I disagree. The key question is whether the message is accurate or
distorted. If it takes fakery to show what really happens (perhaps because
it is too hard to get a decent video of reality) then a fake shot may convey
more real information than sticking to what can be photographed, and I
consider that valid.
Keep in mind that a lot of important animal activity occurs at night, and
night-vision photography is a relatively recent development. I suspect that
a lot of earlier documentaries with night scenes were manipulated, but that
makes more sense than ignoring periods of darkness just because there isn't
enough light.
What really matters is whether the viewer sees a representation of reality
or whether he gets a misleading picture. The fact that a film is shot with
no trickery does not mean that it offers an honest picture of reality. Think
of my earlier posting with reference to penguins - one can certainly shoot a
film that shows the funny side of penguin life, but if you leave out the
agony of guarding the egg and chick and the desperate search for food in
seal-infested waters it gives a very false idea of what it is like to be a
penguin.
Bill Silvert
----- Original Message -----
From: "Wayne Tyson" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: domingo, 26 de Setembro de 2010 17:48
Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Naturefaking in media
Ecolog:
The first question is, "Is the charge of 'naturefaking' valid or fake?"
It seems to me that there is a tendency to cherry-pick cases to support
biases. Somewhere between a batty batter batting bats for money, and
setting up a shot that doesn't mislead is a grey area that needs to tip
the balance toward simple honesty. There is some point where a filmmaker
or a writer or speaker has got to say, "ENOUGH!" and say either "This is
fakery, or at least on the edge, and I have a duty to truth; I'll find a
way to make it entertaining enough to illuminate the truth" or "This is so
boring and tedious it won't open up the grandeur of Nature for my
audience, I'll have to set up a shot or tell the story in such a way as to
illuminate rather than mislead."
WT
There are two types of professional; one puts the buck first, the other
puts the work first.
