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Frozen Planet - Excellence in broadcasting or a sign of our moral turpitude?
Cards on the table - I thought the BBC's 'Frozen Planet' was one of the best programmes of the year.
However Mental Mel (or Melanie Phillips to her acolytes), has launched an condemnation on the programme for tricking viewers into thinking that the birth of polar bear cubs was filmed live in the snowy tundra of the Artic.
Not being funny - but I saw that episode and not once did I feel conned...just impressed.
Are the right wing press scraping the bottom of the barrel in their anti-BBC quest, or is this a legitimate complaint?
http://phillipsblog.d...11/12/frozen-con.html
I'll hold my hands up and admit that I think Phillips is...a word that is rarely used in polite society...at least not outside a kennel club.
However Mental Mel (or Melanie Phillips to her acolytes), has launched an condemnation on the programme for tricking viewers into thinking that the birth of polar bear cubs was filmed live in the snowy tundra of the Artic.
Not being funny - but I saw that episode and not once did I feel conned...just impressed.
Are the right wing press scraping the bottom of the barrel in their anti-BBC quest, or is this a legitimate complaint?
http://phillipsblog.d...11/12/frozen-con.html
I'll hold my hands up and admit that I think Phillips is...a word that is rarely used in polite society...at least not outside a kennel club.
Answers
Fantastic show, awesome photography, and the inestimable David Attenborough commentating
Who in their right minds thinks it would be a good idea to send a camera crew to intrude into the den of a polar bear with new born cubs? For that matter, who actually thought...
Who in their right minds thinks it would be a good idea to send a camera crew to intrude into the den of a polar bear with new born cubs? For that matter, who actually thought...
22:10 Sun 18th Dec 2011
It is not the first time the BBC have used faked footage in there programmes and tried to pass it off as genuine.
( I'll hold my hands up and admit that I think Phillips is...a word that is rarely used in polite society...at least not outside a kennel club.)
If the BBC filmed it was it a genuine kennel club or was it airbrushed in later.
( I'll hold my hands up and admit that I think Phillips is...a word that is rarely used in polite society...at least not outside a kennel club.)
If the BBC filmed it was it a genuine kennel club or was it airbrushed in later.
// * Tragopans - a kind of pheasant purportedly living in a Chinese forest - actually filmed in a wildlife park in Somerset for the series Wild China
* clown fish shown hatching from eggs in David Attenborough’s Life series in 2009, in the ocean were in fact filmed in a tank built by Swansea University as part of a research project
* a chameleon in Attenborough’s Life in Cold Blood in 2008 shown in the forest actually filmed in a studio as were leopard geckos shown mating in the desert
* a stalk eyed fly, described as lying “dormant on the forest floor” in Life in 2009, was filmed not in a south east Asian rainforest but in a BBC studio
As well as sight, sound is also recreated in studios in so-called 'foley sessions’ in which sound is added to a film.
Producers use sound effects to mimic the noises made by real animals, including such seemingly bizarre practices as adding custard powder to a woman’s stocking which is then squeezed to sound like polar bears skidding on ice or else bears walking through a forest.
The filming techniques of a handful of scenes shot in studios on specially constructed sets are revealed in programme notes published on the BBC’s website linked to the home pages for each individual programme.
Each episode of Frozen Planet contained a final section explaining how images were captured although no mention was made of the polar bear giving birth in a specially constructed den in a zoo.
The only clip explaining how it was done was on a BBC website linked to the programme. //
* clown fish shown hatching from eggs in David Attenborough’s Life series in 2009, in the ocean were in fact filmed in a tank built by Swansea University as part of a research project
* a chameleon in Attenborough’s Life in Cold Blood in 2008 shown in the forest actually filmed in a studio as were leopard geckos shown mating in the desert
* a stalk eyed fly, described as lying “dormant on the forest floor” in Life in 2009, was filmed not in a south east Asian rainforest but in a BBC studio
As well as sight, sound is also recreated in studios in so-called 'foley sessions’ in which sound is added to a film.
