John Downer
John Downer (* 1951 in London ) is a British director and producer . His main field of activity is animal films .
Life
Downer runs his own production company in Bristol , England . He made many of his productions for the BBC , which is known for high quality documentaries . It has already worked with the famous nature filmmaker Sir David Attenborough several times .
Downer is characterized by its innovative ways of using cameras. He likes to install cameras in dummies of animals, plants or stones , some of which can be moved remotely. This allows him to get very close to wild, free-living animals and can create unusual perspectives with wide-angle lenses . For Tiger - Spy in the Jungle he constructed e.g. B. a remote-controlled tree stump dummy with built-in camera, which was carried by a tame elephant and deposited in carefully selected places in the Indian jungle . As a result, he not only got very close to the tigers , they in turn often approached the strange, apparently harmless object on their own initiative. For Earthflight he used a model airplane in the shape of a vulture and filmed it in the middle of a group of sailing vultures . For this series he also used so-called Crittercams , which he strapped onto tame birds , e.g. B. a fish eagle (referred to in the film as "Osprey" , which is an incorrect translation of "African Fish-eagle", because the actual fish eagle is called "Osprey" in English). In the series Spione im Tierreich he used over 30 lifelike replicas of animals, including those of baby animals.
Some of his films ran - sometimes repeatedly - on German television.
Movies
- 1999: Supernatural
- 2000: Lions - Spy in the Den
- 2002: Fantastisches Tierreich ( Weird Nature - Science is stranger than Myth )
- 2003: Elephants - Spy in the Herd
- 2004: Bears - Spy in the Woods
- 2007: Trek - Spy on the Wildebeest
- 2008: The Secret World of Tigers ( Tiger - Spy in the Jungle , 3 parts)
- 2009: Mega swarm ( Swarm , 2 parts)
- 2010: Polar Bear - Spy on the Ice
- 2011: The fantastic journey of the birds ( Earthflight , 6 parts)
- 2013: Penguins up close ( Penguins - Spy in the Huddle , 3 parts)
- 2014: Dolphins - Spy in the Pod
- 2017: Spy in the Wild
Web links
- John Downer in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Website of John Downers production company (English)
- Interview with John Downer (English)
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Downer, John |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British director and producer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1951 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | London |