films on lions, what is so different about what they'll see in this?
TIM LIVERSEDGE, FILMMAKER: Well, Heidi, what's really different is that it was filmed with a giant camera and it is only going to be seen in IMAX theaters.
And that means that the roar, which is one of the most powerful sounds in nature, will be heard on speakers that are sometimes 20,000 watts in size. And the roar (INAUDIBLE) even as far away as 100 yards. And that roar can be heard from five miles away. So you wouldn't really get that impression of what it's like on television.
And, further, when you have -- when you're in a dark theater, with that massive screen, it's really like being there.
COLLINS: Right.
LIVERSEDGE: And so the sound and those huge images just make this an experience. It's very like being there. And so the television can't do that.
COLLINS: Very true to life.
We're looking at some of the video clips right here. And I know that you were able -- this is a flyover now that you were able to do. I know that you got incredibly close, like right in the middle of some of these hunting scenes that we're seeing now as a lioness is going after a gazelle. Is this at one of the water holes?
LIVERSEDGE: Yes.
I was very lucky. I found a scene of an isolated water hole, the only water for many, many miles around. And it was attracting quite a lot of animals, like springboks. And this group of lions had set up there, and an enormous male, who is actually one of the biggest ever recorded from the Kalahari. And these two lionesses that we particularly focused on were absolutely wonderful. And they were hunting on land as flat as a billiard table.
COLLINS: They miss a lot, don't they?
LIVERSEDGE: Well, they do.
And the one thing about this film is, in fact, even when they don't miss and they catch something, many people don't like to see a violent kill on screen at all. What happened here, mostly, is that the kill disappeared in a big cloud of dust.
COLLINS: Right.
LIVERSEDGE: So it's somewhat sanitized.
So in the IMAX screen, where lots of children go into these theaters, it's very well accepted.
(CROSSTALK)
LIVERSEDGE: Yes, this is that huge lion. He probably weighed between 550 and 600 pounds, one of the largest lions ever recorded. We didn't actually weigh him, but he was once upon a time measured when he was actually anesthetized for something else. But he is a totally wild, totally wild lion.
COLLINS: What is it like, Tim, being out there right next to the animals? There was a time, I think I read, where one of the animals was so focused on hunting that it kind of lost sight of you and lost focus on you altogether, went on about their business and kind of brushed your leg as they went by.
LIVERSEDGE: Yes.
Again, with that giant camera, one has to be really close, because long lenses don't really work on those big cameras. So we had to habituate the animals used to us, also to the noise of the camera, which sounds like a tractor. And, as a result, we ended up right in the middle of where they were hunting, right on the edge of this water hole. And every now and then, a lioness would use me as cover.
And I was standing, actually, not always in a Land Rover, but sometimes just on the ground with this big tripod. Once you put it there, you couldn't move it. And, occasionally, a lioness would use me as cover, and creep up straight up to, me but focused on the animal at the water hole.
COLLINS: And that was OK with you?
(LAUGHTER)
LIVERSEDGE: Well, I had a fire extinguisher in my pocket. And you never look at a big cat directly in the eye. So I would kind of half look back to see where this lioness was and I would keep this fire extinguisher directed towards her with one hand, the other hand on the camera button while waiting for her to make a move. The other difficulty was that that giant camera takes about 2 1/2 seconds to run up to speed. And the lioness could cover about 50 yards in 2 1/2 seconds.
COLLINS: Fifty yards in 2 1/2 seconds?
LIVERSEDGE: That's right.
So I had to anticipate when she was going to move. She also had to be used to the sound of camera enough not to flinch when I pressed the button before she started running. So I would look for her tail twitch, muscles move. And I would try and judge the moment where she was going to launch on an attack, very difficult stuff, especially when the film costs $1,000 a minute to run. And you can imagine, many times, nothing happened when you ran that shot.
COLLINS: Right.
LIVERSEDGE: So it's actually very difficult medium to work in. And this is why very few real live action films about nature have not been made. This is, I think, one of the only ones.
COLLINS: Well, it is definitely going to be a treat for people who get to see this. It will be coming out soon for most of the IMAX theaters. December, is that right?
LIVERSEDGE: Well, it's coming out here in Atlanta on the 6th of December and will be running for at least six months. And next year, in about May, it should be in most of the other IMAXes around the world.
COLLINS: Wonderful.
Before we let you go, quickly, what did you learn as you left from there, whether it was something about the behavior of the lions or just something that you took away?
LIVERSEDGE: Well, I never put myself normally in danger's way. And here, to get the shot, perhaps I was pushing at the limit a bit. But it just confirmed that, in fact, most wild animals and even lions are really focused on what they really eat. And they're not out there to catch people, which is, of course, what everybody imagines they would do if they had the opportunity. But they don't.
They're very specialized. They live on what they've learned to hunt. And those are wild lions, I'm talking about. Obviously, in zoos and in other situations, it's not like that.
COLLINS: Right.
LIVERSEDGE: But in the wild, you're pretty safe.
COLLINS: Well, we look forward to being able to see this film. Once again, the title of it is "Roar; Lions of the Kalahari." And we've been talking with Tim Liversedge.
Thanks so much.
(CROSSTALK)
LIVERSEDGE: Thank you very much, Heidi.
COLLINS: Thanks for being here.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
