Charlotte Middlehurst, former associate editor of the environmental website chinadialogue
With hundreds of rays of light shining into the Sea of Cortez, the movie "Blue Planet 2" (see opening photo) offers us an incredible view of the seabed: plankton glittering, manta rays dancing in the night Dancing, and the little wrasse quietly changing genders to avoid unwanted evolution - this 2018 BBC series impresses every viewer.
But perhaps the most touching part is the last episode. In this episode, Sir David Atenberg and his team show us on camera the destruction of the marine environment and issue a dire warning.
The documentary garnered 14 million viewers upon its broadcast in the UK, set off a wave of marine charity signatures and donations, and became a watershed moment for the environmental documentary industry.
The BBC has previously been accused of avoiding reporting on human damage to the environment in order to photograph nature. This time, however, the BBC raised a series of related questions about the documentary's responsibility in the face of a severe environmental crisis around the world.
The documentary has been sold to over 30 countries and has been a phenomenal success. This shows that the sense of social responsibility and the feeling of art can coexist. Documentary makers can play more than just a neutral observer - in fact, maybe that's the role they're supposed to play?
The "Blue Planet Effect" is part of a wider shift within society and within the documentary genre. A new generation of filmmakers around the world are starting to focus on the environmental damage around them, leveraging advanced technology, with minimal funding or crowdfunding.
Documentary makers use their work to examine climate change, biodiversity loss and urbanization, which are increasingly disconnected from nature on the one hand, but driven by a variety of environmental factors on the other, primarily through smart devices The viewers who watched the film knew it all.
So how do environmental filmmakers see their evolving roles in the Anthropocene era? How will these works affect the way humans think and live?
Victoria Bromley is a Producer and Director of BBC UK's Natural History Unit, where she has worked to raise public awareness of rare and endangered species through her work.
One of her early film work focused on the endangered Siberian tiger. When the film was filmed, the habitat of the Siberian tiger in Russia was severely reduced due to deforestation and land development, resulting in only 300 tigers left.
Although the film is broadcast in English, it is also available online in Russia. Shortly after the film was broadcast, Russian President Vladimir Putin also went to the small town where the film was filmed to release several tiger cubs.
Last year, Bromley co-produced a documentary about pangolins. Pangolins are cute mammals. Small, docile, and covered in scales, it is one of the world's most endangered yet least-known species. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that the shell of pangolins is rich in keratin, which can treat various diseases such as acne and deafness. The huge demand in the traditional Chinese medicine market has led to frequent poaching, which has brought pangolins to the brink of extinction.
The number of pangolins smuggled from Africa to Asia has been increasing in the past decade as the number of pangolins in Southeast Asia has plummeted. Making this work accessible to Chinese audiences is especially important for the entire conservation effort.
A peddler in Myanmar sells the parts of illegally hunted animals, including the skins of pangolins.
"The challenge with this action is not only to get people to understand the species, but also to make people understand that without action, pangolins are likely to disappear completely within the next few years," Bromley said.
The documentary mainly tells the story of South African conservationist Maria Dickman and a pangolin named "Honey Bun" she rescued. This little guy looks like an armadillo and often staggers around the room on his hind legs. Its lively appearance is very different from the dead pangolins we often see in the news.
"Nature documentaries can help people build their imagination of an animal, understand it, and then feel the value of this animal's existence. Although 'raising awareness' may not sound like a lot, it can help people recognize this species. It is also a kind of Not a small impact."
WildAid released a Chinese video clip of "Little Sweetheart" and famous movie star Yang Ying via Weibo in China, which received 40 million views and 55,000 comments.
Although dozens of Chinese media outlets have reposted it, the most viewed are People's Daily and Yang Ying's own Weibo.
Steve Black, Wild Rescue China chief representative, said: “As you can see from this event, and our other pangolin conservation activities, these events can generate discussion. Online comments often lead to more media coverage. Without these Videos and events, I think people are paying a lot less attention to those issues."
