Penguin point of view

Emperor penguins had a little company waddling across cold, white Antartica during the filming of March of the Penguin. Cinematographers, Laurent Chalet and Jerome Maison lived for 13 months on a pre-existing base run by the French Institute for Polar Research to film the documentary. Maison and Chalet spent their time squatting at penguin eye-level for six to seven hours a day in 13 to 22 below zero Fahrenheit in order to capture character-like qualities of the creatures.

"I spent a year squatting, literally," Chalet told the Los Angeles Times. "Our goal was to film from the penguins' height. They're afraid of things that come from above. We would be a few yards away, and we would let them go on about their business. Then we'd move in 2 feet, then another 2 feet, until, at the end, we were maybe 3 or 4 feet from them."

The film opened June 24 and documents the emperor penguin's trek across barren Antartica to mate and raise a chick (yep only one). The exhausted females make the dangerous journey to the fish filled-waters of their home facing leopard seals, a feared predator. The males stay two long months with no food during the dangerous polar winter cradling the egg on their feet and waiting for the egg to hatch. They feed the little one on their minimal food reserve while waiting for the females to return to take over the care. These are definitely amazing animals. I have to get out and see this one!

There is a great article where Chalet and Maison tell about their experiences with their new feathered friends.

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