[mlt11]

Story in the Daily Mirror may provoke controversy:

""Arctic" polar bear scene was filmed in German zoo"

http://www.politicshome.com/uk/artic...mber_2011.html

[Sirius]

I can't comment on the story but I'm stunned anyone reads the Mirror.

[Glowbot]

I definitely saw some strings on the penguins too

[carl.waring]

I haven't read the whole story but even if it does turn-out to be based loosely on fact, you can bet it won't be entirely accurate and there will have been a perfectly acceptable reason for doing to.

[NitaJez]

Yeah I am sure when I saw the Polar Bears going across the iceberg / ice flows with the mountains and the waterfall in the background... there was a german eating a sausage..

[OnexOne]

no please god NO

[loz]

Most natural history documentaries mix outdoor scenes in the wild with studio or set up shots that are used to give a perspective on things that would be very difficult to capture in the wild.

[Jimmy_McNulty]

Will this be going alongside 'Top Gear presenter's don't even drive the cars?'.

And then it turns out they do, they just use other drivers to take extra shots

[TelevisionUser]

Originally Posted by mlt11

Story in the Daily Mirror may provoke controversy:

""Arctic" polar bear scene was filmed in German zoo"

http://www.politicshome.com/uk/artic...mber_2011.html

The words 'barrel' and 'scraping' come to mind.

Originally Posted by Sirius

I can't comment on the story but I'm stunned anyone reads the Mirror.

l'm stunned that those who look at the Mirror or any other red-top tabloid can actually read in the first place!!

[CAMERA OBSCURA]

There have been a few shots that looked like they could have been composite shots, a long panning shot of a polar bear walking along the ice with a massive glazier dominating the back ground and a few shots of seals swimming under water, I'm not saying they were but they stood out for me, maye it was just the clarity of HD!

That said composite, staged or even inserted shots are nothing new in natural history programming, Tv is filled with these things from pick up shots and inserted shots of candidates reactions on The Apprentice to nodding head shots in news interviews to mask edits. It's Tv.

[Jules 1]

Originally Posted by TelevisionUser

The words 'barrel' and 'scraping' come to mind.

l'm stunned that those who look at the Mirror or any other red-top tabloid can actually read in the first place!!

Actually I feel the same about he Daily Mail, Telegraph and Times.

However that largely goes without saying in relation to the Mail.

[mlt11]

Originally Posted by TelevisionUser

The words 'barrel' and 'scraping' come to mind.

Really? I thought it was noteworthy because of the fact it did not come from one of the usual suspects.

I am not a regular Mirror reader but don't recall hearing of this type of story in it before.

[TelevisionUser]

Originally Posted by mlt11

Really? I thought it was noteworthy because of the fact it did not come from one of the usual suspects.

I am not a regular Mirror reader but don't recall hearing of this type of story in it before.

...i.e. the Daily Mail . lt was just one clip and was of a live bear anyway so l'm not sure why the Mirror's effectively claiming that the whole series is a fake. l know that the BBC Natural History Unit have used captive bred birds, e.g. birds of prey, when doing some of their external outdoor scenes rather than filming unpredictable fully wild birds.

[mikw]

I remember a Natural History series from years gone by called "Supersense" - and than superimposed the animals against the backgrounds for some scenes.

Old news, that's TV for you!

[Pat_Mustard]

Well this is not the first time that the BBC have faked and lied to viewers. They did it with children entering a competition a few years back on Blue Peter, and also lied about figures on one of their charity shows.

[sn_22]

Originally Posted by mikw

I remember a Natural History series from years gone by called "Supersense" - and than superimposed the animals against the backgrounds for some scenes.

Old news, that's TV for you!

I don't think it's anything as crafty as that. I suspect the issue is the short scene that came from within the Polar Bear's den, where the mother nurtured her newborn cubs.

I guess you couldn't physically obtain those shots in the wild - because you can't safely send a camera man barging into a snowy cocoon alongside a Polar Bear half way up a mountain! Looking back, all the other shots of the animal could come from a safe distance in the Arctic itself - but that one couldn't cause you needed a window into the den. Hence those close up pictures were filmed in a zoo.

Not sure, but I'm expecting that's what it'll be. Some truth, furnished by a nice healthy dollop of hyperbole that makes it sound a little more dramatic. I notice rent-a-quote John Wittingdale makes it into the article so we can make reasonable assumptions on the tone…

Hope the BBC PR people are on the ball tomorrow. Cause I'm sure this'll soon be whipped into a civilisation-shaking scandal if they're not.

