大象传媒

By Tom Walker, Director of photography for Hyena, Dynasties II

One tool that we used a lot on the hyena film was a 5 axis gimbal stabilised camera rig, mounted onto a Land Rover. It was useful for a lot of shots, but can come into its own during a hunt scenario, where static cameras struggle to continually reposition in time with the action.

A previous Dynasties crew had filmed some wildebeest hunts but the only hunt I witnessed on the project happened – in typical wildlife fashion – right at the end of my time in Liuwa. Before starting the project it was always mentioned that the holy grail of Liuwa’s hyena behaviour was a zebra hunt in daylight. After many days of looking at sleeping hyenas I could see that we’d have to be lucky to see it happen during our time there.

Hunts are always high adrenaline and we rely heavily on the driver to try and keep up with the action without influencing the behaviour, or destroying the camera! On the hyena film we worked almost exclusively with specialist guide and filming car driver, Denis Mollel, whose skill and instinct for wildlife helped us a huge amount in what we could capture. On the morning of said hunt however, Denis had to leave for other commitments, so we worked with another great driver-guide called Ason. Ason is really experienced but had never specifically filmed hyenas before. Little did we know it, but his first morning was going to be a baptism of fire!

After many days working with the South Clan, we began to notice subtle differences in their behaviour or intention, on this morning we managed to find the hyenas early and could immediately see that something was going to happen. Less than a minute after finding them a lead hyena started trotting, in the distance was a herd of Zebra so we thought this could materialise into something exciting – if we could keep up.

The thing with Liuwa is, it looks flat but is in fact very bumpy in places. There’s a lot of a dreaded vegetation known as ‘sufretex’ – large areas of surface roots mixed with leafy stems and interspersed with sandy ruts - a lovely cocktail for a bumpy ride and bouncy shots! The most common question in the camera car would be “any sufretex coming?”

Thankfully, aside from a few holes this particular morning was largely sufretex free. To some extent you have to just go for it and see what happens though, all I said to Ason was “try and keep the lead animal in my window frame and take whichever direction you think is smoothest” – this is easier said than done at 45mph!

The clan were soon into full chase mode, which is unbelievably fast. Within a minute they had caught up with the Zebra who were straight into fight or flight – the stallion was formidable and always stayed at the back to try and protect the herd with bites and kicks, all whilst running at their top speed. The clan would take it in turns to lead but had to be wary of the stallion, a kick could be fatal. Hyenas have stamina on their side, and they seem to have the ability to run for as long as is necessary – their tank never seems to empty. The chase went on for a kilometre or two and with a lot of dust being backlit by the rising sun, it made for dramatic shots.

Towards the end of the chase the zebra ran straight into a herd of wildebeest, causing even more chaos and distraction, which ultimately gave the Zebra a good opportunity to make a break for the forest that surrounds Liuwa. Once they reached the safety of the forest we had to stop as it was too difficult to follow, and the hyenas also gave up shortly after, heading off to sleep under a tree nearby. Even for Hyena, Zebra are tough animals to wear down!

After the car stopped, Ason and I just looked at each other, laughed and Ason said “do they do this everyday?” ….absolutely not! Coffee?