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https://theconversation.com/the-animal-sounds-in-most-nature-documentaries-are-made-by-humans-heres-how-they-do-it-and-why-it-matters-220713>
"Wildlife documentaries like the BBC’s recent series,
Planet Earth III, are
renowned for offering breathtaking images of animals in their natural habitats.
You’d be forgiven for thinking these shows offer an unmediated portrayal of
these animals – an objective window into their lives as they hunt, rest and
rear their young. But this isn’t quite the case.
While the images we see are filmed on location, many of the sounds are recorded
and added to the programmes later. The sounds of animals walking, chewing food
and panting, for example, are almost always recorded by human “Foley artists”
in a sound studio far away from the filming location, often weeks or months
later. Foley artists are specialists who produce bespoke sounds for film and
television soundtracks.
This curious fact is an inevitable consequence of modern wildlife filmmaking. A
lot of wildlife documentary footage is shot using telephoto lenses that can
zoom in on their subjects from a great distance. But sound recordists typically
can’t get close enough to capture clear sound without disturbing the animals.
Wildlife documentaries also tend to require large crews. If sound were recorded
on location, it would be muddied by background noises such as crew chatter or
car engines. In other cases, the animals make sounds of a frequency or volume
that most microphones simply can’t capture clearly.
In my research, I’ve talked to Foley artists who specialise in animal sound and
observed them at work in their studios."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
