Saint Thomas Productions

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Saint Thomas Productions Société de production de films animaliers et environnementaux.

Techniques innovantes : ultra haute définition, stéréoscopie, effets spéciaux... Fondation dédiée à soutenir les projets scientifiques...

During the development of our "Spies of the Deep" series, as we were testing miniature deep sea cameras, some of our mai...
03/05/2023

During the development of our "Spies of the Deep" series, as we were testing miniature deep sea cameras, some of our main characters ( toothed cetaceans which feed on squids) just abandoned their favorite meal to the surface. Meet Architeuthis dux, the giant squid. This animals weights "only" 200 pounds. We will soon meet it in its natural environment... a cold and dark place, where the ambient pressure equals 60 times that of our atmosphee. More soon....

Got that sample ! Here is our photo-realistic take of Osiris Rex probe as it sampled asteroid Bennu in October, 2021. Th...
28/06/2022

Got that sample !

Here is our photo-realistic take of Osiris Rex probe as it sampled asteroid Bennu in October, 2021. This is a screen grab of our 2x1h series currently on air on CURIOSITY STREAM () and on ARTE on Sat, Aug, 6th, 10.30 pm (). This is publicized as the real science behind hit series "Don't look up".

Our labor of love ( it took us 4 years in the making) tackles the main 2 current topics: asteroid research and planetary defense. These are of great interest to scientists around the world and June 30 marks international Asteroid Day ()... it reminds the world of just how important these celestial objects are. They hold the keys to understanding the formation of the solar system, provide stepping stones we will utilize to explore our solar system, and occasionally... they hit our planet !

See https://www.space.com/asteroid-rush-documentary-curiosity-stream-trailer

The show will soon be available in immersive versions both in dome and 3D theatres, both in the physical world... and in the metaverse !



Another shark attack has just been reported in New Caledonia. See https://english.alarabiya.net/News/world/2021/04/25/Pa...
04/05/2021

Another shark attack has just been reported in New Caledonia. See https://english.alarabiya.net/News/world/2021/04/25/Paddleboarder-dies-after-shark-attack-off-Pacific-island for more details. As this article said, this happens after 24 sharks (mostly tiger and bull sharks) have been culled at the beginning of the year. It proves how ineffective this mitigation technique is, especially at a time when shark populations are dramatically crashing. Sharks are mostly scavengers, going for opportunistic meals. See our previous show shot in New Caledonia (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3D1_sRg22ms) that reveals the feeding habits of local sharks. However, an interesting solution is brought by Dr Eric CLUA, a scientist who knows the local sharks: he considers that sharks are individuals, and therefore should be treated as such. To identify a deviant shark ( "problem shark"), he reckons that CSI techniques should be deployed on location. A mix between DNA sampling and biopsy should then help to identify the problem individual. See the recent New York Times article on the subject (https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/01/science/problem-sharks-biteprinting.html), which explains it all. Other mitigation techniques involve restrictions based on the shark biology: no one should be allowed to do any water activities early morning or in the evening. All recent attacks occured just before sunset...We have the solution to leave peacefully along sharks. Politicians and executives must listen to science.

A filming car ? what a cool vantage point !In Kgalagadi Transfontier Park, on the shoot of the episode "African cats" fo...
27/03/2021

A filming car ? what a cool vantage point !

In Kgalagadi Transfontier Park, on the shoot of the episode "African cats" for "My wild cats" series (shot on RED HELIUM in 8K), our cameraman Robert Hofmeyr () met a curious young raptor definitely interested in the latest filming technology...

For more than half an hour, it uses the car as a perch near a waterhole to check at the surroundings. It was not even disturbed when the assistant (who heard some walking on the roof !) went out of the car to take a series of pictures...







Why cats love cameras' sound Rycotes ?On the shoot of our european episode of "My Wild Cats" series, the black and white...
26/03/2021

Why cats love cameras' sound Rycotes ?

On the shoot of our european episode of "My Wild Cats" series, the black and white tomcat "Felix" has developped a certain appetite for what looks like the back of a giant rat ! These male stray cats act like wild felids, forming coalitions of brothers or cousins to secure access to food or... females.

Filmed in UHD by on assignment





Happy international Women's day.We are very excited to share that we will be hosting a Q&A session today at 12 PM EST, 6...
08/03/2021

Happy international Women's day.

