WALKING WITH DINOSAURS

WALKING WITH DINOSAURS is a classic underdog story about Patchi, an inquisitive, optimistic and endearing Pachyrhinosaurus.

 

The audience joins this plucky dinosaur on his journey to adulthood, no easy feat in the Cretaceous era! As he and his family embark on their annual migration, Patchi faces formidable challenges, both from his siblings and from fearsome predators, including the cunning scavenger Troodon and the terrifying and ruthless Gorgon, a Gorgosaurus and the villain of the story, who leads a pack of fearsome hunters perpetually on the lookout for their next meal.  

 

Set in Alaska about four million years before the Tyrannosaurus rex, WALKING WITH DINOSAURS is a rousing, compelling adventure full of humour and heartwarming moments as you see our hero Patchi draw on all of his courage, optimism and tenacity, risking his life for his loved ones and finding the inner strength he needs to survive.

 

As we follow his epic journey we meet a cast of colourful characters. There's Alex (an Alexornis), a colourful and gregarious bird, who likes to hold court. Scowler, Patchi's ambitious older brother, intent on becoming the leader of the herd and Juniper, a feisty female Pachyrhinosaurus who is swept into the adventure.

 

Informed by recent paleontological findings, the film brings to life newly discovered dinosaurs in a unique and highly authentic way. Directors Neil Nightingale and Barry Cook have re-created one of the last great dinosaur eras in stunning detail, bringing to life on screen a world filled with fascinating creatures such as Pterosaurs, gigantic flying reptiles that once soared through Earth's skies and Edmontosaurus, huge duck billed dinosaurs that could only be done justice on the big screen. There are no humans, this is a world populated entirely by prehistoric animals. The production of WALKING WITH DINOSAURS has been accomplished with an astonishing degree of accuracy. Using cutting edge technology, the filmmakers brought paleontologists together with world-class animators and paleo-artists to bring incredible life-like dinosaurs into theatres as they've never been captured before; this is family entertainment at its best.

WALKING WITH DINOSAURS is inspired by the triple Emmy award winning BBC television series of the same name, which became a global hit a decade ago and went on to become a popular live arena show seen by more than 8 million people around the world.

 

Barry Cook and Neil Nightingale discuss WALKING WITH DINOSAURS.

 

WHY WE LOVE DINOSAURS

Neil Nightingale:

'Dinosaurs are the most amazing creatures that ever existed on our planet. In four and a half billion years of earth's existence there have been no creatures that are more dramatic or scarier. They fascinate us because they represent a sort of safe danger. Whether they would be as popular if they existed today and were stomping down the high street, I don't know, but the fact that they are big, scary monsters that no longer threaten us today is part of the appeal. You can be scared of them but not too scared, because they are long gone.  And it is not just dinosaurs we are talking about; it is The Age of the Dinosaurs. It is amazing that there was a time when the world was completely dominated by dinosaurs."  

 

Barry Cook:

'Children love dinosaurs because we can't see them in our backyard or at the zoo, or in the wild. There are none left of course and I think that's part of the fascination. It is a mystery that we want to know more about. What were these creatures like?  Some of these flying Pterosaurs are as big as giraffes. Wow! That's something to imagine. Another thing that is fascinating is that although dinosaurs represent the oldest creatures on the planet, to us as humans, they're the newest animals on the planet, because they are new to the human experience."

 

THE PLOT: A CLASSIC UNDERDOG STORY

Neil Nightingale:

'This is family entertainment inspired by what we actually know about dinosaurs. We have created a fictional story, set in Alaska approximately 70 million years ago. The film follows a baby Pachyrhinosaurus called Patchi. He's the last one to hatch, so he's the runt of the litter, the underdog. The story goes from the first few days in his nest and follows him growing up in this extraordinary world with all the challenges that face him. It's about the adventures he has, the friends he meets, and the dangers he goes through. He is curious, caring, and never gives up."

 

Barry Cook:

'After a big forest fire, Patchi and his brother Scowler's family go missing and the two boys are left alone to fend for themselves. They have to cross through territory where the terrifying Gorgosaurus live. Every year, Gorgosaurus wait for the migrating herds to pass through their areas, so that they can have their feast. The bottom line for our dinosaurs is: how do I survive in this world?"

THE PERSONALITIES

Barry Cook:

'Patchi is the most vulnerable creature because he's the tiniest, he's an unlikely hero. Yet he's the most curious of the whole group. While he grows and situations change him as a character, he stays very loyal to his family and to the ones he loves.

 

Scowler, Patchi's older brother, is stronger and very single-minded. He is absolutely focused on becoming the new leader of the herd. 

 

Gorgosaurus are dangerous but outstanding looking. They're the villains of the story. Alex, the Alexornis bird is the classic sidekick. He and Patchi form a bond that lasts throughout the film."

