How was "My Octopus Teacher" filmed? How much of it is a real documentary?
The film My Octopus Teacher is advertised as a "documentary" film.
But after watching it, a few questions come to mind:
According to the story, Craig did his one year's adventure with the octopus alone, while filming it. But it is clear that many of the scenes in the film were shot by someone else than Craig (e.g. he is seen underwater from a distance, or filmed from a drone while swimming in the sea). Is it possible that many of the scenes were filmed afterward when someone heard about the story and decided it will be a good idea to turn it into a full feature film? And the scenes were recreated?
How is it possible that ALL the events involving the Octopus in the film (from minor to major events) happened, how lucky, right in front of the camera, with the best lighting conditions, right at the moments when Craig (who is free-diving) is underwater and precisely at the hours that he is in the Ocean and not elsewhere? Everything is so nicely captured and documented. It just doesn't make sense.
Is it possible that the film is a result of a combination of many many different shots, some taken by Craig, other taken later by professional underwater photographers & divers, that gathered all kinds of shots of different octopuses in different locations, spanning several years, and combined them into one fluent film?
Best Answer
The making of the movie is explained in The Making of My Octopus Teacher. The documentary was done by a small group but most of the parts that feature Craig and the octopus were filmed by Craig himself.
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Is My Octopus Teacher footage real?
The Netflix film is based around footage shot by Foster during the year and a half he spent observing and interacting with a female octopus during daily dives he says he made to rekindle his connection with the natural world.How did they get the footage for My Octopus Teacher?
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 ...How was my octopus filmed?
We were editing out of Craig's attic.\u201d Foster's kelp-forest conservation group, the Sea Change Project, provided a stipend that enabled her to \u201cjust survive\u201d as she worked through Foster's 3,000 hours of footage and filmed him, without wetsuit or scuba gear, in the icy waters of the Atlantic.How long did My Octopus Teacher take to film?
The film, which Foster began filming in 2010, was ten years in the making and was the first South African nature documentary to be a Netflix Original.My Octopus Teacher | Official Trailer | Netflix
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