A
natural history film or
wildlife film is a
documentary filmDocumentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
about
animalAnimals are a major group of multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom Animalia or Metazoa. Their body plan eventually becomes fixed as they develop, although some undergo a process of metamorphosis later on in their life. Most animals are motile, meaning they can move spontaneously and...
s,
plantPlants are living organisms belonging to the kingdom Plantae. Precise definitions of the kingdom vary, but as the term is used here, plants include familiar organisms such as trees, flowers, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae. The group is also called green plants or...
s, or other non-human living creatures, usually concentrating on film taken in their natural habitat. Such programmes are most frequently made for
televisionTelevision is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
, particularly for
public broadcastingPublic broadcasting includes radio, television and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service. Public broadcasters receive funding from diverse sources including license fees, individual contributions, public financing and commercial financing.Public broadcasting may be...
channels, but some are also made for the
cinemaA movie theater, cinema, movie house, picture theater, film theater is a venue, usually a building, for viewing motion pictures ....
.
History
Television documentaries started on
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
television, with the long-running series Look, a studio-based magazine progamme with filmed inserts, hosted by
Sir Peter ScottSir Peter Markham Scott, CH, CBE, DSC and Bar, MID, FRS, FZS, was a British ornithologist, conservationist, painter, naval officer and sportsman....
. The first 50-minute weekly documentary series was The World About Us, which began with a colour installment from the French film-maker Haroun Tazieff, called "Volcano". Around 1982, the series changed its title to The Natural World and is still in production today at the
BBC Natural History UnitThe BBC Natural History Unit is a department of the BBC dedicated to making television and radio programmes with a natural history or wildlife theme, especially nature documentaries...
in
BristolBristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
. In 1961
Anglia TelevisionAnglia Television is the ITV franchise holder for the East Anglia franchise region. Although Anglia Television takes its name from East Anglia, its transmission coverage extends beyond the generally accepted boundaries of that region. The station is based at Anglia House in Norwich, with regional...
produced the first of the
SurvivalSurvival is one of television's longest-running and most successful nature documentary series. Originally produced by Anglia Television for ITV in the United Kingdom, it was created by Aubrey Buxton , a founder director of Anglia TV, and first broadcast in 1961...
award-winning series. During the late 1970s and early 1980s several other television companies round the world set up their own specialised natural history departments, including
ABCThe Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
in
MelbourneMelbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
,
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and
TVNZTelevision New Zealand, more commonly referred to, and stylized as TVNZ, is a government-owned corporation television network broadcasting in New Zealand and parts of the Pacific. It operates TV1, TV2, TVNZ7, TVNZ Heartland, TVNZ U and new media services....
's unit in
DunedinDunedin is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the principal city of the Otago Region. It is considered to be one of the four main urban centres of New Zealand for historic, cultural, and geographic reasons. Dunedin was the largest city by territorial land area until...
,
New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
— both still in existence, the latter having changed its name to NHNZ.
ITVITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
's contribution to the genre was Survival, a prolific series of single films. It was eventually axed when the network introduced a controversial new schedule which many commentators have criticised as '
dumbing downDumbing down is a pejorative term for a perceived trend to lower the intellectual content of literature, education, news, and other aspects of culture...
'.
Wildlife and natural history films have boomed in popularity and have become one of modern society's most important sources of information about the natural world. Yet they have been largely ignored by film and television critics and scholars.
Content
Most programs or series focus on a particular
speciesIn biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
,
ecosystemAn ecosystem is a biological environment consisting of all the organisms living in a particular area, as well as all the nonliving , physical components of the environment with which the organisms interact, such as air, soil, water and sunlight....
or
scientificScience is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
idea (such as
evolutionEvolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
). Although most take a scientific and
educationEducation in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
al approach, some
anthropomorphiseAnthropomorphism is any attribution of human characteristics to animals, non-living things, phenomena, material states, objects or abstract concepts, such as organizations, governments, spirits or deities. The term was coined in the mid 1700s...
their subjects or present animals purely for the viewer's pleasure.
