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MillimeterDream Job: Raptor Rapture
Aug 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Kristinha M. Anding
Birds of prey get their close-up thanks to filmmaker Neil Rettig.
Neil Rettig shoots with the Panasonic Varicam AJ-HDC27F for “American Eagle,” his latest raptor-focused documentary, set to air in the fall on PBS’ Nature.
Natural-history filmmaker Neil Rettig started his career studying birds of prey in the mid-1970s, and his love for all things raptor has only grown. Rettig claims he was the first to film the elusive harpy eagles of the Amazon — some of the largest and rarest eagles in the world. He continued his focus, creating documentaries such as “Raptor Force” for PBS' Nature series. Now, with his latest project — “American Eagle,” also for Nature — Rettig turns his lens to the comeback and current challenges of the American bald eagle.
The film, scheduled to air in the fall, took Rettig and his crew everywhere from Alaska's Chilkat River to Florida, but most of the shooting was done, conveniently, within a 30-mile radius of Rettig's home — which is five miles from the Mississippi River. “It was pretty easy to just pick up the camera when things were happening and check it out,” Rettig says.
Another stroke of luck was the discovery of a bald eagle nest in the backyard of a personal residence in Decorah, Iowa, overlooking the state's trout hatchery. Rettig and Bob Anderson, a fellow cinematographer and raptor expert, rigged and camouflaged three Korea Technology & Communications (KT&C) KPC-VF325NH high-resolution outdoor bullet cameras around the nest, running cables to a workshop fortuitously located within 100ft. of the cotton tree the birds call home. Rettig was able to capture some intimate footage with the nest cams, including a memorable shot of a female bald eagle steadfastly incubating her two fragile eggs amid a virulent snowstorm.
Rettig shot other sequences using the portable Canon HJ40×10B IASD-V super telephoto lens with the Panasonic AJ-HDC27F Varicam. He also used the Panasonic AJ-HDX900, and about 10 percent of the footage was shot with an Arriflex HSR2 Super 16 camera.
While Rettig wanted to tell the story of bald eagles' remarkable recovery from the brink of extinction, he also wished to highlight some of the bird's current environmental challenges, including lead poisoning. Scavenging eagles, he says, often ingest deer meat containing lead-based ammunition from hunters and become neurologically damaged. “Even though they've made a huge recovery, they are running a gauntlet just to survive in this modern age,” Rettig says.
When he's not busy working on films, Rettig promotes rainforest conservation with his captive harpy eagle and coteacher, Cal.
For more information about Rettig and Thirteen/WNET New York's Nature, visit www.neilrettigproductions.com and www.pbs.org/wnet/nature.
