Bugs! (2003)

Director:

Mike Slee

Writers:

Abby Aron (writer)
Mike Slee (writer)

Release Date:

3 October 2003 (UK)

Genre:

Short | Documentary

Plot:

A film about the various insects in Borneo's rainforest.

Plot Keywords:

Praying Mantis | Animal | Butterfly | IMAX | Insect

Awards:

2 wins & 3 nominations

US Showtimes:

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Cast

Judi Dench

...

Narrator (voice)

Directed by
Mike Slee

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Abby Aron		writer
Mike Slee		writer

Produced by
Jonathan Barker	....	executive producer
Andrew J. Curtis	....	co-executive producer
Alexandra Ferguson	....	producer
Peter Fudakowski	....	executive producer
Simon Relph	....	executive producer
Phil Streather	....	producer
Tim Wellspring	....	associate producer

Original Music by
John Lunn

Cinematography by
Peter Parks		(wildlife)
Sean MacLeod Phillips

Film Editing by
Peter Beston

Production Design by
Nigel Pollock

Production Management
Rick Gordon	....	post-production supervisor
Annie Toth	....	post-production manager

Art Department
William Honey	....	greens designer

Sound Department
Tim Archer	....	sound re-recording mixer
Brian Eimer	....	sound re-recording mixer
Grant McAlpine	....	sound editor
Regan Ramos	....	sound effects editor
Jonathan Rimas	....	sound
Robert Turi	....	foley recordist
Tim White	....	location sound recordist

Visual Effects by
Rick Lopez	....	digital film I/O supervisor: Imagica USA
Alan G. Markowitz	....	visual effects supervisor
Fay McConkey	....	visual effects producer
Charlie Noble	....	visual effects supervisor
Katherine Roberts	....	visual effects: Double Negative
Jelena Stojanovic	....	digital compositor
Gert Van Dermeersch	....	digital compositor
Jun Watanabe	....	digital effects artist

Camera and Electrical Department
Michael Chambers	....	gaffer
Simon De Glanville	....	second assistant camera

Music Department
Paul Golding	....	music scoring engineer

Other crew
Gillian Burke	....	specialist researcher
Oli Saunders	....	IT manager
Warwick Vardy	....	insect wrangler

Production Companies

• Film Consortium, The
• Principal Large Format
• SK Films
• The UK Film & TV Production Company PLC
• UK Film Council

Distributors

• Film Consortium, The (UK)
• Giant Screen Bugs
• SK Films

Special Effects

• Double Negative (visual effects)

Other Companies

• Drew & Co. Ltd.  legal services
• Terminix  presented by

Also Known As:

Bugs! 3D (UK)

Runtime:

40 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.44 : 1

Sound Mix:

Sonics-DDP

Certification:

UK:U | Australia:G

Filming Locations:

Sarawak, Malaysia

Company:

Film Consortium, The

Movie Connections:

References Microcosmos: Le peuple de l'herbe (1996)

Good, but I would've liked a different approach better

I enjoyed the film, and the IMAX 3D effects were very impressive. However, instead of just focusing on the lifecycle of two creatures and giving the occasional side note about others, I would've preferred more of an overall survey about insect life. The lifecycle isn't all that fascinating (unless you're seeing it for the first time, which most viewers probably aren't), it's the visuals that we want to see. A more survey-style presentation that allowed us to get a look at a variety of interesting bugs would be more satisfying in this regard.

Two of my favorites, visually, were the dueling rhinoceros beetles, and the praying mantis shedding its carapace whole.