Bromley believes that as the level of urbanization increases, the impact of being away from nature on human mental health is becoming more and more obvious. Statistics from the United Nations show that more than half of the world's population currently lives in cities, a proportion that could grow to 68 percent by mid-century.
"We are inextricably linked to nature, but we are moving away from it," she said. "Research shows that wildlife documentaries can improve people's well-being."
In China, environmental films cannot be considered a type of film in and of themselves. China's domestic film industry is heavily regulated, and the few films produced have rarely received widespread attention. The 2015 film "Under the Dome" about air pollution by Chinese journalist Chai Jing was an exception, though it was pulled by state censors shortly after its release.
Jian Yi, a Chinese filmmaker from Beijing, said: "There is no doubt that we need more filmmakers to make films on this subject. For any cultural group, the subject matter is more diverse, and there are more people to explore different types of films. Films, [films] have more variety and diversity in order to count as a healthy film industry environment.”
In 2016, Jian Yi collaborated with American think tank Brighter Green to film a pioneering documentary film, "Why Eat? ", unveiled the "veil" of intensive farming in China's rural areas.
This video is mainly to answer two questions: 1) Can people in developing countries get the same meat and dairy intake as people in developed countries without damaging the environment? 2) Do they really want to do this?
"For me, this policy document on meat consumption in China and its environmental impact is really eye-opening," he said. "The truth behind it really blows my mind."
“What really changed our [crew] perception was the images and sounds that were picked up on set. Our sound engineer clearly remembers the sounds that were heard on the farm those days. She had to record all the scary sounds like pigs screaming, it had a huge psychological impact on her."
Jian Yi said that about 70% of the respondents to the film have begun to practice a vegetarian-based diet.
"I think that's the power of documentaries," he said. He believes that the film coincides with the rise of the modern vegetarian movement in China.
Jayatri Parameswaran is a virtual reality (VR)/360° producer, documentary filmmaker and journalist from India, currently working for NowHere Media in Berlin, Germany. Over the years, she has photographed in more than 25 countries, covering areas such as witch hunts in India, political satire in Myanmar, and the struggle of transgender groups in Nicaragua.
In 2015, after completing a project on child labor, she became fascinated by documentary filmmaking.
Soon after, she was involved in the production of The Click Effect, a 360-degree documentary on marine megapredator conservation that was also nominated for an Emmy. The production team followed two marine scientists, Fabrice Schnoller and Fred Boyle, to dive 100 feet below the sea level on Grand Cayman, swim with dolphins and sperm whales, and photograph the sea life between them. Secret communication process.
More recently, she was involved in an operation to save fishing cats. The survival of fishing cats is seriously threatened due to the continuous loss of mangrove and wetland habitats in northern India and Sri Lanka. The action brought the issue to the attention of audiences around the world.
Parameswaran is interested in applying virtual reality, a powerful immersive method, to a wide range of environmental projects.
"Virtual reality creates an intimate relationship between the photographer and the viewer. It's an opportunity to get to know the subject matter and 'embed it' in the viewer's mind."
Parameswaran said the next stage in the development of documentary filming is the use of augmented reality (AR) technology, where users can use smartphone cameras and apps to superimpose information such as sound, images and text on real-world scenes.
“Virtual reality (VR) takes you out of your environment and into another world. Augmented reality (AR) preserves the environment around you, keeping you in your environment, but in The information element is superimposed on this environment, which is very powerful.”
Parameswaran pointed out that, unlike virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) is most commonly implemented with the help of smartphones, so the production cost is relatively low.
As the global impact of climate change and human development becomes increasingly apparent, it seems inevitable that filmmakers around the world are adjusting their focus, turning their work toward documenting, analyzing, and examining the fate of nature, and Our human connection with nature.
Translation: Estelle
About the author: Charlotte is a London-based journalist and former associate editor of chinadialogue, focusing on China and environmental issues. She has written news and articles on China issues for The Daily Telegraph, The Economist, and Time Out.
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