![]() “The Red ticks a lot of boxes, making it the absolute default camera for blue chip natural history films these days,” explains Horrocks. ![]() The duo used a range of cameras, with the highest resolution images being recorded on high-end Red Dragon cameras at 6K. ![]() Their interactions were filmed over the course of a year on Foster’s own cameras and with the help of experienced underwater cinematographer Roger Horrocks, a friend and frequent collaborator with Foster on numerous wildlife films, which resulted in a memorable sequence for BBC’s 2017 blue-chip natural history series Blue Planet II and an archive of footage that would become the basis of My Octopus Teacher. As their relationship developed Foster was able to record new octopus behaviour as he explored her territory, got to know the animals with which she interacted, and witnessed how she used her intelligence to a catch prey and avoid becoming a meal herself. It was during these dives that he came across a female octopus who seemed to reciprocate his interest in her. He trained his body to cope with the low temperatures without the protection of a wetsuit, and to free-dive with just a facemask, whilst immersing himself in the natural history of its kelp forests and documenting what he discovered. Part of his self-imposed therapy was to dive every day in the chilly coastal waters of the Western Cape around his home. He realised that he needed to reset the dial and recuperate. In 2015, Wildlife filmmaker Craig Foster was, by his own admission, burned-out after years of intensive natural history filming in challenging environments. ![]() Part love story, part eco-documentary, the film is an intimate memoir of one filmmaker’s unlikely and touching relationship with a wild common octopus over a year-long period. But the best films are also able to engage their audiences emotionally – which is something that Netflix’s award-winning documentary My Octopus Teacher certainly achieves. Natural history films have a reputation for entertaining viewers with breathtaking images of the natural world, whilst informing them about the lives of the animals and plants they are watching. ![]()
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