MovieChat Forums > Frozen Planet (2012) Discussion > The zoo polar bears

The zoo polar bears

posted 12 years ago by rgcustomer
3 replies | jump to latest

I was using Google to get to this site, but a funny thing happened on the way to IMDb.

The great Internets have told me that the polar bear cub scene in Frozen Planet was filmed at a zoo, in a fake den, with fake snow, because it was too dangerous to do otherwise, and they were only making a movie, and needed to preserve the mood.

Is this true? (I'm going to proceed as if it is...)

I have not yet seen Frozen Planet. Given what I've seen in Planet Earth, and Life, I don't really buy the "too dangerous" claim (unless those also were faked). "Too expensive" and "not cute enough" are more believable.

For people who have seen the scene, and assuming that the reports I've read are true, is it more important to have a "movie mood" about a fake scene, or the truth?

Is Frozen Planet a documentary, or an art film? Does it matter if any of it is real? What percentage is good enough?

[–] Active_Hiatus 12 years ago

The bear scene lasts approximately two minutes and the rest of the sequence is actual footage of the mother making her den & later emerging from it. Apart from that one small scene it would appear everything else in the seven hours is real. I didn't feel I was tricked or misled.

The aim of the documentary is to inform & teach the viewer about the diversity & beauty of the polar regions & it does this through beautiful camera work.

[–] Sonatine97 12 years ago

On the DVDs, there's some extras for each episode, and one such episode clearly shows the camera crew out there on the ice caps less than 20ft away from a very hungry female polar bear with her two cubs in tow.

And I looked & I beheld a pale horse & the name that sat on him was Death & Hell followed with him.

[–] Thomas-FordJr-1 12 years ago

You'd be surprised at how many of these wildlife documentaries have scenes, and situations involving the animals, that are set up. Camera tricks, bait, patching together different footage of different animals to make a sequence, are commonly used techniques(tricks).

Not saying this particular sequence did such a thing, but it happens more than you would think.

And what you don't see in regards to the two camera men out there on the ice with the family of bears is: The guys with the bean bag guns, cattle prods, firecrackers, and if all else fails, lethal firearms to drive the mother away if she decides to attack...