Although almost all have a human presenter, the role varies widely, ranging from explanatory
voiceoverVoiceOver is a screen reader built into Apple Inc.'s Mac OS X, iOS and iPod operating systems. By using VoiceOver, the user can access their Macintosh or iOS device based on spoken descriptions and, in the case of the Mac, the keyboard. The feature is designed to increase accessibility for blind...
s to extensive interaction or even confrontation with animals.
Well-known nature documentary makers and presenters include Oscar-winning
Bernhard GrzimekBernhard Klemens Maria Grzimek was a renowned Silesian-German zoo director, zoologist, book author, editor, and animal conservationist in postwar West-Germany.-Early years:Grzimek was born in Neisse , Upper Silesia...
,
David AttenboroughSir David Frederick Attenborough OM, CH, CVO, CBE, FRS, FZS, FSA is a British broadcaster and naturalist. His career as the face and voice of natural history programmes has endured for more than 50 years...
,
Richard BrockRichard Brock worked in the BBC as a natural history film producer for 35 years. He was a member of the production team on the highly successful Life on Earth, and served as executive producer on The Living Planet, collaborating with David Attenborough...
, Jacques Cousteau,
Marlin PerkinsRichard Marlin Perkins was a zoologist best known as a host of the television program Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom from 1963 to 1985.-Biography:...
,
Heinz SielmannHeinz Sielmann was a world renowned wildlife photographer, zoologist and documentary filmmaker....
,
Hugo van LawickHugo Arndt Rodolf, Baron van Lawick , known as Hugo van Lawick, was a Dutch wildlife filmmaker and photographer....
,
Jeff CorwinJeffrey Scott Corwin is an American animal and nature conservationist, best known as host and executive producer of Animal Planet cable channel television programs, The Jeff Corwin Experience and Corwin's Quest.-Early years:...
,
Mark StricksonMark Strickson is a British TV producer and actor best known for his acting role as the character of Vislor Turlough on the television series Doctor Who.Strickson was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, England...
, Neil Harraway,
Steve IrwinStephen Robert "Steve" Irwin , nicknamed "The Crocodile Hunter", was an Australian television personality, wildlife expert, and conservationist. Irwin achieved worldwide fame from the television series The Crocodile Hunter, an internationally broadcast wildlife documentary series which he co-hosted...
,
Félix Rodríguez de la FuenteFélix Samuel Rodríguez de la Fuente was a Spanish naturalist and broadcaster. He is best known for the highly successful and influential TV series El Hombre y la Tierra . Degree in medicine and self-taught in biology, was a multifaceted charismatic figure whose influence has endured despite the...
and
Marty StoufferMartin Luther Stouffer Jr. , is the narrator and producer of the animal documentary show Wild America. He was raised in Fort Smith, Arkansas.-Life:...
.
The Panda Awards for nature documentaries are given every two years, by the
Wildscreen Trust, in Bristol,
UKThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
Most documentaries are for television and are usually of 45–50 minutes duration, but some are made as full-length cinematic presentations.
Such films include:
- Animals Are Beautiful People
Animals Are Beautiful People is a 1974 nature documentary about the wildlife in Southern Africa. It was filmed in the Namib Desert, the Kalahari Desert and the Okavango River and Okavango Delta...
- Serengeti Shall Not Die
Serengeti Shall Not Die is a 1959 German documentary film written and directed by Bernhard Grzimek.His son, the cinematographer Michael Grzimek, died on-location during the filming of the documentary when a plane he piloted collided with a vulture....
- The Last Paradises: On the Track of Rare Animals
The Last Paradises: On the Track of Rare Animals is the title of a German nature documentary from 1967. It was filmed by Eugen Schuhmacher and Helmuth Barth.-Background:The filming began in spring 1959...
- The Living Desert
The Living Desert is a 1953 American nature documentary film which shows the everyday lives of the animals of the desert of the southwestern United States. The movie was written by James Algar, Winston Hibler, Jack Moffitt and Ted Sears. It was directed by Algar, with Hibler as the narrator...
