PLANET FUNGI GOES GHOST HUNTING Last week Catherine finished editing two fabulous sequences in our new documentary Follow the Rain. Here are some of the highlights. We also have some big news.
Last June we started hearing weather reports that unusually heavy rains were sweeping across the desert country of South Australia. So we packed the car and followed that rain, driving 2,000 kilometres to the Flinders Ranges.
This is a place of extreme weather. Droughts and intense summer heat waves are regular events. And then when it does rain, it can transform this landscape, triggering the desert to bloom.
So you may be wondering why a couple of fungi hunters would travel to such a harsh land. Surely there’s no fungi. But the truth is that few desert plants would survive without their fungal partners.
And as the land soaks up the showers, the underground network of life seizes the moment for renewal and rebirth. Both the decomposing and the mycorrhizal fungi send forth their mushrooms, reproductive bodies housing trillions of spores.
We couldn’t believe our luck when we found some excellent specimens of the desert shaggy mane or Podaxis pistillaris, a classic desert mushroom found all over the world.
This fungus seizes the small window of ideal conditions to send up its mushroom loaded with millions of spores.
The find allows us the opportunity in FOLLOW THE RAIN to explore how mushroom spores are rain makers. Using some of Catherine’s exquisite slow motion footage we show how nature’s engineering helps mushroom spores seed clouds to create the showers so essential, to life on this planet, and to us.
CROWDFUNDING UPDATE As many of you know we have been running a crowdfunding campaign to raise the funding we need for those big ticket final post-production processes - music composition and production, colour grade, sound mix and graphics.
Over the past two months our wonderful supporters have helped us raise nearly half of what we need $18,000 of $43,000. We are also planning an education impact strategy on completion of the documentary.
Are you an individual or business who could benefit from a tax deductible donation in the lead up to the end of the financial year?
And you can still donate via our Go Fund Me Crowdfunding campaign gofund.me/3fa57525
GHOST MUSHROOM LANE The second story Catherine edited this week is Planet Fungi’s visit to Ghost Mushroom Lane - their mission to find and time-lapse - in the field - the local bioluminescent species Omphalotus nidiformis.
Have you ever wondered why mushrooms glow in the dark? In this sequence we share some of the wow science behind this strange behaviour, and our technique for capturing it in time-lapse footage.
Planet Fungi
PLANET FUNGI GOES GHOST HUNTING
Last week Catherine finished editing two fabulous sequences in our new documentary Follow the Rain. Here are some of the highlights. We also have some big news.
Last June we started hearing weather reports that unusually heavy rains were sweeping across the desert country of South Australia. So we packed the car and followed that rain, driving 2,000 kilometres to the Flinders Ranges.
This is a place of extreme weather. Droughts and intense summer heat waves are regular events. And then when it does rain, it can transform this landscape, triggering the desert to bloom.
So you may be wondering why a couple of fungi hunters would travel to such a harsh land. Surely there’s no fungi. But the truth is that few desert plants would survive without their fungal partners.
And as the land soaks up the showers, the underground network of life seizes the moment for renewal and rebirth. Both the decomposing and the mycorrhizal fungi send forth their mushrooms, reproductive bodies housing trillions of spores.
We couldn’t believe our luck when we found some excellent specimens of the desert shaggy mane or Podaxis pistillaris, a classic desert mushroom found all over the world.
This fungus seizes the small window of ideal conditions to send up its mushroom loaded with millions of spores.
The find allows us the opportunity in FOLLOW THE RAIN to explore how mushroom spores are rain makers. Using some of Catherine’s exquisite slow motion footage we show how nature’s engineering helps mushroom spores seed clouds to create the showers so essential, to life on this planet, and to us.
Watch the trailer here - documentaryaustralia.com.au/project/follow-the-rai…
CROWDFUNDING UPDATE
As many of you know we have been running a crowdfunding campaign to raise the funding we need for those big ticket final post-production processes - music composition and production, colour grade, sound mix and graphics.
Over the past two months our wonderful supporters have helped us raise nearly half of what we need $18,000 of $43,000. We are also planning an education impact strategy on completion of the documentary.
Can you help us raise 100% of what we need?
This week Documentary Australia have come on board to support the project by offering tax deductibility status on any Australian or US donations. documentaryaustralia.com.au/project/follow-the-rai…
Are you an individual or business who could benefit from a tax deductible donation in the lead up to the end of the financial year?
And you can still donate via our Go Fund Me Crowdfunding campaign gofund.me/3fa57525
GHOST MUSHROOM LANE
The second story Catherine edited this week is Planet Fungi’s visit to Ghost Mushroom Lane - their mission to find and time-lapse - in the field - the local bioluminescent species Omphalotus nidiformis.
Have you ever wondered why mushrooms glow in the dark? In this sequence we share some of the wow science behind this strange behaviour, and our technique for capturing it in time-lapse footage.
For more photos and a gallery of Flinders Ranges fungi go to www.planetfungi.movie/news/planet-fungi-goes-ghost…
2 years ago (edited) | [YT] | 111