Nature documentary

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A nature documentary is a documentary film about animals, plants, or other non-human living creatures, usually concentrating on film taken in their natural habitat. Such programmes are most frequently made for television, particularly for public broadcasting channels, but some are also made for the cinema.

1 History
2 Content
- 2.1 David Attenborough
- 2.2 Steve Irwin
3 Current production
4 References

[edit] History

Television documentaries started on BBC television, with the long-running series Look, a studio-based magazine progamme with filmed inserts, hosted by Sir Peter Scott. 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 Unit in Bristol. During the late 1970s and early 1980s several other television companies round the world set up their own specialised natural history departments, including ABC in Melbourne, Australia and TVNZ's unit in Dunedin, New Zealand — both still in existence, the latter having changed its name to NHNZ. ITV'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 down'.

For a chronology of wildlife films, shown in cinemas and on television see the Appendix in Bousé (2000)^[1]

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.

[edit] Content

Most programmes or series focus on a particular species, ecosystem or scientific idea (such as evolution). Although most take a scientific and educational approach, some anthropomorphise 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 voiceovers to extensive interaction or even confrontation with animals.

Well-known nature documentary makers and presenters include Oscar-winning Bernhard Grzimek, David Attenborough, Richard Brock, Jacques Cousteau, Marlin Perkins, Heinz Sielmann, Jeff Corwin, Mark Strickson, Neil Harraway and Steve Irwin.

The Panda Awards for nature documentaries are given every two years, by the Wildscreen Trust, in Bristol, UK.

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:

[edit] David Attenborough

Some documentaries are also presented as television miniseries. 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 (1984), 12 episodes
The Trials of Life (1990), 12 episodes
Life in the Freezer (1993), 6 episodes
The Private Life of Plants (1995), 6 episodes
The Life of Birds (1998), 10 episodes
The Life of Mammals (2002), 10 episodes
Life in the Undergrowth (2005), 5 episodes
Life in Cold Blood (due 2008)

[edit] Steve Irwin

These documentaries are aired on Discovery Channel, Animal Planet. It is based on wildlife conservation and environmentalism. The series comprises:

The Crocodile Hunter (1992–2004), 74 episodes
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 (2006)

[edit] 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 Planet, National Geographic or NHK, Japan) 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 Planet and Planet Earth, the latter being the first series of its kind to be made entirely in high-definition format.

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.