Using Camera NIGHT MODE To Shoot Scenes in the Day

From BearWiki

Confirmed: Some of the "night" scenes were actually shot during the day using NIGHT MODE.

In the Africa episode, we are shown a scene that is described as being shot at night[2]. Bear is carefully stalking through the wilds at night with camera crew in tow. The danger! The excitement! WAIT!! What's that ahead in the dark?

What the night sky looks like with night vision.

Now let's examine the scene. For a night shot, the mountains in the distance are clearly visible, in fact it's easy to see detail. The trees close by are also very visible, and again it's easy to make out details.

What a night vision shot should look like.

The sky is too bright and there is too much detail.

Notice the heavy diffuse/low ambient and stark-cast shadows, like a daytime scene; contrast this to real night vision.[1]

Those with experience in military night vision gear and video gear are under the impression that this scene was shot either with the NIGHT MODE of the camera during the day, or with a filter to simulate a night scene.

It is worth noting that the script for the pilot episode called for making a scene ("Scene 10 - Grizzly Attacks Camp"[3]) "look" like it was shot at night through editing. As per the directions in the script:

"Bear...wakes up in the middle of the night when he hears a loud noise. The camera watches him just as he wonders what the noise is. This will have to look like video diary hand-held. The camera peeks out of the shelter and in the darkness we see a movement in the bushes, a roar and somethying (sic) rip the food bagh [sic] from the tree. The pictures will be treated to look like night vision."

This trend continues even in Season 3 (after he was exposed in the press), where the same stunt is pulled in the Sahara episode. In this episode, Bear's shadow can be seen on the floor of the Sahara despite the fact that it is supposedly nighttime. In that same episode the camera crew's microphone can be seen in one of the night shots. Also, it's very unlikely that bear goes around collecting rocks while telling the viewer that it should be done during daytime because poisonous creatures would hide under the rocks.

[edit] Analysis

Support: Even worse, the show attempts to use this to trick viewers into thinking that Bear has been walking nonstop all day -- they show him walking with a camera hooked up to him, and then they fade and it's "night", and he's still walking in the same way (the background scenery looks exactly the same).

Oppose: A 'night scope'style image intensifying camera was used to shoot the elephant sequence, as anyone with experience of similar military equipment would actually know. Other night sequences were shot using infra red.

Support: Actually, this one may well justify "confirmed". If you watch the edited eps and compare them to the originals, they remove the fake "night vision" scenes of him "sleeping" in the wilderness.

Oppose: In one night shot in the Sahara episode, as the camera tilts upward, you can clearly see the constellation of Cassiopeia. The other stars also appear genuine. In a later scene Bear points out the stars of the Big dipper you can see a bright star on the left side of the screen. This is Arcturus, which is a very bright star that is easily found by following the tail or handle of the big dipper. So at least part of the footage is real.

It was full moon, which could cast significant shadows in dark places. In the Sahara it's really dark, so plausible. Would they really go through the trouble of adding fake stars to the recordings?

Support: The African Savanna lies very close to the equator, and Cassiopeia is a very far north constellation. So for the camera to tilt up and see the constellation high above the horizon is astronomically impossible, except at more northern latitudes in the late winter or early spring. So the editors must have edited Cassiopeia into the shot.

Support: Exactly 20 minutes into the Savannah episode, you can see a slight glimpse of the sun.