3D is big news. From James Cameron’s Pandora to Tim Burton’s Wonderland, all sorts of feature film landscapes have had the funny glasses treatment. But it’s not just the world of fantasy fiction that’s going multidimensional. Two filmmakers from Cornwall are taking 3D to the next level, to enhance the real world documentary watching experience.

Wildlife filmmaking partnership Mark Deeble and Victoria Stone, who have been making documentary films as Deeble and Stone since 1984, have taken the bold move of adding the extra dimension to their latest project Distant Thunder, which tells the tale of a family of elephants searching for water in Kenya.

Filming for the documentary has been done using a complex twin camera system and has involved Mark, Victoria and the crew checking all the shots daily wearing special 3D glasses. Distant Thunder is thought to be the first on location 3D wildlife film and comes after eight years of experimentation with the medium.

"Only in the last year have [3D] cameras become small enough to be used in the field," Mark Deeble told the Guardian recently. “However, 3D is still most suitable for larger animals which move slowly, Filming creatures which can only be filmed with a telephoto lens doesn't work well for 3D.”

Both filmmakers are excited by the possibilities of 3D, but are keen to point out that it is just a way of embellishing films rather than a prime focus. "Like colour or sound, it will be a tool that is used to enhance the story," Victoria Stone explained to the Guardian, "it has the ability to immerse the audience like nothing else can – and I find that very exciting."

Lucky audiences have had the chance to watch Distant Thunder’s ten minute pilot and reports are good, but we'll have to wait a while to see the full film in all its 3D glory.

Check out the BBC Cornwall news feature on Mark and Victoria's groundbreaking film.