Post by warsaw on Sept 10, 2011 5:02:31 GMT -9
UNDATED - Have you ever wondered how they capture those amazing shots in nature documentaries?
A man who has made a number of those types of films is now speaking out, saying many of the scenes are not as wild as you think.
The book Shooting in the Wild is Chris Palmer's written confession about the lengths he and others went to in their quest to get compelling shots.
"I have just pulled back the curtain on the dark side of wildlife filmmaking," he said.
Palmer, who now teaches filmmaking at American University, wants viewers to know the whole story - that some of what they see in these films is not exactly as it appears. For example, he says:
•In the IMAX movie Wolves, the wolves seen living on a mountain do not actually live there. They were brought in for the filming. And when the pack of wolves is seen eating a dead animal, they didn't actually kill it - the dead animal was hauled to the location. "There's lots of road kill around," Palmer said.
•A killer whale skull seen on the ocean bottom in the IMAX film Whales was not something they just stumbled across by accident - it was placed there.
•'Wild' bears seen in the IMAX movie Bears were actually behaving under the instruction of a trainer. They were brought in by truck.
Palmer said there is an argument for cutting corners - it's cost efficient and it produces the kind of shots that people remember. He just wants people to know that it's being done that way.
Reading the fine print in the credits can be revealing if you're wondering about a certain film. For example, it does say at the end of Wolves that captive animals were used in some scenes.
The National Geographic Channel has responded saying "it's always real behavior and real biology - our goal is to tell a true story." And the Executive Producer of the PBS program Nature says "whether it's a captive animal or a wild animal, it's an animal - it's unpredictable," adding "I draw the line at putting someone in a gorilla suit."
www.katu.com/outdoors/featured/104045444.html
A man who has made a number of those types of films is now speaking out, saying many of the scenes are not as wild as you think.
The book Shooting in the Wild is Chris Palmer's written confession about the lengths he and others went to in their quest to get compelling shots.
"I have just pulled back the curtain on the dark side of wildlife filmmaking," he said.
Palmer, who now teaches filmmaking at American University, wants viewers to know the whole story - that some of what they see in these films is not exactly as it appears. For example, he says:
•In the IMAX movie Wolves, the wolves seen living on a mountain do not actually live there. They were brought in for the filming. And when the pack of wolves is seen eating a dead animal, they didn't actually kill it - the dead animal was hauled to the location. "There's lots of road kill around," Palmer said.
•A killer whale skull seen on the ocean bottom in the IMAX film Whales was not something they just stumbled across by accident - it was placed there.
•'Wild' bears seen in the IMAX movie Bears were actually behaving under the instruction of a trainer. They were brought in by truck.
Palmer said there is an argument for cutting corners - it's cost efficient and it produces the kind of shots that people remember. He just wants people to know that it's being done that way.
Reading the fine print in the credits can be revealing if you're wondering about a certain film. For example, it does say at the end of Wolves that captive animals were used in some scenes.
The National Geographic Channel has responded saying "it's always real behavior and real biology - our goal is to tell a true story." And the Executive Producer of the PBS program Nature says "whether it's a captive animal or a wild animal, it's an animal - it's unpredictable," adding "I draw the line at putting someone in a gorilla suit."
www.katu.com/outdoors/featured/104045444.html