16 replies to this topic

[Foogoo]

I just watched this the other day and it's a great doc. Looks like the filmmaker got lucky in finding the queen. I'm curious how they managed to film the cutaway of the nest.

 

Doesn't appear available on the BBC site, but it is on torrent and these look promising:

http://blog.wildabou...the-desert-ant/

http://naturedocumen...re-desert-ants/

[dspdrew]

This was actually filmed inside an artificial nest designed by Ray Mendez. Miles and Chris Murrow (MrILoveTheAnts) both got to visit him and see the nest for themselves during the Ant of the Southwest Course in Arizona.

 

Here's some video taken by Chris.

 

[Foogoo]

That was my initial guess, that it's an artificial nest, but what about the raids? Don't tell me those were staged...

[Jonathan21700]

It was one of the first documentaries for ants I have seen. This is my favorite one! It just shows the way a colony begins and grows in an amazing way! It's just awesome!

[PTAntFan]

The video is sitting up on  YouTube.  I've been watching it on my Xbox.  

 

Edited by PTAntFan, June 27 2015 - 10:58 AM.

[Miles]

That was my initial guess, that it's an artificial nest, but what about the raids? Don't tell me those were staged...

Yes, they were staged. I'm sorry!

[Miles]

This was actually filmed inside an artificial nest designed by Ray Mendez.

The documentary was filmed in a series of interlocking nests (each with a separate colony) that could be changed around for different lighting and angle needs, and to make the film colony seem larger than it really was. Neat stuff!

[PTAntFan]

Ok, now I need to know, two thing actually, why on earth would they make stuff up and was the queens working together on the founding nest real?

[Miles]

Well, the raids occur in nature. It's a natural event - it's just near impossible to capture them in the wild and definitely impossible to provide an underground view of such an event. 
 

The queens working together were real queens digging a nest in the wild - though they were not those used in the nests, to my knowledge. As far as I know, they could have been the same ones.

Edited by Miles, June 27 2015 - 7:04 PM.

[Miles]

Don't let this spoil the film! It's an excellent story and documentary, albeit a little overdramatic and misleading regarding the queen's role in the colony.

[drtrmiller]

You mean queens aren't monarchs, carefully scrutinizing each individual worker's decision matrix by antennal absolute communication, ruling by pheromonal decree?

 

I haven't watched the doc yet, obviously.

Edited by drtrmiller, June 27 2015 - 7:10 PM.

[AntsTexas]

any ant doc's i like!! 

[dspdrew]

"Ruled by a ruthless queen"

 

I'm a little confused about the narrative at the beginning that says Arizona's summer came to an end, because as far as I know, the rain storms that trigger most Honeypot ant mating flights actually occur at the beginning of the summer. I'm assuming they didn't feel like adding an explanation for all of that to the documentary. It does sound more dramatic the way they said it.

[PTAntFan]

I could watch docs like that with the sound turned off to be honest.  I find these creatures that fascinating to just watch.  I only turn the volume up to learn something so when I hear it's a bit misleading I'm a little turned away.  

[Miles]

The rains come in mid to late July.

Also, Ray had little control over the narrative, but did give feedback and helped make it a little more accurate.

Edited by Miles, June 28 2015 - 10:07 AM.

[dspdrew]

Yeah, the summer monsoon storms hit in or shortly after the first week of July every year. It's amazing how perfectly on schedule it usually is. I'm already planning my desert anting trip for this year.

[Alza]

It doesent even matter if its staged, its like a movie. As long as it is somewhat realistic, I'm down.