If you’ve consumed any media or paid attention to the media industry in general over the past few years you might have seen that there has been a growing interest when it comes to documentaries. When it comes to documentaries one of the most popular genres of documentaries out there are those about nature including fauna and flora. As many people in governments around the world are starting to become more environmentally conscious and trying to preserve what world we have currently it’s no wonder that they are so appealing. One thing comes to mind though for many people when watching those documentaries. How can you get so close to your subjects in this environment without disturbing them and being able to capture such beautiful images? To understand the creative process behind nature documentaries we need to delve a little deeper into how they are made. So, let’s take a look at some of the behind-the-scenes nature documentaries.

Capturing the moment

Making documentaries is all about being able to capture the right moment or being able to snap the perfect picture. To be able to do so you either need to be extremely adventurous or extremely careful. Thankfully nowadays you don’t need to be as adventurous as you once were, and you can take some of the most amazing pictures or capture some of the most amazing footage from very far away. While it may seem like a given now it’s important to understand that not so long ago in our history most nature documentaries were made in a way where the documentary could control the environment and the animal was essentially a plating at the director’s beck and call. Thankfully though things have changed. Whether you’re trying to capture a lone polar bear on camera in the great Arctic or documenting the great wildebeest migration in Tanzania on film, you can do so without any contact thanks to high-quality lenses. It’s easier than ever considering that now we can both zoom extremely close with great lenses, but we can also digitally enhance images.

Sounds of the wild

So if documentaries are filmed from very far away you might be wondering how we can get sound. You might be incredibly surprised to learn that most animal sounds and nature sounds that you hear produced in documentaries are created by humans. Exactly like in movies or radio plays documentaries use Foley artists. These are incredibly talented artists who can use many items that you might not expect to create all kinds of sounds. They are able to recreate the brush of the wind in American tall grass as well as the African lion’s roar. Many of them know how to use daily use items to create sounds that you recognize instantly as the actual sound of what an animal is doing. Some common tricks that you can try at home to replicate or what these artists do are for example putting cornstarch inside of a leather glove and squeezing it to replicate the sound of snow under your boots or an animal’s paw. One of the most famous tricks is to use a simple pair of gloves to imitate the sound of a bird flying. Next time you watch a documentary on these sounds try to figure out what trick you would use to potentially recreate those sounds yourself.

Financing

One of the biggest issues that comes up when talking about making documentaries is the funding. In many cases, it can be quite difficult to acquire funding if your subject is not intimately linked to something that can provide any potential benefit to the government. One of the best ways that many people have found to get funding for their documentaries is to talk about the relationship between our interactions with nature and nature itself. This is why a lot of documentaries have the goal of teaching people how important it is to preserve our environment and protect these endangered species which are often the subject of documentaries. As many governments are trying to do their utmost to protect their environment and ecosystem there is a lot of funding that goes to documentaries that aim to sensibilize people to these causes. These documentaries are also great opportunities for the government to show that they are taking steps to better the environment in which the use documentary films are created. These documentaries can also serve as a promotional tool for the nature tourism of the country in which the documentary is filmed.

DayZ, initially released late in 2013 as a mod for the popular Arma series, is a zombie survival simulator where you attempt to survive in a postapocalyptic wasteland solo or with friends. DayZ did so well as a mod that it became a fully standalone game in 2018 meaning that just has been getting mods of its own. Unlike dayz cheats, hacks, aimbots and more than just change small elements of the base game to improve your chances at succeeding, mods can completely change the entire gameplay experience. Let’s take a look at five of the best mods for DayZ to mix up the gaming experience.

Can I get myself an animal pet?

Sometimes wandering the wasteland can get a little bit lonely. So thars why a dog companion mod seems so enticing. Download this mod and you’ll get a small puppy to follow you around the dead and monster filled zombie wasteland. Not only can you choose the breed of dog that you best like, but the dog also helps you to fight the zombies off when in a pinch, he really is man’s best friend!

What mod helps to improve trading?

Though DayZ has a lot of gameplay to offer, once you reach a certain point it can begin to become a little repetitive, that’s why mods exist, to freshen up the gameplay experience. This mod, called TraderPlus does that to great effect. This mod aims to inject the game with a whole new financial ecosystem. It adds trader NPCs across different points of the map that allow you trade items, clothing, and materials. This is a much-needed addition to the game which helps to keep the world feel a little more alive and thriving.

How do I make the game more challenging?

If you are a seasoned DayZ player then you might just need a new challenge to spice up the gameplay. Ashes of Humanity is a modded server that implements a true hardcore survival game mode. There is less ammo, less food and base building is restricted. There is also an interesting underlying story about a secret government agency during the cold war. If you want a harder challenge and an interesting element added to the DayZ lore, then this could be the mod for you.

A challenging game is great but what about fishing?

I love a good challenge as much as the next guy, but sometimes after 3 to 4 hours of wandering the bleak deserted infected wasteland you just need to kick back, relax and do some fishing. And you can with the Zeroy-FishingZ mod. Not only does this expand your fishing capabilities in DayZ but it also adds new clothing options, new fishing themed storage options and seas shore fishing which you can use to dig for shells. Now you’re fishing requirements have been met you can get back to exploring the wasteland fully rejuvenated and full of fish.

What is the absolute must have Mod?

We’ve talked about many different types of mods today but there is one mod that completely outshines them all. DayZ Expansion is a massive mod that aims to completely rebuild the game from the ground up. It fixes and improves on many issues of the base game by updating graphics and textures, improving base building mechanics, adding new items and vehicles and on top all of this allows you to completely edits major portions of the map to create and play your own built missions with your friends. It’s a truly impressive addition which makes the entire game experience ten times better.