Taking natural-world filmmaking to another level, these award-winning BBC Earth documentaries, from acclaimed producer John Downer, use specially developed filming technologies including revolutionary remote-control buggy cameras or ‘Bouldercams’, buried periscopes and state-of-the-art night vision equipment to truly enter the animal world like never before.
Now these three 50 minutes innovative documentaries, that each in turn explore the world of the lion, elephant and bear, are available together for the first time in a special collection.
LIONS: SPY IN THE DEN: As narrator David Attenborough explains, “this is no ordinary film about lions.” Lions: Spy in the Den was the first time the viewer was really able to experience life inside the world of an animal in the wild. Two years in the making, this intimate and intricate portrait involved John and his team watching the lions for a total of 3000 hours. With the Bouldercam's revolutionary sound system, the television vibrates to the purrs, roars, yelps and barks of these highly vocal animals, as we examine the fragile alliances between the pride and its neighbouring rivals and the often highly amusing antics of the lions within the pride itself.
ELEPHANTS: SPY IN THE HERD: Following on from the sensational success of Lions: Spy in the Den, producer John Downer, with the award-winning team of cameraman Michael Richards and the creator of the unique camera devices Geoff Bell, turned to the African elephant. Elephants: Spy in the Herd is an action packed, powerful ride that follows the progress of young animals as they learn the skills that prepare them for adult life. The intimacy of the special images reveals the subtleties of elephant life in a completely new way, highlighting their many similarities to humans – life span, social structure, wisdom of age and emotional bonds. For Elephants: Spy in the Herd, the now famous Bouldercam was replaced with a new family of spy-cams, to suit the new animals more appropriately: ‘Dungcam’, ‘Floatercam’ and ‘Plopcam’, each with different functions to ensure maximum coverage!
BEARS: SPY IN THE WOODS: The final part of the collection from John Downer brings the viewer within a paw's swipe of the world's bears, offering the most intimate portrayal of these engaging creatures ever. The lives of the giant panda, the brown bear, its white cousin the polar bear and the less well-known spectacled bear are all explored. Cameras plunge into the water as bears dive for salmon, follow polar bears as they swim between ice-flows and penetrate the bamboo curtain to gain an astonishing glimpse into the private lives of pandas. Helping the team is the new ‘Magicam’ – a caterpillar tracking device that takes on the appearance of the local environments, making it all but invisible to its enchanting subjects.