 

ANIMAL ATTRACTION

Barry Cook:

'Patchi meets a girl, Juniper.  He wants to get to know her. Maybe you would call it a romance. I like to call it an animal attraction. There's a brief meeting early in the beginning of the story, and later (after a big tragedy) Patchi meets Juniper again. But can they be together? The film shows how the strongest males end up with the girl. No matter how much Patchi wants to be with Juniper, it doesn't work that way in the animal kingdom.  The herd culture insists that Juniper must be loyal to the leader, even though she yearns to be loyal to Patchi".

 

SIBLING RIVALRY

Neil Nightingale:

'Scowler is Patchi's big brother and he's bigger than all the rest. He's the typical alpha male. He is not very sensitive and trudges his way around a bit arrogantly. He thinks he can do it all himself. He keeps his position by intimidating everyone else. He is bigger, stronger, and worldlier than Patchi, so he dominates and bullies him."

 

CLASSIC ADVENTURE

Barry Cook:

'It's an amazing adventure story which starts with Patchi exploring on his own when he's young. Then Patchi has his first migration, which is akin to a big family vacation. Everybody gets up to go off into the unknown. The herd's migration route is fraught with danger including predators like the Gorgosaurus.  The goal for the herd is to reach their winter grounds beneath the Aurora Borealis (the Northern lights) before winter sets in.  There is a lot of conflict that makes you root for the hero. The story asks: why do we struggle to survive? We fight to survive for the ones we love, our families and our friends."  

 

THE ERA: LIVING IN THE LATE CRETACEOUS PERIOD

Neil Nightingale:

'Dinosaurs went extinct 65 million years ago, and the late Cretaceous period, one of the last great flourishing eras of the dinosaurs, was towards the end of the age of the dinosaurs. There were many different species of dinosaurs, birds and insects, so there were lots of characters for our story. These characters are not as well known as T-Rex, Triceratops or Stegosaurus. Here is a story with a range of different dinosaurs that most people have never heard of.

Though they lived in the Arctic, the world was much warmer than it is now, much more like the climate of British Columbia or Scotland."  But they had 24-hour sunshine in the summer and 24-hour darkness in the winter.  

 

THE TIME IS RIGHT:  LATEST DISCOVERIES

Neil Nightingale:

'In Alaska, the rock formations have preserved an amazing diversity of dinosaurs. Many more fossils and new species have been discovered in the last ten or fifteen years. So there were new stories to tell. They have discovered that the Pachyrhinosaurus all lived and interacted together. Over the last couple of decades, huge bone beds have been discovered in Alaska and elsewhere with hundreds and hundreds of the same leg bones, giving a very strong indication that they lived in herds. Also it is interesting that more fossils have been found with feather impressions, so we now know that a lot of dinosaurs were covered in feathers, and that's a recent discovery.  All these things reflect relatively recent paleontological discoveries. Incidentally it's not surprising there are more dinosaur finds in North America than anywhere else in the world, because there are more people looking in North America. But, surprise, surprise"guess where the big new dinosaur finds are?  China.

 

Dinosaurs were everywhere but of course dinosaur bones only got fossilized under particular conditions, so you don't get a continuous record of the 160 or so million year history of dinosaurs everywhere. For example, there aren't many dinosaurs found in jungles today. That's not because there aren't any dinosaurs in the rocks, it's just because there are lots of trees in the way. You tend to find dinosaurs in more barren environments."

 

THE 3D EXPERIENCE

Barry Cook:

'3D immerses you in the world of the dinosaurs, so you feel like you are really there and not just watching a movie. It brings tremendous fun to the experience, especially for a family. Kids love being able to reach out and nearly touch the dinosaurs. The beak of a Pterosaur comes onto your lap.  A lot of people say making a film in 3D is twice the work; I would argue that it's three times the work.  But the results are great."

 

Neil Nightingale

'Taking a major 3D film crew into the wilds of Alaska and the remote parts of New Zealand was a huge undertaking because of the precision with which you have to shoot the background plates [live action scenic background filmed on location] and the data you have to record. You're then hooking those background plates into an animation computer, which has to be able to read the three dimensional space. It can then accurately put the dinosaurs into that space, so they're not sliding all over the ground. Evergreen Studios and BBC Earth had an ambitious vision for the film and partnered with 'state-of-the-art" technological innovator, Cameron Pace Group (CPG). It is advanced technology, and James Cameron's company did all the 3D background plate shooting. It was very meticulous work that had to be done shot by shot."

 

DAILY DINOSAUR LIFE

Neil Nightingale:

'It depended on what time of year it was. In the summer the sun wouldn't have set, so they would've just stuffed their faces the whole day, eating!  They'd de-trunk branches and bushes. Then when autumn came, they moved off. Every day they would've been walking endlessly and hoping they didn't bump into a Gorgosaurus. Probably, the Gorgosaurus waited in one place for a big herd to come through and obviously that was bonanza. That was dinnertime. 

