Director: Alex Hemmingway, Tim Usborne
Distributor: TDM Entertainment
Duration: 170 minutes
Micro Monsters (DVD) – Documentary Review
Insects, spiders and scorpions are for many of us just annoying, scary, ugly or filthy little creatures. Most of us would probably rather see them gone, in documentaries or somewhere far far away. Nonetheless, if we would only pay attention, we could see how interesting many of these creatures are. David Attenborough and his team must have thought this too before they started filming this extraordinary documentary, shot with 3D images. We were ready to micromanage this documentary about the micro universe.
In Micro Monsters, we get an insight into the lives of several different arthropods. Many of these probably are amongst the smallest creatures you have ever seen, nonetheless they make up over eighty percent of all animals on earth. This makes them well worth investigating. The series consists out of six episodes, each of them targeting a different phase of the insect’s lives. The first one focuses on conflict, mostly between herbivorous arthropods. Episode two handles the ones who like to eat other arthropods. Episodes three and four show us courtship and reproduction and then there are episodes about family, namely arthropods who care for their offspring, and colony, in which we see how these animals live in larger groups than just families.
In each episode we see different animals of all kinds of species. The makers did a great job showing us how all these animals, although having the same objectives, handle things in a completely different way.
In order to be able to film these tiny creatures, special equipment was vital. They even used a newly developed camera called the Cube Rig, which is able to magnify images by fifty thousand percent. This way you are truly at the same level as the insects. As the team filmed out in the wild, as well as in the studio, it was very important to create the right conditions for the bugs. The confined space, many movements and bright lights are just a few of the factors that might put an insect on edge, which therefore doesn’t act as normal, which in turn causes the take to be worthless. Luckily, the footage proves that they did a great job making the animals feel at home.
By filming in the studio, the team managed to shoot beautiful footage in close up. This, together with David Attenborough’s commentary make this documentary very attractive and informative. Yet again he manages to find a way to make nature purely fascinating.
The music that accompanies this documentary is chosen perfectly and helps to make the images even more impressive than they already are. For example when we see a spider plucking the strings of his web, violinists are pulling the strings of their instrument at exactly the right moment. Another fun scene is when the scorpions do their mating dance while there is tango music on the background.
Sadly, all of the episodes are only about twenty minutes in length, leaving not that much room to do that many impressive things. When you count an introduction of about two minutes each time, as well as a preview of the following episode, there isn’t that much left. Nevertheless, the quality compensates greatly. In this box, as is the case with so many DVD releases, there is also a making of. This is however very interesting, as it will probably intrigue you already while watching the documentary, how on earth the makers were able to shoot this footage.
Conclusion
In this documentary we see the behavior of many different arthropods in the different stages of their lives. The music shows that Attenborough and his team paid attention to every detail. The filming is simply superb and so close up and sharp that it is truly fascinating. This together with David Attenborough’s great knowledge and passion for nature make this documentary series another gem worth watching.
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