The award-winning producer talks illusive rock iguanas, leech-infested swamps, and joining forces with President Barack Obama.
The Netflix seriesOur Great National Parkshits you with stunner right aside : cameras swooping in on the impenetrable and scraggy limestone fortresses of Madagascar’sTsingy de Bemaraha , shot lingering on the bubbling technicolor pools ofYellowstone . And in Loango National Park in Gabon , where the Congolese rain forest touches the Atlantic , an especially over-the-top sight . A rotund hippo lumber up to the sliver of sand where brute like buffalo , African forest elephants , and massive leatherback turtle are blend . He ’s hefty on landed estate , but in water , almost graceful . And after spending all day environ by freshwater on shore , he ’s ready to switch it up . It ’s time to go surfing .
Okay , certain , notexactly . The river horse plunge into the salty beau as a mean of transportation , splashing in the waves to propel him northward toward his grazing spot . Here , the mighty wolf looks playful , with enviable hang ten way — all he needs to nail the vibe is a pair of hippo - sized sunglasses . The scene is n’t something the average someone would ever see in their lifetime , buthere it is , capture on filmin a sequence of unbelievable shot that make you palpate like you , too , are flail amid the waves .
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That ’s thanks to a team led by the show ’s executive producer and originative director , James Honeyborne . An esurient devotee of the outdoors , Honeyborne has commit his professional life to work the beauty , vitality , and function of these wildlife vignettes to the masses . “ To me , my job , my vocation , is all about reflecting the importance of nature , ” he tells Thrillist . “ [ It ’s ] helping give nature a part . ”
And he ’s one of the best in the secret plan . After contemplate biological science , Honeyborne wrench his attention to storytelling , overseeing 35 film throughout his tenure as executive manufacturer of theBBC ’s Natural History Unit . He ’s worked with — among others — the likes ofSir David Attenboroughon the seriesAfrica , and won more award for his seriesBlue Planet IIthan one can count . The most - watched show on British television in 2017 , it was apparently so popular in China that it disrupted internet streams . Most importantly , it shone an international spotlight on the threat credit card befoulment poses on the sea ’s welfare . dub “ the Blue Planet effect , ” Honeyborne ’s efforts inspired people around the world to collapse down on single - use credit card in their everyday lives , a real testament to the exponent of wildlife filmmaking .
ForOur Great National Parks , he teamed up with another classical voice , President Barack Obama , whose dulcet smell narrate the importance of these great protected swaths of land ( winning an Emmyfor his work ) . Starting with Yellowstone ’s 2 million acres back in 1872 , the national parks initiative has since billow into a ball-shaped project . Today , 15 % of land and 8 % of the world ’s oceans are formally protect . As the President explains offscreen , “ What began as a common desire to secure wild for multitude to relish , has become a worldwide movement to preserve these field for future generation . ”
Hippos, not surfing.|Courtesy of Netflix
Today , we ’ve derive to understand that what pass inside these parks affects us all . They provide divide , filter and clean the atmosphere we respire , and serve as hot floater for scientific research . They give endangered animals a habitat to fly high and allow space for specie to interact and roam freely . National parking lot protections screen flimsy ecosystems all over the satellite . Some benefits are n’t so obvious : To date , a one-fourth of all our medications originate in rain forest , and that ’s just barely rub the surface . “ To me , wilderness is something that ’s so massively vital to everyone on the planet , ” says Honeyborne . “ So often , it ’s just see as empty space , and yet , wilderness supports all life on globe . If we want a healthy planet , we need healthy wild spaces , with an intact list of species all doing their jobs . ”
InOur Great National Parks , Honeyborne and his team turn the camera on the very venues where many of us bump the rude man in all its untamed glorification , where we hike , swim , bird - watch , explore , get marked-up , and become divine . “ That estimate of wilderness shaped the notion of celebrating the globe ’s great national park , ” explain Honeyborne . “ Because , of path , they ’re image of wilderness around the worldly concern . ”
befittingly , the seeded player for Honeyborne’sextraordinary career was itself planted in a national park . call his uncle in Nairobi at the old age of 18 , they venture on a safari in the Maasai Mara of southwest Kenya . Its 580 straggle square stat mi teems with leopards , African bush elephant , giraffes , rhinos , leopards , and Acinonyx jubatus , and lays call to theGreat Migration of wildebeest , one of the Seven Wonders of the Natural World . There ’s also an exceptional population of lions — which is what initially caught the bud environmentalist ’s heart .
President Barack Obama and some new friends in Yellowstone National Park.|Pete Souza / Netflix © 2022
“ We started looking around for animals — they were actually quite hard to happen the twenty-four hours we were there , ” he says . “ finally , we found what looked like a lion under a tree , and it turned out to be two Leo . ”
Just then a Land Rover rattle over to join in the sighting . “ They all of a sudden stuck a tv camera out of the window and a sound microphone boom out of the top , and they started to shoot the lions , ” says Honeyborne . “ I could n’t conceive that people are being paid to go on safari , that this was their job . That ’s how the centime dropped for me that there could be a career not just in biological science , but in wildlife filmmaking . ”
In 2018 Honeyborne establishedFreeborne Media , and hooked up with Netflix to make a fleet of science and nature film for the streaming avail . Bringing on President Obama to createOur Great National Parks , his second project in the serial , seemed like a natural fit . Not only had the former universe drawing card protect more acres of public lands and H2O in the US than any other President of the United States in chronicle , the Obamas had also late launch their own Netflix - partner production troupe , Higher Ground .
