John Downer Productions Ltd.
In this animal documentary, the technical novelty makes it possible to offer a film in total immersion. The viewer is surrounded by elephants, buffaloes and troops of hunting lionesses. Fascinating.
The Serengeti is popular. It must be said that this animal park in northern Tanzania, presented as the last wild territory on the planet, endowed with exceptional biodiversity, conceals a number of treasures, as Arte demonstrates in three episodes. The novelty here is the technique which makes it possible to offer an immersive documentary.
That’s good, the principle is fashionable. But we must admit that being in front of your TV while having the sensation of being able to stroke the mane of a lion or to gaze into that of a giraffe from a height of 5 meters renews the genre.
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In the Serengeti, wildebeest, zebras and gazelles follow a very codified migratory ballet
A cuddle with the lions
All wildlife documentaries tell more or less the same story. That of the survival and perpetuation of species. And show predators looking for their sustenance or packs protecting their young. Without forgetting the image of the feline descending from a tree magnificently silhouetted by a sunset. Except that here the spectator is in the arena, getting dust in his nostrils when an angry elephant scratches the ground or feeling sucked in by a trunk pointed at the camera. He also plays the referee during the fight of two zebras like boxers in a ring. We imagine the equipment placed on the ground and the drones rising towards the peaks.
The fascination does not leave us. That we are at the top of a tree next to a baboon scanning the horizon to detect danger. Or in the middle of a herd of wildebeest forming a rampart to give a newborn time to stand on its four legs before starting to move. Fascination gives way to wonder when, thanks to a tracking shot, we walk with cheetahs or participate in a cuddling session with the lion family.
The technical resources deployed are colossal. And allow you to stand out. Here, the attack on a buffalo by a cohort of lionesses is filmed almost from start to finish and from different angles. The sequences are therefore less choppy than in a more traditional documentary. Immersion is the difference.
TV
