“Guardians” is the gripping new documentary series that sheds light on the courageous work of anti poaching rangers in the Zambezi Delta of Mozambique. Produced by Conservation Film Company for EarthXTV, the 7 x 23 minute docuseries tracks these unsung heroes as they protect endangered wildlife in one of Africa’s most challenging environments.
Through stunning cinematography and intimate storytelling, “Guardians” offers a unique glimpse into the daily struggles and triumphs of these dedicated individuals.
“‘Guardians’ is a character led factual series that goes beyond the headlines to show audiences the effort that goes into safeguarding wildlife in Africa through the eyes of the local people on the front line,” explains Sean Viljoen, series director (and camera operator). “We wanted to tell their story as cinematically as possible.”
Wildlife under threat
During the recent civil war in the country, wildlife across all species, including large mammals, declined by 90 percent. It was then protected and wildlife recovered, but as human populations grew, subsistence poaching crept back in, as well as poaching for bush meat markets.
Conservation Film Company spent seven weeks filming alongside the 19 rangers employed to protect the vast 2,000 square kilometers of the Coutada 11 safari concession in Mozambique. With limited resources available in the field, the production team needed versatile tools to capture high quality footage while minimizing logistical complexities.
For “Guardians,” they carried a broad kit list of digital film cameras including the Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro 12K, Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro 12K OLPF and Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro 4.6K G2 alongside several Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pros.
“Most of the content we were creating was handheld. We were often jumping on the back of motorbikes with the anti poaching guys so that limited the amount of kit we could bring with us, while there was also a number of different types of content we were trying to cover. All our cameras were rigged as lightly as possible for a run and gun type setup,” notes Viljoen.
For most of the dialogue content, they relied on the URSA Mini Pro 12Ks, often using the Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro as the third camera, either on a longer lens such as a Canon 70-200mm f2.8 or a Canon 200-400mm f4 lens. The URSA Mini Pro 12K OLPF was equipped with a Fujinon XK20-120mm T3.5 while the URSA Mini Pro 12K primarily used with DZO cine zooms.
The production team also had a Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro rigged for a Ronin S3 Pro gimbal, with a Sigma 18-35mm f1.8 lens and for filming in confined spaces, such as inside vehicles riding alongside the anti poaching team. For aerial shots they used the DJI Mavic 3 drone.
Viljoen says he was impressed with the image quality. “I’m really happy with how the 12K performed considering the conditions we filmed in. A lot of this story is exteriors using natural light only; however, the way that the 12K handles highlights is particularly beautiful. There’s a lot of latitude within the Blackmagic RAW codec to work with as well.”
Filming in the bush was particularly harsh for camera kit. Daytime temperatures often reach 40 degrees Celsius and the humidity was high. “Once the sun starts to pick up in the morning you get a lot of condensation on your lenses and it’s pretty challenging. We had quite a few cameras on this production as backups, but didn’t need them in the end.”
Finding the cut
Alongside Viljoen on the crew were DP Garth de Bruno Austin, Camera Operator Keenan Ferguson and Editor Joe Krenzer, who doubled duties as DIT.
“Since we were shooting the pilot at the same time as the other episodes, it was really helpful to have Joe on location. He’d cut the first episode and highlight what we were missing in terms of pick ups and to help shape the format of the show,” explains Viljoen.
Krenzer set up an edit station in a tent offloading cards onto two 32 TB drives to create proxies overnight ready to edit in DaVinci Resolve Studio editing, color grading, visual effects (VFX) and audio post production software the next day. Across the series they recorded 25 TB of data.
“We do all of our post production in Resolve, including editing, color grading and mastering,” Viljoen says. “I’ve seen a lot of benefits through doing that. Whether it’s a bigger budget production with a lot of people at our facility in Cape Town or just me travelling around with my laptop, it allows us to stay on one platform. It’s very efficient in that sense.”
De Bruno Austin applied LUTs to the two URSA Mini Pro 12Ks, which became a baseline look for the series and used to help match footage and exposure from other cameras.
“You need to expose correctly on the 12K working at 3200 ISO and we were aware that what looked great on a bright monitor in low light could be misleading, so the LUT that Garth created helped compensate for that,” says Viljoen.
They shot 8K at 12:1 compression for an ultimate 4K UHD deliverable. That ratio was deemed a good balance between file size and storage on location.
Explains Viljoen, “We wanted to get the most out of the image and tap into some of that down sampling benefit by shooting in 8K. We were extremely happy with the images and the amount of information to work with.”
Community Screenings
It can be the case with some productions that a show is broadcast around the world, but the people who are actually involved don’t ever get to see it. Conservation Film Company arranged a special screening of episodes for the rangers and their families projected onto a local hall.
“It was very important to give back to the community and share what we had shot because outside of the rangers themselves few local people even understand all of what they do to track, stakeout and apprehend poachers.
“We have hopefully done justice to the remarkable work these anti poaching rangers do for audiences worldwide, inspiring action and raising awareness about wildlife conservation,” concludes Viljoen.
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Capturing the Grit and Glory of Anti Poaching Efforts with Blackmagic Design