President Barack Obama and some new friends in Yellowstone National Park.|Pete Souza / Netflix © 2022
“ I ’d care to think if someone watched the series , they ’d come out of it reflecting on the great variety of creature there are in the world and the amazing job they do , ” he says . “ These places , they ’re never move to thrive in isolation — each one would just become an island . ”
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The show spans five episodes , feature 13 internal parks in 10 countries across five continents . “ We wanted it to feel spherical , ” says Honeyborne . “ You could make the serial many times over because there ’s many , many places to celebrate . I ’m proud of with the selection and I cerebrate we were capable to change by reversal the spotlight on them all in a good way . If you look at the Patagonia episode , for example , it was n’t just one park , it was many , about how they ’re all link . I think that ’s a endearing story to tell . ”
But as far-flung as the mental representation was , the choices were also personal . As President Obama detail in the introductory episode , Hanauma Bay in Hawaii , Tsavo East in Kenya , and Indonesia ’s Gunung Leuser National Park all played significant role in his fostering . “ When I was growing up , wild spaces and everyday spaces were one in the same , ” he say , before describing how his mother would sit and listen to the sea at Hanauma Bay while she was fraught with baby Barack . It ’s a beautiful reminder that while these state are visually awe - inspiring , it ’s our interactions with them that hold the most mogul .
There are a few reasons filmmakersenjoytraining their tv camera on plants and animals , recording for 1,500 days and producing hundreds of thousands of hours of footage . First , you’re able to broadcast those epitome to multitude who could never witness them otherwise , maybe even motivating some to go see them for themselves . Along the room , you ’ll in all probability also come face - to - human face with the impression that some of these jimmy spaces are probably best left to the beast .
A Decken’s sifaka lemur in the stone forest of Madagascar’s Tsingy de Bemaraha.|Courtesy of Netflix
“ There was one spot they wanted to go at the top of a mountainwhere Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam were thought to be — it was 10 days in and 10 days out trekking . And leech - infested , ” says Honeyborne , recounting a particularly difficult shoot for his crew . “ When I saw photos of the guys coming out , they were literally just streaming in blood . Not all national parks are prosperous to claver , but that does n’t mean you should n’t love them . ”
Playing out on concealment , scenarios might appear serendipitous . But achieving the final product is anything but , necessitate consultations with scientist , bring with parking area forest fire fighter , and place out possible game developments . “ In our research with the scientists , we study what the animals are likely to do and how they ’ll comport , and we ’ll write that up and storyboard it so we make out what we ’re hoping to get , ” explain Honeyborne .
The preparation get everyone on the same page for the shoot , and by scripting interaction , the squad can inject a littledramainto the visual proceeding ( “ It ’s still amusement , is n’t it ? ” says Honeyborne ) . But in a wildlife documentary , the principal player ca n’t actuallyreadthe script , so thing do n’t always go as planned . Nevertheless , says Honeyborne , “ It ’s amazing how often what you hope to get , you then see on motion-picture show . ”
Take thetitan aroid , which blooms from 24 to 36 hours once every seven to 10 years . conversationally forebode the cadaver flower , it breathe an odor of rot anatomy to pull the insects it course on , before collapsing with a surprising amount of gusto . And while it ’s not always wanton to catch it on film , the fugitive coup d’oeil is worth it .
“ It ’s all about looking for a flower bud , the only real preindication of them , on the forest floor , ” say Honeyborne . “ It ’s an awful anatomical structure — not really quite one bloom , but it does the job of a peak . Once you know how big the bud is , you may estimate how apace it ’s going to open , heat up , and produce this amazing decomposition scent . It draws all the microbe . ”
When thingsdon’tgo as planned , it can also be fortuitous . dash in the wilderness means you might document a species that ’s never been put on film , examined by biologists , or even discovered . Like the recently describe rock iguana in Tsingy de Bemaraha , found nowhere else on earth ( so far ) , and never before give away to the mountain before being documented by Honeyborne ’s squad . Or what was believed to be anew species of hammerhead worm , spotted when shoot inside Indonesia ’s Gunung Leuser National Park . “ It ’s always exciting when you may get a new mintage or unexampled behaviour no one ’s ever seen before , ” says Honeyborne . “ The great thing is , one individual sees it , and suddenly one thousand thousand can . ”
James Honeyborne|Vivien Killilea / Getty Images Entertainment
You ’re also able-bodied to keep check on a rapidly changing natural world firsthand . “ At the bit , I ’ve got teams shoot inAntarctica , where it ’s the worst sea ice ever recorded , ” say Honeyborne . “ Simultaneously , up in the Arctic , I ’m told there ’s very little ocean glass for this clock time of class . That ’s February in the Arctic ! Every twelvemonth is different , and we always have to factor in in the chaos that seems to be increase . ”
Nevertheless , Honeyborne ’s advice for anyone last out to record in a internal park or wild surface area — besides the old adage , “ Take only pictures , leave only footprints”—is to drop the camera and go through the power of the outdoors , at least occasionally .
“ It ’s not good to bet [ through ] the cameraallthe clip , ” he say . “ Sometimes , you ’ve just got ta put it down and take in the second . ”
The mighty—and smelly—titan arum. AKA corpse flower.|Courtesy of Netflix
He could probably make that jump.|Courtesy of Netflix
