Classic Nature Documentaries
Alex Bershtein
When people think of a nature documentary, they might think of David Attenborough with his countless narrations in the genre or think of the beautiful scenes of Earth's landscape. The 'classic' nature documentary allows us to understand how wild animals live their lives. In the 'classic' nature documentary, the filmmakers film nature and piece it together for the world to see. In our class, we watched a documentary series known as Our Planet, which was in fact narrated by David Attenborough. In the two episodes that we watched, we were stunned by the beauty and learned some interesting facts, but some questions lingered. Are these documentaries accurately portraying nature? And how do they contribute to conservation efforts?
How do filmmakers and editors manipulate nature?
As many people know, films contain cuts that allow the viewer to be entertained consistently throughout. Nature documentaries do this exquisitely; when animals are shown on the screen, they are doing something interesting such as a chase, or doing something cute such as cubs playing around. Often, the filmmakers tamper with the animals to do something entertaining such as hunting for food or looking at the camera. This manipulates the audience into thinking that nature is always moving when in reality, nature is relatively still . However, nature being calm presents a problem for entertainment. In Cynthia Chris' article, Watching Wildlife, she states that "today's audiences have very short attention spans, something interesting needs to happen every few minutes."
Audiences want to watch something exciting, not animals sitting around for hours on end. This presents a problem in accurately portraying wildlife; filmmakers film for days and even weeks, but the audience only sees an hour of this footage put together. With this limited viewing time, the filmmakers and the editors have come up with tricks to get people engaged in the film. Vox, an online news source, had the opportunity to learn about how BBC puts their nature films together. If they wanted to film a fight, "the filmmakers can get a bunch of footage that can complement the fight" (Lopez), such as two animals staring at each other. With this footage, the editors see it as an "opportunity to humanize the animals." The film editors are appealing to the audience's emotion to help them enjoy the film further. Not only do they humanize the animals by giving them names or by having a close up on the animal, but they also use music. Music plays a vital role in these nature documentaries. The editors use the music in a variety of ways, for an intense predator-prey scene or a playful scene such as a male bird trying to impress a female. In an intense scene, the music can be used to get the viewers on the edge of their seats, while a mating scene can make the viewers laugh. Although all these movie magic tricks make for an exciting documentary, it's not accurate to what nature is. Instead, a nature documentary should be slow with ambient noise, but nobody would watch that due to people’s short attention span.
How do these documentaries help with conservation efforts?
Without a doubt, filmmaking companies such as BBC and National Geographic have a considerable influence on the world. People worldwide know these names for education films, and it's for good reason as they produce good quality films. However, with their significant influence comes a need to help with environmental conservation efforts.
A scene in Our Planet that shows how this baby flamingo is left behind due to the salt solidifying around the leg.
Documentaries such as Our Planet and Blue Planet show the viewer the beauty of nature while promoting conservation. These documentaries promote conservation by presenting the animal in either a dangerous or calm situation to appeal to the audience's emotions. The filmmakers hope that the scenes in the film will help the viewer feel more sensitive to the animal and try to conserve it. Documentaries "have been shown to increase environmental sensitivity towards the species they portray" (Jones). This is great for conservation as people are taking the extra step towards helping the animals shown in the documentary. However the episodes in Our Planet show nature's beauty for its own sake rather than for conservation. Our Planet "encourages viewers into specific actions,"(Jones) such as looking at online materials after watching the episode. In these films, there is one issue vital to the conservation effort: presenting nature as an entirely different world separated from humans. Yet humans should not be distant from nature since they are a part of nature. They have a role in protecting the environment. When nature is being displayed as a completely different world, some people may feel that they don't need to conserve wildlife as it doesn't pertain to them.
Conclusion
Nature documentaries are human's window into the world of nature. Although not entirely accurate, they promote conservation by appealing to the audience's emotion and encourage them into looking at more materials.
References:
Chris, Cynthia. Watching Wildlife. University of Minnesota Press, 2006.
Jones, Julia P. G., et al. “Nature Documentaries and Saving Nature: Reflections on the New Netflix Series Our Planet.” People and Nature, vol. 1, no. 4, 2019, pp. 420–425.
Lopez, German. “The Tricks That Nature Documentaries Use to Keep You Watching.” Vox, Vox, 29 Apr. 2017, www.vox.com/culture/2017/4/29/15470180/nature-documentaries-tricks-fake-sound.