Our Oceans’ most heart in mouth moment
24/7 on polar bear watch
For what became Our Oceans longest shoot, Producer Caroline Menzies led a seven week expedition into the High Arctic, alongside cinematographer Alex Vail, on a quest to document how Arctic residents and newcomers alike were surviving in our new, warmer Arctic Ocean. Unlike most shoots, the Our Oceans crew were going blind into this, not knowing what they may find. They had something unusual on their side - 24 hour daylight, giving them the opportunity to film around the clock, but Caroline and Alex could never have imagined quite how hard it would be to follow a polar bear family 24/7, not just physically but emotionally. Alex recalls: “The 24 hour daylight up in the Arctic at that time of year was both wonderful and also quite challenging because it meant that once we found polar bears, we were just with them all of the time. The polar bears would actually sleep quite a bit, during the daytime especially after they’d had a big meal, so during those times, the crew could also grab a bit of a nap as well. So we would go, slightly deliriously to our bunks and grab a few hours’ sleep. Sometimes it would only be half an hour later that we would get woken by one of the crew who was keeping constant polar bear watch from the bridge of the ship: ‘Quickly, quickly! Time to go!’ and we’d have to throw all of our cold weather clothes on, get the camera rigged up real quick and jump into the Zodiac and go start filming the polar bear which was stretching and had just started moving because we really didn’t want to miss anything.”
An emotional roller coaster
When you are as ambitious as we were throughout Our Oceans, nothing comes easily, and it was two weeks of enduring rough seas, unpredictable weather and thick fog before the team found their first polar bears. But finally their patience was rewarded, a polar bear with two adorable cubs! With constant daylight, the crew settled in and began to follow them. Our mission is to never interfere with our subjects, and so filming them from a distance, the crew were enraptured by the polar bear family’s engaging antics as Mom taught her youngsters the art of surviving in the Arctic Ocean. However, it quickly became clear that one cub was not as strong as the other, and this would lead to Caroline’s most heart in mouth moment. Drama unfolded as the weaker of the two struggled to keep up with his mother and stronger sibling. Taking a wrong turn, he soon found himself clinging onto the ice edge trying to get to safety. It was an emotional roller coaster for the crew, as Mom eventually came to the rescue, her maternal instinct kicking in, as she guided the little one back to the safety of the stable ice. This cub had a lucky break, but with the Arctic’s rapid transformation, survival odds are plummeting - only half of polar bear cubs reach their first birthday. Continuing their non intrusive approach to following polar bears, the crew earned the chance to film more extraordinary never-before-seen moments.
Catch me if you can!
At one point they were lucky enough to meet a large male polar bear, which they stayed with for over 24 hours. The team followed from a distance as he scavenged at a stranded whale carcass and then continued his quest for food. The team witnessed the bear learning the art of the aquatic stalk, sneaking up on a bearded seal from the water. This time, the bear was unsuccessful, and as sea ice dwindles, polar bears have to hone and adapt their hunting techniques, if they are to survive.
Plastic Peril
Photos by Our Oceans team ©Netflix 'Our Oceans'
Amid the breathtaking beauty of the final days on the Arctic expedition, the team discovered the shocking scenes of a beach choked with plastic debris. The stark contrast between the majestic polar bears and the ugly human waste was a gut-wrenching reminder of the far-reaching impacts of pollution. Plastic has become a major issue in the Arctic waters, with the ocean currents, winds and waves carrying them in from across the globe. It’s estimated that 80% of the plastics in Svalbard come from fisheries-related activities, with ropes and nets causing havoc for local wildlife as they can become entangled or mistake the plastics for food.
The Our Oceans team documented heartbreaking moments as a polar bear family went beachcombing. The family were seen playing with the largest plastic items including a yellow buoy, as the youngsters tested out whether they could eat the smaller scraps scattered around. Alex recounts a distressing moment for the team as they witnessed the youngest cub’s near miss with plastic litter: “In between bouts of feeding, the mum and her two cubs would go on little patrols along the beach. The cubs just loved to play with stuff, they’re just like little kids. But they also loved to play with plastic. One of the cubs found a big piece of rope, and had it in its mouth, and was rolling around in it, and all of a sudden it got this rope caught around it, and it looped and tightened around its body. You could see on this cub’s face that it didn’t know what was going on and it was really scared, and it was running along, trying to rub off this rope, it ran straight to its mum. Luckily, the rope eventually slipped off and the cub was fine, but that was a scary moment for the poor little cub.” Where this cub was lucky, some Arctic animals have not shared the same fate, as the team found a dead guillemot surrounded by plastic debris the very next day.
IMPACT FILM
our plastic planet
4 MIN 53 SEC
Plastic pollution is a human-made problem affecting this planet, which we highlight throughout the Our Oceans Indian episode. Through this impact film, we aim to provide the public with more information on how plastic is affecting not only our planet and the wildlife living on it, but us as humans as well.