Page 5 - Fujifilm Exposure_19 Spider_ok

A TIGHT SPOT
A TIGHT SPOT
tv production
selves, the film focuses on the dedicat- ed individuals who spot and monitor the movements of leopards roaming around Yala National Park in the south-east of the island.
They are The Leopard Hunters from whom the programme gets its name. This ambitious project was begun by Jehan and his friend Harith Perera, whose death in a car accident reinforced Jehan’s determination to follow through this zoological quest.
So making a film, recording for posterity something about these won- derful creatures is a logical move. It may also open up new areas of under- standing, as the team quickly came to the conclusion that the best shots
could well be nocturnal.
“Originally Jehan had told me that
all their observations had been in the daytime,” Birkhead adds. “So we went equipped with the conventional film camera and stocks, as well as one that enabled us to film during the crepuscu- lar hours at either end of the day.
“But that was just too tantalising for Jehan and Gordon, so they decided to get an infra red camera as well. It was just obvious that more things were going on at night and the infra red camera let us keep filming even when it was pitch black. That was the crucial factor.
“Even though we were getting some diurnal behaviour, we weren’t
getting what we thought was the best behaviour. I think it extended what was in the film in the end, even though we got some nice stuff during the daytime. The stuff we got at night time was very special... sequences like a fight between a crocodile and three leopards and a fight between a leopard and a sloth bear.”
Choosing the Fuji 250D, 64D and 500 stocks for use during daylight hours, events typically dictated what should be used, and when. The results speak for themselves, and Birkhead believes that shooting on film is essen- tial in the look this gives the project as a whole.
“I think natural history people want to carry on using film because it looks so lovely, and the quality of the film is so important.”
With Jehan Kumara too modest and too camera shy to appear exten- sively on screen it is left to the bluff Scotsman Gordon Buchanan to be the eyes and ears of the audience.
Such derring do nearly proved his downfall, when he received the unnerving attentions of the aforemen- tioned sloth bear, a creature he memo- rably describes as being like “Mr Magoo, with the temper of a wasp and the jaws of a lion.”
“It was a tough job at times,” con- tinues Birkhead. “I got cholera and Gordie got lots of other bugs. I was also nearly blown up by the terrorists when they blew up five airbuses the day I was due to leave. It certainly
isn’t plain sailing but in terms of the ‘harder’ loca- tions you might go to around the world I think that Sri Lanka is one
of the nicest places to film.
“The Sri Lankans are really spe-
cial and Jehan epitomises them. But working there does have its luxuries too. The nice hotel we stayed in, for example. Any fool can be uncomfort- able, we always make an effort not to be too uncomfortable when we’re away filming.”
Two years in the preparation, more than nine months in the shoot- ing, The Leopard Hunters records the work of some incredibly dedicated people and an amazing creature that is significantly different from his more familiar African ‘cousin’.
“The race of the Sri Lankan leop- ard is unique, because it’s the top predator on the island. Most leopards co-exist with lions, hyenas, dogs or tigers and when they co-exist with those other top predators they tend to be even more secretive.
“The good thing about the leop- ards in Sri Lanka is that they prove to be fairly bold, both in the daytime and especially in the night time.
“The good thing for us was that we managed to show them interacting with the two other predators with whom they may have had some ele- ment of competition. They really are king of the beasts in Sri Lanka.” ■ ANWAR BRETT
The Leopard Hunters,
screened as part of BBC2’s Natural World, was originated on Fujicolor Motion Picture Negative