We are very excited to share that we will be hosting a Q&A session today at 12 PM EST, 6PM CET for a premiere of "NATURE THROUGH HER EYES", a original series.

The event is a screening of the various segments of the 4 part series, followed by a Questions and Answers led by the producer Jacqueline Farmer. This is an opportuity to network via the Jackson Wild Remo platform. Meet women in wildlife film making from all over the world: simply click and register via the link :

https://jacksonwildorg.typeform.com/to/cCHy8ZpR

The event has a capacity of 800 virtual guests, so make sure you RSVP as soon as possible.

Meet Vanessa Berlowitz , Yonola Viguerie Fiona Tande Sophie Lanfear Faith Briggs and more.




01/03/2021

Respect for the maverick girls !

While we usually don't show human characters in our blue chip wildlife docs, we felt surfing girls of the island of Fernando do Noronha deserve respect and on-time screen as some are braving insane waves in a life threatening chaos ! ⁠Despite the appearance, she is still alive: her glorious "duck dive" saved her life !
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How to catch swift fish when you are a slow lemon shark ? In the surf zone of the island of Fernando do Noronha, offshor...
27/02/2021

How to catch swift fish when you are a slow lemon shark ?

In the surf zone of the island of Fernando do Noronha, offshore Brazil, sardines seek refuge from predators in the shallows. While they risk stranding at any moment, 8 feet and 800 pound lemon sharks venture in this dangerous trench to try get catch these elusive fish.

After spending 3 consecutive years filming (freediving or using rebreathers) with these fascinating predators, we cracked their secrets and will reveal them in our upcoming "Sand Eating Shark" film to be aired this summer on National Geographic's Shark Fest.






Congratulation to all NASA engineers for PERSEVERANCE's safe landing ! We will be documenting the adventures of the rove...
19/02/2021

Congratulation to all NASA engineers for PERSEVERANCE's safe landing !

We will be documenting the adventures of the rover in its quest for past life on the red planet for the next 2 years. More soon....

Modelisation and texture
VFX thanks to






Another festival success. Our show is finalist to the international wildlife film festival / "This is what I was thin...
18/02/2021

Another festival success. Our show is finalist to the international wildlife film festival

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"This is what I was thinking when filming and editing this film on cephalopods. This class of molluscs, distant cousins of snails, have been reaching a form of intelligence very different from ours. From the abyss to the shallows, from Brazil to Australia through the shallows of the Philippines and the depths of California, I have been sharing their lives during 3 years to try to explain why their numbers are flourishing while those of most of the ocean predators are vanishing".

, director.

Thanks to our partners


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03/02/2021

Blue fin tunas at 1000 fps: how high can you fly ?

We have rigged a RIB with a special frame and a spring to host a heavy Phantom Flex 4K camera with a very long lens. Thanks to this unique set up, the camera operator does not have to carry the burden in choppy seas.

This pre-edited sequence with concept original soundtrack will be part of our next major show for Nat Geo's Shark Fest. The blue fin tunas hunting anchovies are only 3 years old animals. When they reach adult hood at the age of 6, they will weight more than 100 kg !





26/12/2020

Sharks can fly. Even lemon sharks.

This shot from our upcoming "Sand Eating Sharks" reveals an unexpected behaviour from a juvenile lemon shark. Once it captures a prey, the animal enters a phase of frenetic display to tear the flesh apart...

Our film will be premiered during next NAT GEO CHANNELS' "Shark Fest" in July 2021.

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23/12/2020

Hey surfers, you are not the only ones in the waves...

This shot from our upcoming "Sand Eating Sharks" reveals how adult lemon sharks are using the surf zone to hunt for their favorite prey: sardines.
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Our film will be premiered during next NAT GEO CHANNELS' "Shark Fest" in July 2021.⁠
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🌠Watch out, man-made asteroid storm !⁠⁠Operating on its own, 200 million miles from Earth, NASA's probe OSIRIS REX has j...
18/11/2020

🌠Watch out, man-made asteroid storm !⁠
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Operating on its own, 200 million miles from Earth, NASA's probe OSIRIS REX has just collected some rock samples on asteroid Bennu.⁠
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It stirred up a rocky blizzard of small fragments and soil, providing a rich source of primordial material for capture and return to Earth.⁠
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This poster also reveals the incredible bluish and reddish colours at the surface of the asteroid. ⁠
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It has been meticulously created by our VFX artists working long hours on our ASTEROID RUSH feature length doc, seeking advise from top scientists and astronomers and working from home.⁠
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The film should be released around fall 2021 worldwide.⁠
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26/10/2020

THIS IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN ... due to the success of the sampling.

