Planet Earth Blows My Mind - How do they get these shots?

T

Tom Films

Active member
The more I watch Planet Earth, the more I am boggled at they shots they have. For example, how do they get...

1) Closeup underwater footage of a polar bear?
2) Moving timelapse of plants growing/blooming. Look like multi day MOVING timelapse footage.
3) Moving timelapse that spans multi seasons. Such as winter and then spring shot and stitched together from seemingly the EXACT same location.
4) The gazelle footage. Closeup of a fawn that just happened to bed right next to the supposingly buried and hidden cameramen. Then suddenly that very field is on fire. Did Joe Blow camera man forget to put his cig out?

I could go on. But however they do it, i'm impressed. I wonder how much is shot at zoos and such as stiched together to seem like the wild?
 
Planet Earth was years and years and years in the making. To get some of those shots they waited for weeks at a time.

And the people from Discovery are insane. But all of it was shot in the wild.
 
The growth and timelapse of the flowers and mushrooms were taken with a camera PRETTY SURE. They set a timer on it to take a picture every like 1-2 days maybe. Then after weeks and weeks, they grab the camera, upload the files and put them together. That's just my guess though.
 
Yes! My next get rich plan is to find out when the next planet earth series is going to be shot. Then I'm going to wander around the Amazon until I come across a motion control rig and camera left by the crew. Jackpot!
 
Is there a making of film????
I know there is a book that somewhat describes what went down, but really that video series is truly mind blowing.
 
But seriously though. Explain to me how you can film a polar bear swimming in the ocean, so close they're in his wake?

What kind of zoom do they have on these cameras. Looks like high powered telescope zoom. Crazy cool stuff.
 
zergtherobot said:
Is there a making of film????
I know there is a book that somewhat describes what went down, but really that video series is truly mind blowing.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure if there is one comprehensive BTS doc, but on the DVD set each episode has a 10 minute behind the scenes featurette after it. Some of that stuff is more amazing to watch than the footage in the episodes themselves.
 
zergtherobot said:
Is there a making of film????
I know there is a book that somewhat describes what went down, but really that video series is truly mind blowing.
Click to expand...

The book is called "Planet Earth the making of an epic series"- by David Nicholson - Lord

ISBN 0-563-49358-5

I think Amazon has it for $12

There was also a really good article about it in a past issue of DV magazine, 90% of it was shot on a varicam at 720p (couldn't believe it).

Planet Earth had almost 4,000 shooting days and a budget that ended up just shy of $30 million.

A lot of the plant growing timelapse shots are still cam shots in a controlled enviroment with lights that stay on for 2+ months, a terrarium (I think thats what they call them).

Buy the dvd's & the book, the little 10 min "Making Of" they have for each segment is well worth the dvd price alone.


The amazing thing is the camera's are 7-8 year old first generation varicams (with the exception of film cams that were used in extremly cold climates because the tape would freeze). It goes to show you that if you can shoot never seen before images with constantly moving camera movements it'll have great success.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top