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DOCUMENTARY FILMS AND NATURE

DOCUMENTARY FILMS AND NATURE. CCGL9012: Media, Politics and the Environment. A chronology…. Since early… documentaries occupy a fuzzy middle ground between entertainment, education, art and voyeurism. Early film depictions of nature. Eadweard Muybridge (9 April 1830 – 8 May 1904)

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DOCUMENTARY FILMS AND NATURE

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  1. DOCUMENTARY FILMS AND NATURE CCGL9012: Media, Politics and the Environment

  2. A chronology…. • Since early… documentaries occupy a fuzzy middle ground between entertainment, education, art and voyeurism

  3. Early film depictions of nature • Eadweard Muybridge (9 April 1830 – 8 May 1904) • British photographer, spent much of career in U.S. •  invented “Zoopraxiscope” in late `70s Images from: http://vintageprintable.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/zoopraxiscope-horse-galloping.jpg and http://screenheritage.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/zoopraxiscope1.jpg

  4. Nickelodeons and new technology • American inventor (phonograph, light-bulb and motion picture camera) • Advent of Nickelodeons and small community theaters (precursors to modern cinemas) • Nickelodeons showed short comedies, melodramas, actualities, etc. • Edison’s famous, "Electrocuting the Elephant,” 1903 • Thomas Edison (February 11, 1847 – October 18, 1931)

  5. “Actualities” • Not documentary films with a narrative story, but raw “actual” footage • New lenses and camera technology offer public opportunity to view familiar subjects/animals/landscapes in new ways • Popular videos include people feeding animals, animals fighting • Tech limitations led companies to film in studios – led to increased numbers of studio zoos • First half of 20th century also characterized by nationalistic themes in nature films, glorifying bees or ants obedience, willingness to sacrifice for their ordered insect society • Germany was a leader in early nature filming: • 1927 – a German company shot “Killing the Killer” or “MungoderSchlangentoter • The scene is still popular. Consider: “Cobra vs. Mongoose” by contemporary National Geographic

  6. Preserving a lost reality • Western explorer/adventurer • Edward S. Curtis • “Nanook of the North” - 1921 • Martin & Osa Johnson – 1920s

  7. Color and Sound! • Living Desert, 1953 (won the Academy Award) • Disney True Life Adventures (influential series) • Disney magic in the editing room

  8. Talking Animals? • Some serious filmmakers in the middle of the century made documentaries featuring animals that talked…. Sounds silly? • BBC One has (recently) taken the idea further in a comedy show.

  9. After the 1970s • Civil Rights movement… animal rights movement • Nature documentaries become more critical of mankind’s role in the environment • Sometimes, protagonists have an “agenda,” i.e. saving a species. • Saving that species often requires establishment of a park, which needs funding, or some other public support.

  10. Naturalist celebrities emerge… • Two examples: • Jacques Cousteau • 11 June 1910 – 25 June 1997 • pioneer in scuba diving • Filmed during`50s-`90s • Steve Irwin, “the crocodile hunter” • 22 February 1962 – 4 September 2006 • Died while filming with a sting ray

  11. What’s new (and old)? • Modern narrative techniques are applied… and technology keeps improving… the trend continues. • New example: REALITY TV! …what’s next?

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