Anature documentary orwildlife documentary is a genre ofdocumentary film orseries aboutanimals,plants, or other non-human living creatures. Nature documentaries usually concentrate on video taken in the subject's naturalhabitat, but often including footage of trained and captive animals, too. Sometimes they are aboutwildlife orecosystems in relationship to human beings. Such programmes are most frequently made fortelevision, particularly forpublic broadcasting channels, but some are also made for thecinema. The proliferation of thisgenre occurred almost simultaneously alongside the production of similar television series which is distributed across the world.
Robert J. Flaherty's 1922 filmNanook of the North is typically cited as the first feature-length documentary.[1] Decades later,Walt Disney Productions pioneered the serial theatrical release of nature-documentaries with its production of theTrue-Life Adventures series, a collection of fourteen full length andshort subject nature films from 1948 to 1960.[2] Prominent among those wereThe Living Desert (1953) andThe Vanishing Prairie (1954), both written and directed byJames Algar.
The first full-length nature-documentary films pioneering colourunderwater cinematography were the Italian filmSesto Continente (The Sixth Continent) and the French filmLe Monde du silence (The Silent World). Directed byFolco QuiliciSesto Continente was shot in 1952 and first exhibited to Italian audiences in 1954.[3]The Silent World, shot in 1954 and 1955 byJacques Cousteau andLouis Malle, was first released in 1956.[4]
In 1954, the BBC started airingZoo Quest, featuringDavid Attenborough. Other early nature documentaries includeFur and Feathers shown onCBC from 1955 to 1956 and hosted byIan McTaggart-Cowan.,[5] andLook, a studio-based BBC magazine-program with filmed inserts, hosted bySir Peter Scott from 1955 to 1981. The first 50-minute weekly documentary series,The World About Us, began on BBC2 in 1967 with a color installment from the French filmmaker Haroun Tazieff, called "Volcano". Around 1982, the series changed its title toThe Natural World, which theBBC Natural History Unit inBristol continued to produce as of 2023[update]. In 1961,Anglia Television produced the first of the award-winningSurvival series.
Between 1974 and 1980, the Spanish nature documentary television seriesEl Hombre y la Tierra (The Man and the Earth), produced byTVE and presented by naturalistFélix Rodríguez de la Fuente used 35 mm film, which posed significant logistic and technical challenges at the time. The show gained international recognition.[6]
During the late 1970s and early 1980s, several other television companies round the world set up their own specialized natural-history departments, including theAustralian Broadcasting Corporation inMelbourne,Australia andTVNZ's unit inDunedin,New Zealand — both still in existence, the latter having changed its name to "NHNZ".ITV's contribution to the genre,Survival, became a prolific series of single films. It was eventually axed when the network introduced a controversial new schedule which many commentators have criticized as "dumbing down".
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.[citation needed] Yet film and television critics and scholars have largely ignored them.[citation needed]
The BBC television seriesWalking With, narrated byKenneth Branagh, used computer-generated imagery (CGI) andanimatronics to film prehistoric life in a similar manner to other nature documentaries. The shows (Walking with Dinosaurs,Walking with Beasts, andWalking with Monsters) had three spinoffs, two of which featuredNigel Marven:Chased by Dinosaurs andSea Monsters: A Walking with Dinosaurs Trilogy.Robert Winston presentedWalking with Cavemen.
Most nature documentary films or television series focus on a particularspecies,ecosystem, orscientific idea (such asevolution). Although most take a scientific andeducational approach, someanthropomorphise their subjects or present animals purely for the viewer's pleasure. In a few instances, they are in presented inethnographic film[7] formats and contain stories that involve humans and their relationships with the natural world, as inNanook of the North (1922),The Story of the Weeping Camel (2003), andGrass: A Nation's Battle for Life (1925).
Although almost all have a human presenter, the role varies widely, ranging from explanatoryvoice-overs to extensive interaction or even confrontation with animals.
Most nature documentaries are made for television and are usually of 45 to 50 minutes duration,[citation needed] but some are made as full-length cinematic presentations.
Such films include:
In addition, theBBC'sThe Blue Planet andPlanet Earth series have both been adapted byBBC Worldwide and Greenlight Media for theatrical release.[8]
In some cases, nature documentaries are produced in theshort subject form and are subsequently screened in theaters or broadcast on television. Often they are about the relationship between humans and nature. Notable examples include:
Every two years theWildscreen Trust, of Bristol in theUK presents thePanda Awards for nature documentaries.
The "naturalness" of nature documentaries has been disputed.[9][10][11] Some, particularly those involving animals, have included footage of staged events that appear "natural" while actually contrived by filmmakers or occurring in captivity.[12] In a famous example,Walt Disney'sWhite Wilderness (1958),lemmings were herded to their deaths from a cliff by the filmmakers.[12][13] Examples also occur in modern nature documentaries, such asHidden Kingdoms (2014)[14] andBlue Planet II (2017),[15] indicating that such practices are still routine.[16][17] Due to the difficulties of recording sounds on locations, it is common for nature documentary makers to record sounds in post-production usingFoley and to usesound effect libraries.[18][19]Compositing andcomputer-generated imagery are also sometimes used to construct shots.[20][21] Wild animals are often filmed over weeks or months, so the footage must be condensed to form anarrative that appears to take place over a short space of time.[22] Such narratives are also constructed to be as compelling as possible—rather than necessarily as a reflection of reality—and make frequent use of voice-overs, combined with emotional and intense music to maximise the audience's engagement with the content.[23] One common technique is to follow the "story" of one particular animal, encouraging the audience to form an emotional connection with the subject and to root for their survival when they encounter apredator.[10] In 1984, David Attenborough stated:
There is precious little that is natural … in any film. You distort speed if you want to show things like plants growing, or look in detail at the way an animal moves. You distort light levels. You distort distribution, in the sense that you see dozens of different species in a jungle within a few minutes, so that the places seem to be teeming with life. You distort size by using close-up lenses. And you distort sound. What the filmmaker is trying to do is to convey a particular experience. … The viewer has to trust in the good faith of the filmmaker.[23]
Nature documentaries have been criticized for leaving viewers with the impression that wild animals survived and thrived after encounters with predators, even when they sustain potentially life-threatening injuries.[24] They also cut away from particularly violent encounters,[10][25] or attempt to downplay thesuffering endured by the individual animal, by appealing to concepts such as the "balance of nature" and "the good of the herd".[26]
Among the many notable filmmakers, scientists, and presenters who have contributed to the medium include:
SirDavid Attenborough's contributions to conservation are widely regarded, and his television programs have been seen by millions of people throughout the world. Series narrated and/or presented by him include:
Steve Irwin's documentaries, based on wildlife conservation and environmentalism, aired onDiscovery Channel, andAnimal Planet. The series comprises:
People who accuse us of putting in too much violence, [should see] what we leave on the cutting-room floor.