- March of the Penguins
March of the Penguins is a 2005 French nature documentary film. It was directed and co-written by Luc Jacquet, and co-produced by Bonne Pioche and the National Geographic Society. The film depicts the yearly journey of the emperor penguins of Antarctica...
- The Leopard Son
In addition, the BBC's
The Blue PlanetThe Blue Planet is a BBC nature documentary series narrated by David Attenborough, first transmitted in the UK from 12 September 2001.Described as "the first ever comprehensive series on the natural history of the world's oceans", each of the eight 50-minute episodes examines a different aspect of...
and
Planet EarthPlanet Earth is a 2006 television series produced by the BBC Natural History Unit. Five years in the making, it was the most expensive nature documentary series ever commissioned by the BBC, and also the first to be filmed in high definition...
series have both been adapted for theatrical release.
Staged content
Some nature documentaries, particularly those involving animals, have included footage of staged events that appeared to be "natural" but were contrived by the filmmakers or happened in captivity. The most famous example is Walt Disney's White Wilderness where lemmings were hurled to their deaths but there are examples in modern nature documentaries, such as
The Blue PlanetThe Blue Planet is a BBC nature documentary series narrated by David Attenborough, first transmitted in the UK from 12 September 2001.Described as "the first ever comprehensive series on the natural history of the world's oceans", each of the eight 50-minute episodes examines a different aspect of...
.
Built for the Kill
A series on animal predation that takes a different, more graphical, approach than to most nature documentaries. This award winning series is one of the most comprehensive ever made about predator/prey relations and is popular with a range of audiences worldwide. Originally made by Granada Wild for the National Geographic Channel, it now exceeds 30 episodes, each 48 mins in length, a total of 1488 mins (24 hours and 48 mins).
David Attenborough
Some documentaries are also presented as television
miniseriesA miniseries , in a serial storytelling medium, is a television show production which tells a story in a limited number of episodes. The exact number is open to interpretation; however, they are usually limited to fewer than a whole season. The term "miniseries" is generally a North American term...
. The most notable of these are the BBC's 'Life' series, written and presented by Sir David Attenborough, whose contribution to conservation is widely regarded, and whose programmes have been seen by millions of people throughout the world. The series comprises:
- Life on Earth (1979), 13 episodes
- The Living Planet
The Living Planet: A Portrait of the Earth is a BBC nature documentary series written and presented by David Attenborough, first transmitted in the UK from 19 January 1984....
(1984), 12 episodes
- The Trials of Life
The Trials of Life: A Natural History of Behaviour is a BBC nature documentary series written and presented by David Attenborough, first transmitted in the UK from 4 October 1990....
(1990), 12 episodes
- Life in the Freezer
Life in the Freezer is a BBC nature documentary series written and presented by David Attenborough, first transmitted in the UK from 18 November 1993....
(1993), 6 episodes
- The Private Life of Plants
The Private Life of Plants is a BBC nature documentary series written and presented by David Attenborough, first shown in the UK from 11 January 1995....
(1995), 6 episodes
- The Life of Birds
The Life of Birds is a BBC nature documentary series written and presented by David Attenborough, first transmitted in the UK from 21 October 1998....
(1998), 10 episodes
- The Life of Mammals
The Life of Mammals is a nature documentary series written and presented by David Attenborough, first transmitted in the UK from 20 November 2002....
(2002), 10 episodes
- Life in the Undergrowth
Life in the Undergrowth is a BBC nature documentary series written and presented by David Attenborough, first transmitted in the UK from 23 November 2005....
(2005), 5 episodes
- Life in Cold Blood
Life in Cold Blood is a BBC nature documentary series written and presented by David Attenborough, first transmitted in the UK from 4 February 2008 on BBC One....
(2008), 5 episodes
Steve IrwinStephen Robert "Steve" Irwin , nicknamed "The Crocodile Hunter", was an Australian television personality, wildlife expert, and conservationist. Irwin achieved worldwide fame from the television series The Crocodile Hunter, an internationally broadcast wildlife documentary series which he co-hosted...
