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A video essay analyzing the editing of the Iguana vs. Snakes scene in Planet Earth 2. Specifically, I look at how the editor uses the imagery of the iguana and snake to make the scene more dramatic and emotional.
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Transcript Provided by YouTube:
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[Music]
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wildlife documentaries have managed to
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master a delicate dance between
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education and drama and large part I
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think this can be attributed to the
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genres transformation of animals into
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characters with purpose and emotion
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really no one does this better than
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BBC’s planet Earth today I want to take
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an in-depth look at the editing choices
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of the iguana vs. snake scene in Planet
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Earth – I want to understand how and why
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editors position animal imagery to play
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out like a blockbuster action movie
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comprised of 28 individual shots
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spending 2 minutes and 4 seconds the
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scenes distills hours of footage into
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the epitome of a chase sequence in doing
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so it manages to simultaneously shock
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and inform you can break the scene into
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roughly 6 component narrative parts when
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analyzed closely these blocks seemed to
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mirror what we might find in a typical
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Hollywood film indeed the editor for the
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scene math Meech admits I really like to
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find John Ruth at fits with a sequence
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if I can as it’s a subliminal way to
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ease people into a news story the
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initial 18 seconds of this scene
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established the narrative opposition
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between the marine iguana and the racer
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snake through a shot counter shot
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framework quickly countering each shot
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of the snakes on frame left with an
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opposing shot of the iguana on frame
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right the editor uses our visual
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knowledge of eyeline matches from
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narrative film to associate the two
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animals in space the bundle of snakes
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seem to be eyeing their next lonely
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victim the iguana these expositional
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shots then quickly transition over to a
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series of images that build suspense
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this is initially cued by a close-up of
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the snake moving from the right of the
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frame to the left implying that the
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snake is now behind the Iguana coupled
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with a series of waterhemp held shots of
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the two reptiles friend together the
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scene begins to establish the iguanas
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dire situation in addition the iguanas
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eyeline is once again
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by a subsequent image of a snake so here
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when the iguana seems to look backward
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the editor cuts to a shot of a racer
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snake slithering slowly from what we’ve
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now established in her head as behind in
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the middle of this masterful shot of
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tension and release the chase begins
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although the chase really only lasts for
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three and a half shots but in those
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brief seconds our minds are bombarded
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with visual information we see a slowed
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down iguana shoot off followed by a
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moving handheld shot that tracks the
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Iguana and then the snakes as they
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traverse the sand this tracking shot
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helps anchor the small sequence because
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it gives us just enough time to adjust
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to the jeopardy of the situation while
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the following shot adds the urgency of
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the baby iguanas quest by implying that
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there are more and more snakes emerging
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from the rocks and then the catch
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followed by a twist cut to the catch
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dashes our hopes because it’s so abrupt
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our eyes almost want to lag past the
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frame because we expect the Iguana to
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keep running here the editor plays with
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the audience and understands that timing
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is everything
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it’s what transforms wildlife imagery
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into fast paced engaging stories the
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snakes writhing becomes truncated by a
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quick cut to a close-up and then back to
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a later part of the struggle allowing
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the Iguana strangulation to last just
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long enough to keep the tension high
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before we lose interest for the rest of
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the escape Meech continues to manipulate
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the timeline of real events to create a
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more compelling fictitious nary
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immediately following the iguanas
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release the editor cuts back to a shot
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similar to what we’ve already seen
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demonstrating that this footage is
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actually a conflation of hours of images
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captured by camera operators not
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necessarily the bold track of one iguana
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but because
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cuts are relatively quick and we are
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already invested in our character we
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don’t register this anomaly finally the
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shot succinctly delivers our much
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desired victory a rack focused pulls the
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audience from one iguana to the other
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highlighting the completed journey this
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clips success lies in its extinct merit
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the iguana needs to get from point A to
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point B and the snakes want to eat it
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for dinner a simple clean story that is
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craft fully edited maximize sympathy and
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by opposition and build suspense
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essentially the scene demonstrates the
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power of the editor to inject
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significance into an animal’s actions
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transforming a reptile that might fail
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to engage an audience in real life into
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an emotional and educational hero so the
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next time you watch a wildlife
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documentary understand that what you see
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on screen is the highlight reel of
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nature not necessarily the actual event
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editing in this case imbues the world
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with spectacle drawing us close so the
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narrator can teach us to better
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appreciate the complex systems we
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inhabit
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hey thanks so much for watching I’ll be
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putting out environmental videos every
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single Friday so if you like what you
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saw go ahead and subscribe and support
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me on patreon that’s about all so I’ll
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see you next week bye
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This post was previously published on YouTube.