Films include:

 

Rough Science III - New Zealand 

Four Winds' Martin Belderson was director/producer on six thirty-minute films for BBC2. In each episode five scientists were given three days to carry out seemingly impossible assignment using only materials that they can scrounge together.

 

 

UFOs Down to Earth 

A big-budget series for The Discovery Network that investigated UFOs and close encounters.  From Area 51 to Siberia and from eerie balls to light to debunking alien autopsy films.

 

 

Horizon: Close Encounters 

An investigation into the alien abduction phenomena featuring Dr. Susan Blackmore.

 

 

 

The Einstein Channel 

One hundred and twenty-five short science films, each five minutes long, were edited in six month at Four Windss.

 

 

FEATURED FILM

 

Horizon: Crater of Death 

A film for the BBC's flagship series Horizon. The story of the asteroid/cometary strike that wiped out the dinosaurs. The impact montage is frequently seen on the news (from Denmark to New Zealand) when another asteroid near miss is reported.

Duration: 50'.

 

The film tells the dtective story of the discovery of the smoking gun responsible for the death of the dinosaurs: the giant crater buried beneath the fishing village of Chicxulub on the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula. It features the late, great Gene Shoemaker.   Also underwater footage of the rare nautilus.

 

Shot on Super-16mm using Arri SRs.

 

Principal cinematographer: Richard Edwards

Sound: Dave Blackham

Additional camera: Andrew Hartley

Editor: Brian Tomkins

Dubbing Mixer:  Adam Severs

Director-Producer: Martin Belderson

 

Made on a lesser budget and in approx. half the production time-scale of the average overseas-shot Horizon. This shows in the budget allocated to the meagre graphics.  And these pressures featured on the shoot: three continents in eighteen days with more time spent traveling than shooting.

 

However, it has proved popular, with people reporting seeing it in territories from Denmark to the Lebanon and New Zealand to Mexico.  Which reminds me, it could not have been made without the enthusiastic help of all the scientists involved, especially Alberto Trejo Garcia from the National University of Mexico.  UNM's staff eased us through many of the difficulties and dangers overseas crews encounter in their country.

 

Uploaded from a 4x3 DVCAM copy from DigiBeta, so apologies for the quality.  Wish I had a 16x9 show print.

Films include:

 

Defenders of the Wild

 A series profiling individuals around the world who have dedicated their lives to protecting wildlife. From the marshes of Brazil, to taking on the Mafia in Sicily and protecting river dolphins in the Himalayas.

 

Predator

The first hard evidence of an attack on a human by a wild big cat in Britain. It was the source of a front-page story in The Sun

 

O'Shea's Dangerous Creatures - South America

A wildlife series where snake expert Mark O'Shea goes in search of the most dangerous reptiles in the world.

 

 

 

 

FEATURED FILM

 

Ocean Raider

 A profile of eco-pirates The Sea Shepherds and their founder Paul Watson. Winner of a Best Film and four merit awards at the International Wildlife Festival, Missoula.

 

Duration 50'  

 

The Sea Shepherds chase the Japanese and Taiwanese drift net fleets in an epic confrontation in '94. Also contains footage of the Norwegian whaler scuttled by the SSCS and for which action Paul Watson went to prison. Plus archive footage of rammings and other actions, even footage of Paul Watson's experience at the Siege of Wounded Knee.

 

This is a slightly different take on the Shepherds from that shown on 'Whale Wars'. Oh, and Peter Brown is not the character he is re-edited to be on that series.

 

Super-16mm/16x9 on Arri SR.

 

Principal cinematographer: Richard Edwards

Sound: Sean Taylor

Additional camera: Peter Brown, Andrew Hartley and Mark McKillop (and I was the dope who climbed the mast to get the high-angle shots of the ship using a hand-held Beaulieu 16mm).

Film Editor: Mike Eustace

Dubbing Mixer: Steve Haynes

Director/Producer: Martin Belderson

 

Films include:

 

Bonington's Secret Mountain

Sir Chris Bonington's expedition to remote NE Tibet - an eight part series for the YMPA/Discovery Channel/Channel Four.

 

 

 

 

Three Rivers, The Brooklyn Bridge and Lady Liberty

A film about open water swim races in the rivers around Manhattan and the clean up of New York's once heavily polluted rivers. It features the annual Liberty Island Challenge, The Brooklyn Bridge race and the Manhattan Island Marathon Swim: one circuit of the island.

 

 

 

FEATURED FILM

 

Rock Queen

The Sports Emmy winning film starring Catherine Destivelle for ESPN/Canal+/Channel Four. 

 

It is a film about the first solo ascent of The Old Man of Hoy, Europe's tallest rock stack.

 

It won the Sports Emmy for innovative camerawork. 

 

Watch out for for the 'Vomit-cam' shot of the nesting seabirds.

 

Director: Martin Belderson

Producers: Chris Lister / Jim Curran