Author Topic: Faking nature  (Read 4409 times)

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Offline Maik

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Faking nature
« on: Thursday, 05 April, 2018 @ 03:17:53 »
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Human Planet: Tribe's treehouses not real home, says BBC

The BBC has said a scene in its Human Planet series, which featured a tribe from Papua New Guinea, was not accurate.

In the 2011 episode, the Korowai people were shown moving into a treehouse as a real home.

But during recent filming for a different programme, the tribe said the houses were "commissioned for filming".

The error was discovered as producers made BBC Two's upcoming series, My Year With The Tribe.

The corporation said a member of the tribe told presenter Will Millard the very high treehouses were built for "the benefit of overseas programme makers".

In the new programme, Millard tells viewers: "This is not where they live, this is total artifice".
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-43649469


From 2017:

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BBC's Bafta winning iguana scene from Planet Earth II caught in fakery row after producer admits it was 'stitched' together using several different takes
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4601384/Iguana-scene-Planet-Earth-II-caught-fakery-row.html


From 2015:

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In 2015 it emerged that the production crew used a semi-domesticated wolf after being unable to find a “wild” wolf to film on location.

In that episode, called Deserts: Life in the Furnace, two Mongolian camel herders fired shots in the direction of the “wild” wolf as it ran across the Gobi desert then discussed their frustration at failing to kill it.

The BBC admitted that in reality the semi-domesticated wolf had been let off a lead just off camera and was filmed simply running to its handler, who was just out of shot.
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/apr/04/scene-from-human-planet-documentary-was-faked-bbc-admits


From 2011:

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BBC accused of routine 'fakery' in wildlife documentaries
The BBC is accused of routinely faking footage in wildlife documentaries, by using studio sets, sound effects and tame animals to portray creatures in the wild.

The controversy over faked footage follows revelations last week that a polar bear filmed, supposedly in the wild, giving birth in the programme Frozen Planet was actually a captive animal in a zoo in Holland.

Incredibly, the BBC had done exactly the same thing in another documentary also narrated by Sir David Attenborough in 1997.

That incident also caused disquiet at the time, prompting film-makers to wonder why the corporation had repeated the alleged deceit. On the first occasion the polar bear was from a zoo in Belgium.

The Sunday Telegraph can disclose a series of further, apparently faked scenes including:

* Tragopans - a kind of pheasant purportedly living in a Chinese forest - actually filmed in a wildlife park in Somerset for the series Wild China

* clown fish shown hatching from eggs in David Attenborough’s Life series in 2009, in the ocean were in fact filmed in a tank built by Swansea University as part of a research project

* a chameleon in Attenborough’s Life in Cold Blood in 2008 shown in the forest actually filmed in a studio as were leopard geckos shown mating in the desert

* a stalk eyed fly, described as lying “dormant on the forest floor” in Life in 2009, was filmed not in a south east Asian rainforest but in a BBC studio

As well as sight, sound is also recreated in studios in so-called 'foley sessions’ in which sound is added to a film.

Producers use sound effects to mimic the noises made by real animals, including such seemingly bizarre practices as adding custard powder to a woman’s stocking which is then squeezed to sound like polar bears skidding on ice or else bears walking through a forest.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/bbc/8963053/BBC-accused-of-routine-fakery-in-wildlife-documentaries.html

Offline TonyKath

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Re: Faking nature
« Reply #1 on: Thursday, 05 April, 2018 @ 16:22:34 »
I guess some of it has to be faked. I don't mind as long as we are told. Programmes now often have a final 'making of' segments which are interesting in themselves.

Tony

Offline Maik

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Re: Faking nature
« Reply #2 on: Thursday, 05 April, 2018 @ 19:12:56 »
Oh yes, agreed, H&S is a genuine concern. Part of the wow factor is the stunning photography, the 'how on earth did they film that?' wonderment. Easy answer: they stuck a camera in wildlife park enclosure / fish tank. Unfortunately, it seems we can't trust the companies that supply the BBC with these films, e.g. the extra high tree houses were specially made for the film company. That's not something that had to be faked, it's just, well, artifice: a clever trick or something intended to deceive.

My favourite is when the 'expert' who's been hired to read the commentary and give the show a bit of gravitas tells us what an animal is thinking.

Offline TonyKath

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Re: Faking nature
« Reply #3 on: Saturday, 07 April, 2018 @ 14:19:01 »
Yup, the "tree house" was completely out of order. As for "anthrpomorphising" animals as thinking thank goodness it a lot less than in Johnny Morris's day.

Tony

Offline Maik

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Re: Faking nature
« Reply #4 on: Thursday, 26 April, 2018 @ 15:29:18 »
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BBC shelves Human Planet over whale-hunting breach
Broadcaster withdraws series from distribution amid doubts over harpooning scene
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2018/apr/26/bbc-shelves-human-planet-after-doubts-cast-on-whale-hunting-scene