 

During the winter, when it was all dark I don't think there would have been lot of vegetation. They had the wonderful Northern Lights and the moon and the stars, but it would've been pretty cold.  That was a time of really hunkering down and sitting it out for the winter, until the spring came again. So life, rather than being governed by the day, would be governed by seasons because of these extreme seasonal climates."

 

 

BRINGING THE DINOSAURS TO LIFE: THE CUTTING EDGE TECHNOLOGY  

Barry Cook:

'The film looks like live action, but all the characters are animated. We designed everything from scratch, but we had fossils and artists' renderings to guide us. Though I had used computer graphics technology for MULAN and ARTHUR CHRISTMAS, this film combined CG characters with live action footage. It took imagination to transpose characteristics such as different colors in the hide, scales, and plumage onto the dinosaurs. We gave Gorgon a light belly, but a dark skin with iridescent blue scales, inspired by a real lizard. Neil and I consulted with a paleontologist to scale up that lizard to a big dinosaur.  We have the most amazing, blue, iridescent Gorgosaurus, which looks fantastic on the screen. To design the small Hesperonychus, I got together with Simon Whiteley, the production designer for Animal Logic [the animation and digital effects company] in Sydney, where all the animation was done. We came across photographs of a golden pheasant, which we used because of its great coloring. The dinosaurs relate to creatures that are still around today, so our characters look even more real.  

 

Animal Logic did a great job. Every character is built virtually; it's all happening inside a computer. A character is first designed from its shape and form and the way it will look on the outside, as if you were sculpting a dinosaur. Computer graphics models are then rigged on the inside with a skeleton, which operates like a skeletal system. The animators can move these arms and legs and spines to create realistic movements. A muscle system is built between the skin and the bones of the animal. When a muscle flexes, it gets bigger; when a muscle relaxes, it thins out. Our animals look much more realistic than other dinosaurs that have been depicted on the screen before."

 

Neil Nightingale:

'We built the dinosaurs from the bones, using drawings that the paleontologists drew up. Then, we layered on the muscles from where we knew the muscle scars [on the fossils] were. We worked out how they would actually walk.  We discovered a lot about how they moved by simply basing our computer models on the real bones and on how the muscles attach. Afterwards, we layered on the skin. One of the things I love is that you see the muscles moving under the skin of our dinosaurs. You see their skin rippling and their scales attached to the skin, moving independently. The audience can see the back of the calf of a big Pachyrhinosaurus that is running; the muscles are jiggling up and down, just as they do when a human runs. With the Pterosaurs, we did lots of experiments with their wing motion and how they took off. You can't believe that a creature so big could ever fly. This level of detail in computer animation has only just been possible in the last few years."

 

ENTERTAINMENT. . . IN THE REAL WORLD OF DINOSAURS

Neil Nightingale:

'These animals do the most extraordinary things. You won't believe what they do. They are amazing.  So first and foremost everyone will be hugely entertained, but people also like to learn curious and amazing facts. You will find out the names of all these different dinosaurs you've never heard of. You will find out who were the predators, who were the prey and who were the ones that almost died. You will learn about that world and how they lived."

 

For people who want to learn even more, the BBC has created a great website. There's also an encyclopedia app, and a wonderful interactive game. Leveraging the latest technology, our partners Evergreen Studios created a 'Photo Adventure" App that allows consumers to connect virtually with the world of the dinosaurs and share across Social Networks. There are layers and layers and layers behind the movie, so you can go on much more personal journeys to find out more about these dinosaurs in great detail."

 

Barry Cook:

'The main goal is entertainment and creating characters that are relatable. We wanted to keep it fun. You will come out of the film knowing a lot about these dinosaurs, but I don't think you'll be very conscious of learning as you watch the film. You will just be enjoying it and picking up information along the way."

 

CO DIRECTING THE FILM

Neil Nightingale:

'Barry and I both have different expertise so the whole was greater than the sum of its parts. With my knowledge of wildlife and experience of natural history production and Barry's background in animation and feature films, we complemented each other perfectly for this unique production."

 

Barry Cook:

'Neil was already on the project when I came in. We're from two totally different worlds of filmmaking, but we formed a great partnership. We have footage in the movie that really does stand up to the best of BBC Earth. We also have characters and stories that feel like the best kind of family entertainment.  We have a great respect for one another."

 

AND FINALLY...

Barry Cook:

'This is a really great, epic adventure story about a kid (Patchi) who becomes a hero. And the film will have some of the most realistic dinosaurs ever seen on the screen."

 

Neil Nightingale:

 'What do audiences have in store? The most amazing dinosaur experience of all time."