Producers use sound effects to mimic the noises made by real animals, including such seemingly bizarre practices as adding custard powder to a woman’s stocking which is then squeezed to sound like polar bears skidding on ice or else bears walking through a forest.
The filming techniques of a handful of scenes shot in studios on specially constructed sets are revealed in programme notes published on the BBC’s website linked to the home pages for each individual programme.
Each episode of Frozen Planet contained a final section explaining how images were captured although no mention was made of the polar bear giving birth in a specially constructed den in a zoo.
The only clip explaining how it was done was on a BBC website linked to the programme. //
if you think the BBC is awful, remember ITV illustrated a documentary on Gadaffi and the IRA with footage from terrorists showing them shooting down a British army helicopter.
Which turned out to be from the computer game ARMA 2.
http://www.telegraph....ary-as-IRA-video.html
Still waiting to hear Ms Phillips' take on that.
Which turned out to be from the computer game ARMA 2.
http://www.telegraph....ary-as-IRA-video.html
Still waiting to hear Ms Phillips' take on that.
See, this is where you and I differ in opinion, Sub sinker. I already knew that filmed sequences were spliced together for dramatic effect. I already knew that sound effects were often added in to add drama and realism to the footage, and for narrative effect. I also already knew that the BBC were extremely unlikely to send a camera crew, at great risk to themselves and of course to the pups, to film a polar bear giving birth or immediately post delivery, because, frankly, that would be dangerous and irresponsible.
Who, in their right mind, would think otherwise? 12 million or so viewers, a grand total of 50 complaints, and around 1/2 a mile of frothing outrage from media commentators about alleged BBC bias or untruths.
Of those 4 examples you offered from the Telegraph, which of those materially misled the viewer over the science of the event itself? Do Tragopans live in china and surrounding bits of China? why yes they do. Do clown fish hatch from eggs? you know, I think they do.
If the Beeb had shown footage which misrepresented the facts or science of the event, then maybe it might be worth remonstrating, which no doubt a whole bunch of naturalists would be only too happy to do. Otherwise, its all a mountain out of a molehill......
Who, in their right mind, would think otherwise? 12 million or so viewers, a grand total of 50 complaints, and around 1/2 a mile of frothing outrage from media commentators about alleged BBC bias or untruths.
Of those 4 examples you offered from the Telegraph, which of those materially misled the viewer over the science of the event itself? Do Tragopans live in china and surrounding bits of China? why yes they do. Do clown fish hatch from eggs? you know, I think they do.
If the Beeb had shown footage which misrepresented the facts or science of the event, then maybe it might be worth remonstrating, which no doubt a whole bunch of naturalists would be only too happy to do. Otherwise, its all a mountain out of a molehill......
@Lazygun- “... But this was not a factual record but part of an entertainment series about the natural world...”
There is a distinct difference between a documentary and an entertainment programme. It still looks slightly dodgy when the viewing public is deliberately mislead - no matter how subtlety or inconsequential that prevarication may seem to be.
However, I tend to agree with the general thrust of your argument in this particular instance.
That being said, the BBC is slowly gathering a less than exemplary record of late for bending the truth. Whereas I used to treat the BBC's output as 'gospel' (for want of a better word!) I now take most of what they say with a health pinch of salt.
There is a distinct difference between a documentary and an entertainment programme. It still looks slightly dodgy when the viewing public is deliberately mislead - no matter how subtlety or inconsequential that prevarication may seem to be.
However, I tend to agree with the general thrust of your argument in this particular instance.
That being said, the BBC is slowly gathering a less than exemplary record of late for bending the truth. Whereas I used to treat the BBC's output as 'gospel' (for want of a better word!) I now take most of what they say with a health pinch of salt.
sp1814, I don't know if you came across this Melanie Phillips saga:
http://www.butireadit...hillips-on-winterval/
The woman is obviously as sane as a hatter.
http://www.butireadit...hillips-on-winterval/
The woman is obviously as sane as a hatter.
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