These in-house downsized 8K VFX show what should have been done to measure the mass of the sample collected by determining the change in the spacecraft’s “moment of inertia,” a phrase that describes how mass is distributed and how it affects the rotation of the body around a central axis. This technique is analogous to a person spinning with one arm extended while holding a string with a ball attached to the end. The person can sense the mass of the ball by the tension in the string. Having performed this maneuver before TAG, and now after, engineers can measure the change in the mass of the collection head as a result of the sample inside. But...

As rocks are escaping the sampler head (or TAGSAM), NASA scientists think they have collected enough to fill the capsule... which means 400 g instead of 60g originally planned. Now the question is: how to store the overspilled recipient in a capsule that should be perfectly sealed ? NASA scientists are currently scratching their heads !

24/10/2020

You can not pilot a probe flying 150 million miles away from earth with a joystick ! everything is automated. These down-converted 8K footage reveal the autonomous probe at work, looking for natural shapes of the landscape to check its position. Flying rocks around asteroid Bennu has been a potential threat, but the probe dodged the bullets and made a safe sampling last Tuesday: it is the largest amount of rock collected from an asteroid. But...This sampling went too far beyond expectations: so much material has been collected that the trap can't be closed!

23/10/2020

Sampling an asteroid like Bennu is a risky business. There can be unexpected twists, including some collision with flying rocks, called "ejectats". They are spiralling around the asteroid. Taking sample in a low gravity environment is challenging: you can't use a claw, a shuffle, so you have to come up with a technique adapted to a touch&go architecture.

As VFX artists, we wanted to give a proper cinematographic render of the scientific achievement, and show these flying rocks in photo-realistic quality flying around the probe.

22/10/2020

The "touch and go" footage released last night by NASA confirmed the surface of asteroid Bennu is totally different from what scientists imagined; small rocks are ejected and orbit this pile of rumble rocks tied together by small gravity; so far, comets were considered "active". Comets are composed of ice, rock, and dust. As those ices are heated by the Sun, the v***r fizzes from the surface, dust and chunks of the comet nucleus are lost to space, and a long dusty tail forms. Asteroids, on the other hand, are composed mainly of rock and dust (and perhaps a smaller quantity of ice), but it turns out some of these space rocks can be surprisingly lively, too ! these VFX rendered in 8K are based on real observations from Osiris Rex probe;

21/10/2020

🏁 at Bennu and touchdown success ! You can't beat the magic of photo-realistic VFX ! we celebrate NASA scientists achievements with our own tools to render the arrival of OSIRIS REX on asteroid Bennu. This image, based on real Bennu models and the probe trajectory, is rendered in 8K and can therefore be seen on a giant screen without any hazy pixels. Such heavy graphics take days to render, even with our in house render farm...

20/10/2020

Asteroid Bennu is not grey !

Bennu's colors, as revealed through spectroscopy, are much more diverse than originally anticipated. This diversity results from a combination of different materials inherited from Bennu's parent body and different durations of exposure to the space environment. On the landing site, most of the rocky debris covering the asteroid has only recently been exposed to the harsh space environment. That means the mission will be collecting and returning some of the most pristine material of the asteroid.

We created this 8K animation by combining recent data provided by Nasa.

Do you like my new scarf ?At least a good news on conservation front: grey seal populations are currently increasing in ...
16/07/2020

Do you like my new scarf ?

At least a good news on conservation front: grey seal populations are currently increasing in Western Europe thanks to some strong protection measures. They are still shot around salmon farms and for recreational hunting in Norway and Sweden, where they are extremely shy.
Our film GREY SEALS, JOURNEYS OF SURVIVAL ( aka KILLER SEALS currently aired on NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CHANNELS and PHOQUES GRIS LES NOUVELLES ODYSSEES) takes you to an intimate journey along the northern shores of Europe with these adorable creatures.

Shot by Jerome Maison who lived 3 weeks in total isolation on a remote island in the Orkney islands !

