March of the Penguins - Documentary research

"March of the Penguins" is a 2005 film set in Antarctica, that follows the epic journey of the emperor penguins as they march across the continent to find a partner and raise a family. Directed by Luc Jaquet, and featuring a voice over by Morgan Freeman, this "French nature documentary" has won over nine awards from various different awarding bodies.

 We watch as the penguins make their way from the waters edge, to a breeding ground over 70 miles away across the dark and icy features of Antarctica. They march day and night in single file until they meet with other penguins from their colony. They then find a mate, breed and thus begins their emotional and physical journey to keep their new family alive. We watch as viewers, as storms threaten their survival, and we will them to reach the waters edge once again to feed their family without being taken by predators like the seal. Filmed in super 16mm, this documentary features not only the Penguins, but also the breathtaking scenery around them, including under-water shots of the animals and the natural world.

 Director Luc Jaquet became director of "March of the Penguins" purely by chance, in a rare documentary for cineamareview.com, Jaquet revealed that he had "responded to a classified ad which basically said something like "looking for fearless biologist, ready to spend fourteen months at the end of the world."...I had never held a camera in my life." The outcome of this non-experienced 24 year old biologist turned director was the highest grossing indie nature film of its time.

A very significant feature of the film, is the lack of human presence amongst Penguins, not only because of the absence of the film-makers, but also because the director has chosen not to name or characterise singular penguins. Filmed over 13 months, the film-crew chose not to interfere with the entire process, allowing tragedy's to happen such as the egg touching the ice and freezing, and the baby penguin being caught by the bird of prey. I think that this was partly because of the dangers that situations such as those can present, but also because it was a natural part of the life that they were documenting, and they didn't want to sugar coat reality, I think this is exactly how the director wanted to movie to feel, secluded yet incredible, Jaquet commented "Individually, you can't really distinguish between them. They're all alike. When you...perceive them more as a group; the colony has its own aura, and it changes." Because of this, "March of the Penguins" represents the observational mode of documentary.

 Morgan Freeman provides the voice over for this nature film, and I think that the use of a well known male voice denotes authority and popularity. This enhances the feeling of the documentary because of the authoritative characteristics of the subject, the emperor penguins. I think that Jaquet purposely wanted to make this connection, to allow the viewer to form a relationship with what they are watching on-screen. This relationship then creates a reason for the viewer to feel emotion when the penguins suffer, despite the lack of names and characteristics.

 I feel that the success of this film is directly affected by its ability to attract a wider audience range, rather than the typical nature lover. I also think that the passion of the director is what excelled this film, and the main reason why he chose to make this film. "I wanted to tell things more as I felt them, rather than try to describe them as a scientist" I think that this outlines that Jaquet's motive to create such a documentary was to discover things about the penguins for the first time himself. This naivety is what creates such an awe-inspiring documentary.

 This documentary is a very powerful form of story telling and I think that by watching this I have realised the effect that a voice over can have on footage. I also have looked into the background planning of this documentary and I think that I will take a similar view on my own documentary. Looking at the tag line "In the harshest place on earth, love finds a way" and seeing the effect that these words have on the viewer and the way they percieve the film, I have decided to pick my tagline carefully as it is important to the success of my film.