Winged Migration

Winged Migration
theatrical poster
Directed by	Jacques Perrin, Jacques Cluzaud, Michel Debats
Produced by	Christophe Barratier, Jacques Perrin
Written by	Jean Dorst Jacques Perrin
Narrated by	Jacques Perrin Philippe Labro
Music by	Bruno Coulais
Distributed by	Sony Pictures Classics
Release date(s)	12 December 2001 (France)
Running time	98 minutes
Country	France Italy Germany Spain Switzerland
Language	English, French
Budget	€23,630,000

Winged Migration (French: Le Peuple Migrateur, also known as The Travelling Birds in some UK releases, or The Travelling Birds: An adventure in flight in Australia), is a 2001 documentary film directed by Jacques Cluzaud, Michel Debats and Jacques Perrin, who was also one of the writers and narrators, showcasing the immense journeys routinely made by birds during their migrations.

The film is dedicated to the French ornithologist Jean Dorst.

Production

The movie was shot over the course of four years on all seven continents. Shot using in-flight cameras, most of the footage is aerial, and the viewer appears to be flying alongside birds of successive species, especially Canada geese. They traverse every kind of weather and landscape, covering vast distances in a flight for survival. The filmmakers exposed over 590 miles of film to create an 89-minute piece. In one case, two months of filming in one location was edited down to less than one minute in the final film.

Much of the aerial footage was taken of "tame" birds. The filmmakers raised birds of several species, including storks and pelicans, from birth. The newborn birds imprinted on staff members, and were trained to fly along with the film crews. The birds were also exposed to the film equipment over the course of their lives to ensure that the birds would react the way the filmmakers want. Several of these species had never been imprinted before. Film was shot from ultralights, paragliders, and hot air balloons, as well as trucks, motorcycles, motorboats, remote-controlled robots, and a French Navy warship. Its producer says that "Winged Migration" is neither a documentary nor fiction, but rather a "natural tale".

The film states that no special effects were used in the filming of the birds, although some entirely-CGI segments that view Earth from outer space augment the real-life footage.

The film's soundtrack by Bruno Coulais was recorded by several Bulgarian vocal groups in Bulgarian, as well as Nick Cave in English and Robert Wyatt. The vocal effects include sequences in which panting is superimposed on wingbeats to give the effect that the viewer is a bird.

Reception

Winged Migration has an overall approval rating of 96% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Awards and honors

The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

Images

• 

  One of the CGI shots in Winged Migration, in which an Arctic tern flies above southern Africa

See also

• Bill Lishman - He imprinted geese and taught them to follow him in a low-speed ultralight aircraft in a migration path from Canada to Virginia. "The idea of the traveling birds we owe to him."

References

Notes

External links

• Official site
• (French) Official site
• Winged Migration at the Internet Movie Database