Wild Film History–100 Years of Wildlife Filmmaking

I was recently going over a couple of weeks worth of posts at the Get Outdoors blog (seems I am always trying to play catch-up) when I happened to glance over and catch a link titled “CyberHobo”.  The very first post at the CyberHobo blog caught my attention.

The post is about a site that is currently in the process of recording the history of wildlife filmmaking.  WildFilmHistory–100 Years of Wildlife Filmmaking, is recording the history of some of the great wildlife films to ever grace the big screen.  These run from the first film back in 1882 titled “The Horse in Motion“, which, as it’s name suggests, is of a horse running.  This first picture would be made with a series of still photos.  The horse would become the first animal ever featured in a moving image format. To the latest film, from 2005, titled “Springwatch: Episode 1” which was actually the first ‘Live” broadcast of a nature film, shot and shown at the moment it was made.  That’s pretty incredible, if you ask me.

I grew up watching and loving the Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom programs and now enjoy much of the Nature series that runs on PBS (one of my favorite Channels, by the way), so this project did spark an interest.  WildFilmHistory–100 Years of Wildlife Filmmaking, goes in to way more depth than just listing the various nature movies.  There is a pretty intense section on each movie covered that includes a history of the film, those involved, where someone can obtain the film, and a complete cast and crew rundown.

Along with all the history of the films, WildFilmHistory also takes a look at the people behind the films.  This includes biographical sketches and oral histories from some of the genre’s greatest filmmakers, and a key events timeline tracing the wildlife films’ history.  You could absolutely get enthralled and end up spending hours here.  It truly is a pretty cool looking project.  WildFilmHistory also offers up it’s own Film Fest, but at this time I don’t really have any more details.  I am not sure if this Film Festival, as others have began to do of late, is done online or at a specific venue once a year.  I will have to do some research in to this one.  If you love the outdoors, or just the outdoors from your couch, this site is worth taking a look at.