The Earth is Man’s Home was a unique, vertical (portrait-oriented) film installation created for Montreal’s Universal Exposition, Expo 67, in the “Man the Explorer” theme pavilion (within the “Man, His Planet and Space” subsection). It was one of thousands of films (16mm and 35mm, as well as numerous experimental multiscreen and large-format films) that were screened during the six-month event across the almost 100 national, commercial and private pavilions. The 11-minute, 70mm film was projected on a vertically oriented screen, 30-ft tall x 13-ft wide (9.14m x 3.96m), in a “triple theatre” (three auditoriums side-by-side, each seating 150 viewers). Co-director Nick Chaparos described it as “[a] CinemaScope-type screen turned on its side, but with the picture right side up” (Chaparos, 1967: p. 570).

The film was produced, directed and edited by American filmmaker/designer husband-and-wife team, Nick and Ann Chaparos, who originally developed the concept for the project in 1965, for the Institute of Design, University of Waterloo, Ontario, through their company Chaparos Productions Limited (Linwood Dunn Archives; Chaparos, 1967: p. 590). The film was originally shot in 35mm colour and B/W, and integrated with found-footage (including 16mm) and still photographs, amounting to approximately 500 images in all. The storyline was composed – after shooting on the film had concluded – by the then-notable author of popular Canadian TV series Wojeck (1966–8), Phillip Hersch. The script focused on the entangled relationship between humankind and the environment, highlighting the complexity, beauty and fragility of the planet. The final screen-format comprised three distinct, contrasting images, stacked vertically within a single 70mm frame; alternatively, the three images could be harmonized to create a single, monumental image – of subjects such as a newborn baby, a rocket launch, or an atomic-bomb explosion. The visuals were accompanied by a lively soundtrack of voices, music, and ambient sounds recorded in the wild, and subsequently incorporated by the sound technician, Brian Avery. Songs included: “Yellow Bird”, performed by Jeanne d’arc de Sampaio in Brazil; “Dominique”, performed by Soeur Sourire (the Belgian singing nun); and “The Wanderers”.

Chaparos gives a detailed account of the production, filming and sound recording – at locations in Canada, Peru, Brazil, England, France and the US – in a 1967 American Cinematographer article. He estimated that three-quarters of the film was shot solely by a three-person crew, consisting of himself, Anne Chaparos, and sound technician Brian Avery. Great attention had to be given to multi-frame image composition, in addition to post-production and film editing – all the time with an eye to the eventual impact on viewers. Despite considering the possibility of including many more frames within the master frame, the team decided to restrict themselves to three, so as not to overwhelm the spectator. Indeed, the first few minutes of the film were purposefully designed to be a graduated “eye exercise”, with the aim of training the viewers’ eyes, ensuring “maximum perception” and “maximum informational impact”. The main storyline was generally situated in the middle screen, with subsidiary elements placed above and below; the use of the full vertical screen had the effect of creating a so-called “dead center” (Chaparos, 1967: pp. 587–8). The film stands as a wonderful example of a particularly 1960’s strand of humanist environmentalist filmmaking, which still resonates today. Other Expo 67 multi-screen films, such as Labyrinth and Polar Life, demonstrated a similar restraint, as well as a remarkable understanding of the spectatorial experience of these experimental viewing formats. Writing in one of the more extended critical accounts of the film, in the Journal of the SMPTE in 1968, composer Frank Lewin effusively described The Earth is Man’s Home as “one of the most moving films ever produced” (Lewin, 1968: p. 200).