Mal Wolfe, president of Lobo Productions, has also found his calling. Wolfe is a producer and director with more than 25 years of experience in motion picture and television production, including work in the 16mm, 35mm and 70mm formats, the latter productions including The Greatest Places, Ring of Fire, Search for the Great Sharks and The Great Barrier Reef.
While chasing after dangerous sharks, dodging volcanic eruptions and photographing in some of the world's most exotic and dangerously remote locations, Wolfe has had more than his share of hazardous and potentially deadly encounters. "When we were filming the great white sharks in South Australia, we had specially designed shark cages that would allow a clear, 360-degree view of the encounter being filmed," recalls Wolfe. "The cage was made of Lexan, a strong Plexiglas-like material. We knew a great white shark could eat its way through the cage if it really wanted to, and we had a really close call during production. Rodney Fox, our associate producer and cameraman, was filming down in the cage when a great white tried to eat the cage. The shark actually severed an air hose and completely tore off a positioning line and buoy. We lost all communication with Rodney for a very long and tense five minutes. Fortunately, he survived the experience shaken but unscathed."
Filming volcanoes is another one of Wolfe's specialties, and he had a few too-close encounters of the deadly kind while working on the large-format film Ring of Fire. "The most difficult thing about filming volcanic eruptions is the volatility and unpredictability of the situation," he says. "There are two basic types of eruptions: ash and lava. The gases emitted from these can be deadly. If you end up downwind of a gas bubble, it will be your last shot ever. Period. During our last production, we were spattered by hot molten lava. I lost several camera lenses to the lava spray. High-magnitude earthquakes are also a big danger. During production, we stayed in hotels that everyone else had evacuated. The ground shook so hard that our beds literally danced across the room."
Wolfe's latest Imax film, The Greatest Places, took him to some of the world's most beautiful and challenging locales, including the Amazon River, Greenland, Iguazú Falls, Madagascar, the Namibe Desert, Botswana's Okavango Delta and the plateaus of Tibet.
How does he prepare for these excursions? Wolfe shares some of his own preparation and safety tips: "In addition to the basics — an equipment and crew checklist, medical supplies, med-evac insurance, and health and safety precautions — I always prepare and then prepare some more. You can never be too prepped in this business. In addition to the usual concerns of a film shoot, we are in remote locations with sometimes unknown and extreme conditions. These are usually in unstable environments politically, and we are always at the mercy of disease, injury and bad food. It sounds funny to think of food as a factor, but if the food is bad or spoiled, morale suffers and it can affect the safety of the entire unit.
"Other production wild cards are the governments of these locations. I always make my government and civilian contacts ahead of time, secure presidential, military and civic permits, and then prepare a 'gratuities' budget to get us through the rough spots. I've filmed all over the world and have learned that people are people wherever you go. You generally run into problems when you have to deal with foreign governments and bureaucrats. Unless you are prepared, things can get messy and entangled really quickly."
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