10 great natural history films
Created by Igor_Brynner.
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In 1910, audiences were mesmerised by the spectacle of a sepia- and cobalt-toned series of flowers bursting into bloom, their petals unfurling in what appeared to be real time. The Birth of a Flower (1910) by F. Percy Smith (1880-1945) was a watershed moment in the use of what we now know as timelapse, or ‘time magnification’ as this pioneer of British natural history filmmaking referred to it.
Since then, filmmakers have deployed an array of techniques for bringing the natural world closer to human perception, from macro- and micro-cinematography through to illustrative animations and computer models. The camera has transported viewers to places they cannot go, from the deepest ocean floors to the sun-baking heat of the most arid deserts.
Smith, however, filmed most of his material in the grandiose-sounding Southgate Studios – actually his own home, a terraced house in Enfield, north London. For him, of equal importance to the phenomena that fell beneath his lens was the technology used to fix it on film. Both aspects were the subjects of the trio of books he co-authored, Secrets of Nature (1939), Cine-Biology (1941) and See How They Grow (1952), which explain the motivation, methodology and science behind his cinematic probings of the natural world.
Many of Smith’s films are included on the BFI’s Secrets of Nature DVD release from 2010. Now they have been repurposed by Stuart A. Staples and David Reeve for an immersive and hypnotic new work, Minute Bodies: The Intimate World of F. Percy Smith, featuring a suitably free-flowing and otherworldly original soundtrack by Tindersticks with Thomas Belhom and Christine Ott. This new film presents a hidden universe that is sensual, abstract and alien, yet strongly resonates with our own perceptions of the ecosystem around us.
The release of Minute Bodies on Blu-ray and DVD prompts an opportunity to cast our eyes to some of the more revolutionary endeavours in the field of natural history filmmaking over the past century.
Pssst, want to check out the 10 great natural history films list in our new look?
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1 new
The Living Desert
1953, in 2 top lists Check -
2 new
Le monde sans soleil
1964 — a.k.a. World Without Sun, in 1 top list Check -
3 new
Les amours de la pieuvre
1967 — a.k.a. The Love Life of an Octopus, in 1 top list Check -
4 new
The Hellstrom Chronicle
1971, in 3 top lists Check -
5 new
Cane Toads: An Unnatural History
1988, in 3 top lists Check -
6 new
Microcosmos: Le peuple de l'herbe
1996 — a.k.a. Microcosmos, in 3 top lists Check -
7 new
Grizzly Man
2005, in 9 top lists Check -
8 new
Project Nim
2011, in 0 top lists Check
Last updated on Jun 11, 2023; source