Cinematographic Wonders in Nature Documentary Cinema

Remember the extremely well-made, educating feature documentaries of Walt Disney Pictures made in the 50's and 60's including "White Wilderness" and "The Vanishing Prairie? Noted for its splendid visuals, Disney's "White Wilderness", shot in Alberta, was based on the myth of lemming suicide. During the filming of the documentary, there were nine different photographers, shooting and assembling footage of the various segments comprising the film. As matter-of-fact, nature documentary, which is always extremely difficult to film, showed the first sparks of cinematic brilliance in this film by Walt Disney pictures. The migration sequences filmed in the movie were concocted, with arctic rodents placed on snow-covered turnable and filmed from various angles. An illusion of a large herd of migratory creatures was created with the kind of cinematography that was really fascinating, considering those times. Again, in "The Vanishing Prairie", directed by James Algar, there was this stunning account of true-life adventure consisting of animal life in a remote area of America. The film was replete with some unique views of prairie dogs building their underground living quarters, of bighorn sheep and pronghorn antelope frolicking on the steep, rocky mountains. The camera captured some really wild sequences including mountain lions preying on deer, a coyote using forced entry to get to a prairie dog dinner, and buffaloes waiting to pick a huge fight.

 

Alongside "White Wilderness" and "The Vanishing Prairie", Disney's other amazing nature documentary, "Seal Island" is worthy of mentioning. Released as early as 1949, it was the first of the True-Life Adventure featurettes produced by Walt Disney Pictures, dealing with the theme of mating of Fur seals on the Pribilof Islands. All of these nature documentary films add to that pantheon of documentaries that deserve acclaim for the stunning cinematography and artistry of the filmmakers. In recent years, while a considerable amount of technical achievement has been combined with the artistry of the filmmakers, we see rare cinematic documentaries in epic form like "Microcosmos" and "Winged Migration".

 

French filmmaker Jacques Perrin's cinematographers consist of some of the world's greatest artists and technicians who are capable of photographing practically anything, which quite shows in his "Microcosmos". An eloquent documentary devoted to a single task: observing insects, "Microcosmos" takes you to a vast, fascinating universe of bugs, ignored by most humans. Anyone who has seen it will unanimously agree that the magic of the film lies in its uniquely designed, special cameras, with which the film was shot at bug-eye level by French biologists Claude Nuridsany and Marie Perennou.
"Winged Migration", or "The Traveling Birds: An adventure in flight in Australia", another brilliant nature documentary by Jacques Perrin (co-directed by Jacques Cluzaud, Michel Debats) deserves mention in this regard. In fact, any discussion about the role of cinematography in nature documentary will be incomplete without mentioning this beautiful odyssey of the journey of migratory birds around the world. The film depicts the journey of the birds in various seasons through an assortment of beautiful countries and locales, and what we get to see is the amazing cinematography that gives an exotic language and meaning to it. Through the filmmaker's lenses, we become party to not only the journey of the birds, but the trials, the harsh conditions these birds face as they make their compass-perfect journey of thousands of miles. Along with this, we are also made to observe their mating and feeding rituals as well as a wonderfully amusing water dance by a group of Clarke's Grebes. Thus, the film is not only about some majestic photography, but about the birds' view of the earth. This has been made possible by some dedicated camerawork, shooting on helicopters, balloons, gliders, and remote-controlled planes, capturing birds from above, below, and right at the wingtip. The cinematographers had a tough time tracking shots of birds in their nests and in the air. Then there are some elaborately choreographed shots, resulting in a cinematic verse. No wonder then, that it was nominated for an Academy award in 2001 for its breathtaking photography and hypnotic music by Bruno Coulais.

Reviews

[Berserker[Diktator Von ..]

You really like filming/filmaking don't you...theres nothing wrong with that if it makes you happy, then it makesyou happy..Good job...=)