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Everything’s a little muffled, but that gives the sound an eerie, beautiful quality all the same. Icebergs crackle, and critters scuttle across the sea floor.
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As you watch the sharks battle over small patches of whale meat, you’ll also notice just how little light filters down this deep, because the camerawork relies on what little natural light there is as often as possible.īut what really struck me about Blue Planet II was its use of sound - not just from animals or waves, but from the way the underwater world dully echoes and resonates. For as horrifying as the events unfolding onscreen might seem - considering they focus on gigantic sharks that literally eat dead bodies - the production’s cameras find angles that really capture a fuller picture of what’s happening below the surface of the ocean. This speaks to how frequently the Blue Planet II team thinks about their documentaries in terms of images and sound, and not just the subject matter they’re pursuing. In “The Deep,” Blue Planet II’s team watches as a whole crew of sixgill sharks zoom in from all over to take big bites out of a dead sperm whale, then traces the slow scavenging of the carcass by the sharks and other creatures over the course of several months, until only bones remain. It hangs out at the bottom of the ocean, looking for carcasses to descend from above, and then feasts on the remains.
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The bluntnose sixgill shark, which pops up in episode two, “The Deep,” is a fearsome creature. 2) The terrifying sharks that patrol the deep, looking for dead whales to eat This sixgill shark is hungry. The tireless tuskfish, captured in surprisingly intimate detail, is just one example. Throughout the past several decades, but especially since the debut of Planet Earth in 2006, the BBC has led the charge of embracing new and improved technologies to push the boundaries of what’s possible, by continually updating the equipment it uses to better and more inventively capture the lives of the animals it tracks. Nature documentaries are one genre where better technology can lead to a better film. (The footage appears in the new series’ first episode.) But for Blue Planet II, new breathing systems that don’t produce bubbles and much quieter equipment on the whole allowed for camera operators to get right up close to the tuskfish as it spent hours on end tossing a shell against a coral, trying to get at the clam inside.
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The presence of a diver’s bubbles or a whirring camera would have spooked the fish, whose process can take several hours. It’s the sort of behavior that couldn’t have been captured even 10 years ago, according to Blue Planet’s producers. These fish pick up clams in their mouths, drag them over to something hard - a rock or coral - and then hurl the clams against it until the bivalves split open and the fish can feast on the tasty morsel inside. The orange spotted tuskfish is one of many creatures that have caused scientists to reconsider the idea that the ability to “use tools” is reserved for animals with higher cognition and brain functions (like, you know, we primates). 1) A lil’ fish who likes to kill clams with his favorite rock * N ot all of these five sea creatures are fish, but you get the idea. In that case, please allow me to convince you that some of the best television out there is currently being made by the BBC’s nature documentary unit.Īnd let me do that by explaining Blue Planet II in five fish.* Or maybe you just don’t see how watching a bunch of fish do their thing could be perfect and informative escapism. Maybe you don’t usually like this sort of programming, or don’t want to think about how, say, overfishing is destroying the oceans, or how climate change is bleaching coral reefs. You’ve got seven whole episodes of jaw-dropping documentary footage to enjoy.īut maybe you’re not convinced. Find the highest-definition television you can and some good snacks and settle in.
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If all of that sounds good to you, read no further Blue Planet II will be one of your favorite TV events of the year, and its deep dive beneath the waves of the world’s oceans will prove both soothing and engaging. Vox-mark vox-mark vox-mark vox-mark vox-mark
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