The smallest creatures at Paint Rock are getting top billing in international nature
documentaries.
Paint Rock’s exceptional display of fireflies — lighting bugs, as we like to call them
down here — are the latest creatures to headline in a documentary created by an
internationally respected film crew.
Ann Prum’s Coneflower Studios spent almost a week at the Paint Rock Forest
Research Center in June, filming the lightning bug extravaganza at various sites in
Paint Rock Valley. The footage will play a significant role in a PBS special, Bugs
that Rule the World, a four-part series on the world of insects.
Ann and cinematographer Russell Kaye arrived in Paint Rock in a van loaded with
high tech photography equipment, and spent a couple of days touring with our
Research Center team to find the best possible spots for filming. But of course,
lights, camera, action has an entirely different meaning when filming fireflies – the
only light that matters is the light of the fireflies, and the crew had to find areas free
of the light pollution of the region’s growing cities. The undeveloped coves of Paint
Rock are a preserve for nature’s nights, where stars and fireflies can still glow in exceptional numbers.
Ann Prum’s Coneflower Studios spent almost a week at the Paint Rock Forest
Research Center in June, filming the lightning bug extravaganza at various sites in
Paint Rock Valley. The footage will play a significant role in a PBS special, Bugs
that Rule the World, a four-part series on the world of insects
This isn’t the first time we’ve had documentaries on Paint Rock insect life. How did
such small creatures come to attract big name filmmakers? It’s largely because two
of the nation’s top entomologists and nature photographers, Kendra and John
Abbott, directed them here. John is the chief curator of the University of Alabama
Museums. Kendra is a Blount Scholar working with the University’s School of
Communication, and also a member of the research center’s Science Advisory
Council. Because of their skills, they move in heady circles. And fortunately, they
saw the potential of Paint Rock as a major international resource years ago, and
began photographing here.
That’s how Silverback Films – David Attenborough’s go-to film crew from Brighton,
England – became one of the research center’s first customers. Their footage of
Paint Rock’s tiger beetles and diverse trapdoor spiders has already made its way
onto Netflix. And the Abbott’s influence is largely why Coneflower Studios came to
photograph the fireflies
Here’s Coneflower’s description of their current project:
“A handful of scientists and enthusiasts around the globe (will) explore the beauty
and complexity of bugs, discovering cunning adaptations, bizarre behaviors, and
why insects are known as “the little things that run the world.” Investigations into a
worldwide insect “apocalypse” highlight the critical roles bugs play on the planet
and the bleak picture of a future without them.
From pollinators like moths, bees and butterflies that bring color to the field and
food to our plates, to tiny insect assassins to the clean-up crews that work the land
and purify the soil, insects have been running the world since before the time of the
dinosaurs. Stunning macro cinematography reveals their color, complex body plans
and surprisingly charming lives in otherworldly detail, from intricate mating rituals to
staggering physical transformations straight out of science fiction. A glimpse into our
long history of dependence on insects reveals that even in some of the planet’s
most remote corners, this relationship – thousands of years old – may now be on
the verge of collapse. Bugs that Rule the World takes viewers on a fantastic voyage
of discovery, revealing that although they always seem to be buzzing around us, we
hardly know our fellow Earthlings at all.”
We are very grateful to the Abbotts and the Coneflower film crew for allowing us to
be a part of their work. We appreciate their commitment to educating viewers on the
necessity of the little guys surrounding us and making our earth livable. If you wish
to support them then you can either keep an eye out for the release of the
documentary “Bugs that Rule the World,” you can go to their websites (linked
below), or you can check in with us regularly and we will make a post announcing its
release.
The Abbotts have a website, https://www.abbottnature.com/about-us where you
can see more of their work.
For more on Ann and Russell:
https://coneflowerstudios.com/
https://russellkaye.com