Am I looking like a Golden Retriever with flippers ? Using macro lens to shoot large bull seal gives an intimate portray...
15/07/2020

Am I looking like a Golden Retriever with flippers ?

Using macro lens to shoot large bull seal gives an intimate portray of the animals, and conveys emotions. Our film GREY SEALS, JOURNEYS OF SURVIVAL ( aka KILLER SEALS currently aired on NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CHANNELS and PHOQUES GRIS LES NOUVELLES ODYSSEES) takes you to an intimate journey along the northern shores of Europe with these adorable creatures.

Shot by during the filming.

14/07/2020

Whose idea was that to set Bastille day the same day as orca day ? do you rather see tanks parading on the Champ Elysees or see orcas "caroussel feeding" in the wild ? I guess we have the answer. See this clip from one of our upcoming shows.

For our past experience with orcas, check out this free clip:
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOicyQf_Lhc⁠
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⁠Happy everyone!
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Am I cute enough to be protected ? Like his sibling, this young grey seal has inherited the white fur to camouflage on i...
14/07/2020

Am I cute enough to be protected ?

Like his sibling, this young grey seal has inherited the white fur to camouflage on ice pack. It is born in November, at the beginning of winter, and is now living in temperate waters of the North Atlantic ocean and copes perfectly with its atrocious weather.

Shot by Jerome Maison during the filming of GREY SEALS, JOURNEYS OF SURVIVAL

YOU ARE NOT DREAMING ! This is the largest catfish ever caught, in Pô river, Italy. Because most fishermen like Dino Fer...
14/07/2020

YOU ARE NOT DREAMING !

This is the largest catfish ever caught, in Pô river, Italy. Because most fishermen like Dino Ferrari on this picture simply catch and release them, they reach immense size.
Guess how big this one is...

The big picture could be seen on NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CHANNELS WILD under the name RIVER JAWS; you can already screen the fight for this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFK1vDG-nfQ

Wels catfish have became the top predators of EU rivers. But they start eating in April and end approximately in Novembe...
13/07/2020

Wels catfish have became the top predators of EU rivers. But they start eating in April and end approximately in November, giving most of the resident populations of river fish (like this trout) the time to reproduce and grow. But they reach immense dimensions, as fishermen are catching and releasing them (since the Wels catfish flesh is full of PCBs!) and gather in immense groups in the winter

Check this insane gathering, the largest biomass ever in a river: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDE3kAWz1HA
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14/06/2020

How to film feathered dinosaurs ? first tour the world to film backplates featuring plants and geological formations which existed at the time of the portrayed animal, then use VFX artists to sculpt, composite, texture with zillion feathers, light, rig and animate the animals ! as simple as that !

Long feathers on the arms, long feathers on the legs: see how exquisitely preserved is this All VFX artists work for 3DfromMars ( 3dfrommars.fr)⁠ in Marseilles, France.
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13/06/2020

This sample clip from our NEW PREHISTORY series features Kulindadromeus and Sinraptor. Such photorealistic rendering was made possible by smart re-use of 4K backplates shot during the eruptions of Tavurvur volcano in Papua New Guinea in 2009, and it neighbor Karkar volcano.

VFX by 3dfrommars, see 3dfrommars.fr
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03/06/2020

These giants are called Yutyranus. These are the biggest feathered dinosaurs ever found.... VFX by Hive Studios in Australia and 3DfromMars in Marseille ⁠
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18/05/2020

Thanks to our VFX artists 3d from Mars, enjoy a tour in orbit along with the space debris orbiting our planet... and the tools currently developed to collect the trash !

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Our Story

For more than 25 years, Saint Thomas Productions teams have immersed into wild and extreme environments to reveal the beauties of our planet. Our story driven films have been seen on all possible platforms around the globe, from internet to prime time TV and giant screens. Thanks to innovative filming skills and computer generated imagery, we took our viewers in space, at the bottom of the oceans, in the heart of a volcano or back in time. We have won many prestigious awards but the best film is always the next. Stay tuned !

Depuis plus d’un quart de siècle, nos équipes cherchent la petite bête pour raconter de grandes histoires. Toujours factuels et documentés, nos films sur la nature, l’environnement et la science sont montrés en ligne, sur la télévision ou les écrans géants dans tous les pays du monde. Malgré nos multiples récompenses en festivals internationaux, nous pensons que le plus beau film est toujours le prochain…