Disney World, Disneyland, I’ve been to them all. But I have never been to a national park before. I’ve heard they were beautiful, but I was excited to see what they really looked like and to learn more about the beauty hidden in America. On June 28th, 2016, I went to the Ontario Science Centre to watch the IMAX movie America Wild: National Parks Adventure.
When we first got there we were an hour early, so we went to check out what was going on upstairs. People were putting on a Birds of Prey show. There were falcons, owls, and even a bald eagle. All of them except for the owls were wearing eye masks. When I asked the person who was handling them why that was, she told me that the birds had eyesight way better than ours and they wanted to eat each other. She said that if they had the eye masks on, then they can’t fight because they can’t see each other. Also, with the eye masks on, they can’t fly off because they can’t see where they are going. I thought that was really cool. I got to have a falcon and the bald eagle on my hand. The staff gave me a glove and put a piece of meat in it. Then they caught the birds’ attention and they swooped right onto my hand and ate the meat. They were so heavy!
After that, we went outside and watched the stunt bike riders. They did all sorts of cool tricks on their bikes, and even went to the top of a hill and rode down the stairs! Then we went back inside and got popcorn and soft drinks from the reception. Mmmm… how good it tasted! My mom decided not to ruin my life by stealing more of my popcorn, so she got her own bucket. We walked into the theatre, and I was re-greeted by the familiar glow of the OMNIMAX theatre. I hadn’t been there in such a long time! We were really early, so we waited and listened to the soft music—so quiet that you could barely hear it. Several people, including Shaun MacGillivray, the producer of the film, went to the podium and gave speeches. The movie begin right after that.
The film was awesome. We felt like we were flying as we soared above the national parks, the camera capturing every fine detail of the beauty in the parks. Every sparkle of the snow on the mountain tops, every drop of dew on each blade of grass, every line on the petals of the cherry blossom tree. We felt like we were climbing with the explorers, on tall mountains or on icy waterfalls. Everyone felt the movie was just too short!
After the movie, I had the privilege of interviewing Rachel Pohl, one of the explorers in the film, and Shaun MacGillivray, the producer of the movie. When I asked Rachel what part of the movie she was least comfortable with, she told me that it was ice climbing in Michigan, at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. She said that she actually started crying because it was so cold, and she was so upset that she couldn’t climb it and she thought that she was ruining the shot. And then when they put it in the movie, she was surprised.
“But I think that it was a really important thing that they did, because it shows that it’s okay to mess up and it’s okay if you can’t do something,” she said. Rachel said that her favourite park out of all of the ones that she visited was Bryce Canyon because it was so beautiful and it felt so magical. She said that when the sun hits the orange and white rocks, it makes them look like glass. And part of the park is actually called “Fairy Land” because you feel like you could actually see a fairy right around the corner. Rachel Pohl has actually considered going to American Ninja Warrior! She said that she doesn’t train for the rock climbing, but she would probably have to train to go there. I bet she would make it pretty far!
When I interviewed Shaun, he said that the most fun part of being a producer was to go out on location and work with Rachel Pohl, Conrad Anker, and Max Lowe, the stars of the film, and watch them do amazing things like climb up a frozen waterfall. I learned that a documentary producer’s job is to manage the money and the funding for the movie, lay out all the jobs for everyone, and pick the topic for the movie. I found his job is very similar to the animation producers I interviewed before. He said that it took them about six months to find the characters and the right script and then about six months to edit. Lastly, I asked him if there were any parts that he filmed but left out after. He said that there were always parts like that. They shot about 100 hours of footage for the 40 minute film. The hard part was to pick which ones to keep and which ones to lose.
This experience was so much fun. I learned so much and the movie was just so wonderful. Now I have to visit the parks and I’m so excited to go back and watch the movie again with my whole family!