These documentaries are aired on Discovery Channel, Animal Planet. It is based on wildlife conservation and environmentalism. The series comprises:
- The Crocodile Hunter
The Crocodile Hunter was a wildlife documentary television series that was hosted by Steve Irwin and his wife Terri. The show became a popular franchise due to its unconventional approach and Irwin's approach to wildlife...
(1992–2004), 74 episodes
- The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course
The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course is a 2002 Australian comedy-adventure film based on the nature documentary series The Crocodile Hunter, starring Steve Irwin and his wife Terri Irwin. The Irwins play themselves filming an episode of The Crocodile Hunter while trying to protect a crocodile....
(2002), Movie
- Crocodile Hunter's Croc Files (1999), 52 episodes
- Ten Deadliest Snakes In The World (2001)
- The Crocodile Hunter Diaries (2001–2003), 30 episodes
- New Breed Vets (2005), 6 episodes
- Ocean's Deadliest
Ocean's Deadliest is a nature documentary hosted by Philippe Cousteau Jr. and Steve Irwin. It was the final documentary made by Irwin by the time of his death, which occurred during filming.-Documentary:...
(2006)
Bindi Irwin
The following documentaries are based on wildlife and aired on the
Discovery ChannelDiscovery Channel is an American satellite and cable specialty channel , founded by John Hendricks and distributed by Discovery Communications. It is a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav...
and
Animal PlanetAnimal Planet is an American cable tv specialty channel that launched on October 1, 1996. It is distributed by Discovery Communications. A high-definition simulcast of the channel launched on September 1, 2007.-History:...
. Bindi inherited her father
Steve IrwinStephen Robert "Steve" Irwin , nicknamed "The Crocodile Hunter", was an Australian television personality, wildlife expert, and conservationist. Irwin achieved worldwide fame from the television series The Crocodile Hunter, an internationally broadcast wildlife documentary series which he co-hosted...
's responsibilities after he died.
- Bindi the Jungle Girl
- My Daddy the Crocodile Hunter
My Daddy, The Crocodile Hunter is a one-hour television documentary film that is hosted by Bindi Irwin and details her life and growing career and also serves as a memorial for her father, famed naturalist and conservationist Steve Irwin, better known as The Crocodile Hunter who died in 2006...
(a tribute to her father)
Current production
In recent years most traditional style 'blue chip' programming has become prohibitively expensive and are funded by a set of co-producers, usually a broadcaster (such as
Animal PlanetAnimal Planet is an American cable tv specialty channel that launched on October 1, 1996. It is distributed by Discovery Communications. A high-definition simulcast of the channel launched on September 1, 2007.-History:...
, National Geographic or
NHKNHK is Japan's national public broadcasting organization. NHK, which has always identified itself to its audiences by the English pronunciation of its initials, is a publicly owned corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee....
,
JapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
) from one or several countries, a production company and sometimes a distributor which then has the rights to sell the show into more territories than the original broadcaster.
Two recent examples of co-productions that were filmed by the BBC are
The Blue PlanetThe Blue Planet is a BBC nature documentary series narrated by David Attenborough, first transmitted in the UK from 12 September 2001.Described as "the first ever comprehensive series on the natural history of the world's oceans", each of the eight 50-minute episodes examines a different aspect of...
and
Planet EarthPlanet Earth is a 2006 television series produced by the BBC Natural History Unit. Five years in the making, it was the most expensive nature documentary series ever commissioned by the BBC, and also the first to be filmed in high definition...
, the latter being the first series of its kind to be made entirely in
high-definition formatHigh-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
.
Production companies are increasingly exploiting the filmed material, by making DVDs for home viewing or educational purposes, or selling library footage to advertisers, museum exhibitors and other documentary producers.
Further reading
- Gregg Mitman: Reel Nature: America's Romance with Wildlife on Film (Weyerhaeuser Environmental Classics), Paperback (Second Edition), Combined Academic Publishers, 2009, ISBN 029598886X
External links