Who is Earth-Touch?
Earth-touch is a wildlife documentary company based in South Africa and funded out of the United States.
Over the last two years
Earth-Touch has pioneered a rapid filming and production cycle using dedicated crews in the field, High Definition cameras and satellites. Thus enabling wildlife to be filmed, packaged and broadcast to global audiences within 48 hours of it being shot. From these daily feeds, Earth-Touch currently produces the following broadcast programming:
- Half-hour 'Wild Touch' programmes for SABC 2, five days a week, South Africa, the content of which was all shot in the last 48 hours.
- A daily, five-minute filler for Channel 10 in Australia, seven days a week.
- A half-hour highlights package for Channel 10 in Australia, which repeats roughly twice a day during the week.
- For MNet, two weekly 57 minute shows on their new HD channel. Show one is a Earth-Touch weekly highlights package, which showcases footage shot that week, and the second show is a compilation of some of the best footage from my extensive archive. Both are broadcast during prime time, the first from 6pm to 7pm on a Sunday night, and the second from 7.30 to 8.30 on Tuesday night.
- In addition, we provide 100 minutes of filler material every two to three weeks. Each filler is five minutes in duration and will be sprinkled on the HD channel.
In the New Media space, Earth-Touch 'narrowcasts' in a number of ways:
- All of the daily crew feeds are available on www.earth-touch.com, which currently hosts over 600 individual clips, with roughly three new clips being added daily.
- The same clips are available for viewing and download on a number of new media distribution platforms, including VUZE, YouTube
- Every week a highlights package is made available via RSS through Apples iTunes, Miro and the Earth-touch site. The HD version of this feed currently has around 3000 subscribers, who collectively have downloaded over 100 000 individual podcasts, primarily in the United States.
With five crews around the southern African region constantly in the field streaming High Definition footage back to the production facility in Durban, Earth-Touch has also built up an extensive HD archive of animal behaviour in Southern Africa, arguably one of the biggest of its kind in existence.
Feel free to contact us for more information:
7 Poland Street, London, W1F 8PU, United Kingdom37 7th Street, Corner 4th Avenue, Linden, Johannesburg, 2195, South Africa
4 Sunbury Crescent, Sunbury Park, La Lucia Ridge, 4051, South Africa
PO Box 2454, Saxonwold, 2132
Tel: +27 (0)11 446 7000 or +27 (0)31 583 9300
info@earth-touch.com
http://www.earth-touch.com
Earth-Touch crews
Barry Skinstad
A free diving specialist, fortunate enough to do and see the things underwater that most of us never will. Barry's knowledge of the Southern African coastline is second to none.
Brad Bestelink
Cameraman and bushman, Brad is a Botswana native living and working in the Okavango Delta. He swears by the maxim “loving what you do is happiness, doing what you love is freedom”. You can (very occasionally) take Brad out of the bush but you cannot take the bush out of Brad.
Borris von Schoenebeck
Borris has worked extensively with numerous corporate organizations such as Unilever, Dunlop, Spar, etc, as well as created his own advertising agency. His passion for film and capturing the beauty of the natural environment has taken him out of the corporate world and brought him to Earth-Touch.
Darryl Saffer
Darryl has been observing nature in various capacities since he was very young: first as a typical Texan boy, fishing and hunting; and later, when he became aware that the natural world could not be taken for granted, as an artist and sculptor and finally as a filmmaker.
Darryl Sweetland
Darryl enjoys exploring the forests of Thailand and has an intimate knowledge of Asian wildlife, particularly snakes. After graduating in biology, he worked in genetics, horticulture, landscaping and photography. Since moving to video only two years ago, he has been able to tell stories in new way.
Graeme Duane
Having worked in the film industry for years, Graeme is one of the most experienced underwater cameramen in the world. His fascination with the sea translates beautifully into the footage he produces.
Graham Springer
A wandering vagabond soul happiest where others are not, as far as possible from the madding crowd. Graham is passionate about trying to create beautiful images of, and in some small way help preserve, our ever diminishing wilderness and its creatures.
Grant Brokensha
I come from a conservation background and grew up on the coast of Zululand. I have been diving for 10 years as well as captaining sailing vessels whilst traveling the world over the past 8 years. I have realized that we have one of the richest coastlines on the planet, and am currently filming and living in Sodwana Bay.
Jason Loughran
Since leaving the bush I've always wanted to return, and after receiving the job offer from Earth-Touch, a job I have always dreamed of having, I could not turn it down. I'm an avid stills photographer, my motto would have to be ‘If you need to go on a holiday to get away from your job, you are in the wrong line of work’.
Linda Louw
Camera Person. Nature addict. Desert soul. Has been involved in the television industry in Namibia for 18 years. Claustrophobic, gets a physical reaction when in big cities. Avoids traffic, shopping malls, queues. A scorching day under an acacia tree is still better than an airconditioned boardroom.
Nick Fenn
Nick Fenn is obsessed with wildlife and his surrounding environment and has been all over the world observing wildlife. A seasoned stills photographer in his own right Nick produces a large amount of the images you see on Earth-Touch.com
Paul Myburgh
Established camera director and producer, well know for his skills in storytelling through the medium of film. Paul has a huge amount of knowledge on indigenous Southern African species and cultures.
Pierre Minnie
Has been involved with the television industry for 26 years. He's a “wannabe” painter and organic gardener but has never managed to grow garlic successfully. Pierre drives an old car called Pearl and cannot understand earthlings' obsessions with chasing balls.
Life on Earth is not a documentary
The Earth is a living organism that responds to each day with a different subtlety. At any moment in time, a complex cycle of natural wonder is playing out somewhere on this planet: while a butterfly flits about in the Amazon, a lion roars in the African night, a great white shark moves silently through the Indian Ocean and a polar bear hunts in an icy landscape.
This intricate choreography of which we are a part is often hidden from view, taking place in a remote and undisturbed part of the planet. Earth-Touch strives to capture the best of this activity every day – quickly, simply, and in the highest quality possible, and then to relay it to audiences everywhere in the world, in the shortest time possible. We strive to convey truth and beauty at all times.
Earth-Touch puts people in touch with the Earth, now.
Earth-Touch’s mission is to celebrate the beauty of nature and to reflect what happens in the natural world truthfully and instantaneously. We are committed to respecting the environment and to scrupulously avoid harming or disturbing our subjects or their habitats.
