Current Events > I'm watching Planet Earth II and I don't even get how they filmed half this shit

(+) Yeah! (+)

Just one scene has seemingly hundreds of camera angles yet they're somehow always at the right spot.
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With a camera.

Right? A lot of the footage is pretty stunning, I still consider it the best nature themed documentary in existence. I tend to watch a lot of them also.
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Bio1590 posted...

Just one scene has seemingly hundreds of camera angles yet they're somehow always at the right spot.

For real. I always think, "Where is this camera? Look at this shot! Camera would have to be the size of an ant! How did they film that close to molten lava!? Why don't we ever see other cameras in ANY shots ever?"

Must be alien tech tbh. Nothing else fully explains it.
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Like there's the one scene in the Grasslands episode with the mouse and the owl and it perfectly captures the moment the mouse falls off the grass and hits the ground.

Like literally how
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A lot of really expensive cameras and a ton of patience to get that perfect shot.

I remember when the first Planet Earth came out and was blown away, HDTVs were just becoming mainstream.
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Top of the line cameras with lenses that cost more than your car.
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Taharqa_ posted...

A lot of really expensive cameras and a ton of patience to get that perfect shot.

I remember when the first Planet Earth came out and was blown away, HDTVs were just becoming mainstream.

And now this shit is in 4K.

Man some of these animals are impressive too.
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A lot of the shots they use are from cameras zoomed in extremely far. Also, they get a LOOOOOT of footage and only take the very best shots for the final cut.

I remember thinking how impressive they were in the first one. I can't imagine it in 4k. If only I had a 4k TV.
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It takes a very long time. Also I'm really going to miss David Attenborough when his time comes. He's honestly the only narrator for me when it comes to nature documentaries.
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Vyrulisse posted...

It takes a very long time. Also I'm really going to miss David Attenborough when his time comes. He's honestly the only narrator for me when it comes to nature documentaries.

Same. I used to hate nature docs until I started hearing hi narrate them.

Also, relevant: https://satwcomic.com/how-to-deal-with-animals

Patience and expensive equipment
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It is incredible, very worthy follow up to the original.
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They use drones.
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its CGI
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Planet Earth was the first Blu-ray I saw and I was sold.
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Yeah Planet Earth on Netflix was so fucking cool.

Anyone have an ETA on Planet Earth II comes out on Netflix?
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Muffinz0rz posted...

Yeah Planet Earth on Netflix was so fucking cool.

Anyone have an ETA on Planet Earth II comes out on Netflix?

Now man. Right now it's on there
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They can spend literally a month of filming time trying to capture one five second moment perfectly.

it must be a really big lens. Sometimes I think, this must be taken from a helicopter, but how can the helicopter not be scaring the shit out of the animals???
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Talks posted...

it must be a really big lens. Sometimes I think, this must be taken from a helicopter, but how can the helicopter not be scaring the shit out of the animals???

Drones
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How does Planet Earth II compare to the first? I've been thinking about watching it.
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Dragonblade01 posted...

How does Planet Earth II compare to the first? I've been thinking about watching it.

It's better imo. Everyone should watch it
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Better? Damn, that's like the most glowing review you could possibly give it.
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If you haven't you should check out Blue Planet and Blue Planet II as well. Same style but focused on marine life around the world.
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You guys do realize that these scenes are not all from literally the same moment, right?

They have thousands of hours of film. They catch snippets here and there of various different moments, and then piece them all together to form the narrative.

For the mouse scene, they probably caught one shot of a mouse and an owl together. Then they caught another close-up shot of a mouse hitting the grass. They're not actually the same mouse. But they fit together through editing to give you a complete picture of the kinds of things that happen in the wild. Sometimes, iirc, a small portion of the footage they get isn't actually filmed in the wilderness at all. Like they'll see an event happen in the wild (like the mouse falling) but they don't get a very good shot of it. And since it's so ridiculously complicated and basically impossible to be in the exact right spot to get it a second time, they'll just re-create the moment for the cameras. Like they'll take a mouse that's been caught, set up cameras, and then drop it in a field of the same grass in order to piece it together in editing.

It is contrived to make it seem like it was all one event for storytelling reasons. But they never try to claim "this exact event occurred in this exact way on this exact date at this exact time in this exact location exactly as it's shown." That's not the point. The point of it is to show you an example of the kinds of events that animals go through in the wild. Everything they show in the the documentary is behavior that has been observed in the wild, but sometimes they have to set it up to get it on film.
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Aristoph posted...

You guys do realize that these scenes are not all from literally the same moment, right?

They have thousands of hours of film. They catch snippets here and there of various different moments, and then piece them all together to form the narrative.

For the mouse scene, they probably caught one shot of a mouse and an owl together. Then they caught another close-up shot of a mouse hitting the grass. They're not actually the same mouse. But they fit together through editing to give you a complete picture of the kinds of things that happen in the wild. Sometimes, iirc, a small portion of the footage they get isn't actually filmed in the wilderness at all. Like they'll see an event happen in the wild (like the mouse falling) but they don't get a very good shot of it. And since it's so ridiculously complicated and basically impossible to be in the exact right spot to get it a second time, they'll just re-create the moment for the cameras. Like they'll take a mouse that's been caught, set up cameras, and then drop it in a field of the same grass in order to piece it together in editing.

It is contrived to make it seem like it was all one event for storytelling reasons. But they never try to claim "this exact event occurred in this exact way on this exact date at this exact time in this exact location exactly as it's shown." That's not the point. The point of it is to show you an example of the kinds of events that animals go through in the wild. Everything they show in the the documentary is behavior that has been observed in the wild, but sometimes they have to set it up to get it on film.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwjIUoXrVsI
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Imagine editing all of that footage. They must have a big team.
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Is it in 4k on Netflix?
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Yah it's pretty mind blowing
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I'm watching it right now and I agree.

Some of the angles are breathtaking and something I've never seen done before with real film.
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