EDIT: Yes, turns out it's exactly this and there's a "making of" explaining it all on Frozen Planet's own website!

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-sto...5875-23628713/

[Mystic Dave]

Don't be a pillock - the scene relates to the birth of the polar bears. To have filmed it like that in the wild would have caused considerable distress to the mother, assuming you could find a mother bear under the snow at just the right moment.

If you look at the Daily Mirror, you will see above this non-story, a piece about Little Mix winning the X Factor. If you want to see faked and pointless TV every week, there it is.

[jjesso123]

Does anyone really see the problem with this ? It was still a very good documentary and looked stunning.

[mikw]

Originally Posted by Pat_Mustard

Well this is not the first time that the BBC have faked and lied to viewers. They did it with children entering a competition a few years back on Blue Peter, and also lied about figures on one of their charity shows.

Nearly all TV and Radio is "fake" up to a point - but you'll only ever read about the BBC ones - thanks to out hatchet job media and their vested interests.

[Pat_Mustard]

Originally Posted by jjesso123

Does anyone really see the problem with this ? It was still a very good documentary and looked stunning.

It would be nice if the BBC told you at the start of the programme, that some of the footage was from a zoo.

[sn_22]

Here's the website clip that explains how it's made:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00m21s4

Not exactly a secret cover-up, is it?

And the commentary didn't suggest it was filmed in the Arctic, either. They might have spelled it out, but I don't think there was really any need to for the programme's sake. But it was perhaps naive not to guard against this sort of gotcha journalism.

[Pat_Mustard]

Originally Posted by mikw

Nearly all TV and Radio is "fake" up to a point - but you'll only ever read about the BBC ones - thanks to out hatchet job media and their vested interests.

Then we agree, being a liar is not just confined to one BBC producer, but is practiced across the entire organisation.

[DANCE OF DEATH]

Originally Posted by sn_22

I don't think it's anything as crafty as that. I suspect the issue is the short scene that came from within the Polar Bear's den, where the mother nurtured her newborn cubs.

I guess you couldn't physically obtain those shots in the wild - because you can't safely send a camera man barging into a snowy cocoon alongside a Polar Bear half way up a mountain! Looking back, all the other shots of the animal could come from a safe distance in the Arctic itself - but that one couldn't cause you needed a window into the den. Hence those close up pictures were filmed in a zoo.

Not sure, but I'm expecting that's what it'll be. Some truth, furnished by a nice healthy dollop of hyperbole that makes it sound a little more dramatic. I notice rent-a-quote John Wittingdale makes it into the article so we can make reasonable assumptions on the tone…

Hope the BBC PR people are on the ball tomorrow. Cause I'm sure this'll soon be whipped into a civilisation-shaking scandal if they're not.

EDIT: Yes, turns out it's exactly this and there's a making of explaining it all on Frozen Planet's own website!

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-sto...5875-23628713/

Frozen Planet might have mixed zoo and wild pictures, but is the Mirror still trying to con people that it is still a newspaper.

[mikw]

Originally Posted by Pat_Mustard

Then we agree, being a liar is not just confined to one BBC producer, but is practiced across the entire organisation.

No, across the WHOLE media world - but it's only the BBC ones that get reported in with great gusto, and not always that honestly.

As ITV's Michael Grade said when ITV were caught out for dodgy going's on ; "Tv is the confection of the mind".

Not confined to TV either.

Charlie Brooker did a brilliant "Screenwipe" about media fakery - including the use of Microwaved Tampons to make food seem more appealing on TV cookery shows!

[d'@ve]

Originally Posted by Pat_Mustard

Then we agree, being a liar is not just confined to one BBC producer, but is practiced across the entire organisation.

It wasn't faked and they didn't lie. The "making of" clip that explained it truthfully and in full has been up on the BBC website for over a month! That Mirror article (especially the headline) just makes the paper look stupid, it even took them a month to notice! They should hang their heads in shame (but I wouldn't expect a tabloid journalist ever to do that whatever they did).

Having watched that clip, the technical challenge and the amount of advance preparation that went into it was immense!

Anyone who watched that scene on the TV show and who didn't realise that they'd never have been able to do it "in the field" is naive. Marvellous footage, marvellous series.