How to Film a Feature-length Wildlife Documentary

Looking to create a wildlife feature documentary? This article reveals the behind-the-scenes decisions, camera equipment choices and creative requirements you’ll need to consider in order to create a feature-length film. 

Released in 2023, the award-winning feature documentary The Eagle with the Sunlit Eye explores Britain’s tumultuous relationship with the white-tailed eagle, one of the world’s largest birds of prey and the only apex predator ever reintroduced to the British Isles. The documentary is supported by MPB, Screen Cornwall and the Celtic Media Festival. 

Led by director Ted Simpson and producer Finbar O'Sullivan, the Scout Studio team share their experiences making their feature-length documentary. Watch the trailer below, and read on to learn more from Ted about the production process.

Over to director Ted Simpson. 

Our production approach for this film was centred around real moments. We wanted to transport the audience into each character’s world, in the most cinematic way possible, while also being reactive to the environments with an observational documentary sensibility. This balance is always a fine line to tread, and working with a small and talented crew is vital. 

Filming as a team

One of the most memorable days of shooting this documentary was filming eagles from a charter boat on the Sound of Mull. Producer Fin had somehow managed to make this miracle happen during the pandemic, and we had a charter boat entirely for our crew. Mull Charters knew exactly what they were doing, having hosted many film crews before, and we wanted to ensure that we were capturing incredible footage, but also a strong narrative scene for the film. Delegation, kit choices and communication were vital to this being worth the investment.

We had three different cameras set up. I was filming with a Sony PXW-FS7 II, with a 18-35mm f/1.8 DC HSM EF-S and Metabones EF-E Smart adaptor, Sigma EF 18-35mm, staying close to our contributor, Dave Sexton. I wanted to convey his emotional connection to the bird, and my dream shot was a two-shot of him and the bird in action. Tom, our second camera, was on a Sony PXW-FS7 with a Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS II USM —honestly, a heinous setup. For most people, operating a shoulder-rigged long lens at sea—twisting constantly to find a circling eagle—would be a recipe for seasickness, rather than usable footage. But Tom showed his skill as an operator, pulling off some incredible footage that dovetailed incredibly well with Josh’s camera. 

Josh was our dedicated wildlife camera operator. He was using a Z-Cam E2 S6, with a Canon EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS II USM—and a Canon EF 500mm f/4 L IS II USM prime in the bag, just in case. Josh also decided to use a tripod, which was met with consternation from the charter crew—as it wasn’t really the done thing, apparently. However, he was vindicated with some incredible footage of eagles swiping mackerel out of the water. The tripod needed some deft operation but allowed Josh to get stable, close-up footage that would have been incredibly difficult handheld. The Z cam also allowed us some fantastic slow-motion footage in ProRes quality. 

That all sounds great. But, in reality, we had three operators scrambling across a small boat trying to get the shot. Not to mention our BTS photographer, Gemma, working around all three of us to capture both amazing eagle shots and shots of us at work. It could have been a series of unusable shots, where we all got in each other’s way. 

That’s where Fin, our producer, worked his magic. Fin spotted the birds early, communicated the direction and the angle they were flying in at, and made sure to move us around and guide anyone operating safely around the boat. It was a ballet! Well, maybe not quite. But, by the end of the day, we’d achieved our objective. 

In the film, we see the three angles dovetail together. Tom’s shoulder-mounted shot of an eagle circling the boat, Josh’s close-up of it banking, cutting to my wide shot of the bird swooping from the sky to silently pluck a fish from the water—as David looks on. That combination of realism and blue-chip visuals is exactly what we wanted to achieve. It was a testament to our planning, kit and fantastic team that we achieved it. 

Primes or zoom lenses

After our first shoot, we had time to reflect on what parts of our production and kit worked well—and what didn’t. For the second tranche of production in 2022, we flew to Norway. The major kit change for this shoot was the second camera. Tom, our lighting cameraman extraordinaire, upgraded from an Sony PXW-FS7 to a Sony PXW-FX9. The full-frame image difference was immediately apparent, and the extra frame rates at 4K made a real difference when filming eagles on Runde, the bird island. 

Norway also saw an adjustment to our photographic approach. In Scotland, I had insisted that Tom, for the second angle, used a Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM. The rationale was that we could cover a wide variety of B-roll and pick-up shots, while my camera—using a Sigma 18-35mm f/1.8 DC HSM SA—focused on the contributor. We approached shooting these scenes in a fluid fashion, working around each other and the contributor to put them at ease, and try and foster a genuine connection. For this kind of approach, I felt the versatility of the zoom lens was really useful, even if it sacrificed an element of cinematic visual quality. 

But when we got to Norway, Tom was pushing me to use fixed primes on the second angle, as opposed to the zoom approach. He has a set of Leica primes, which we’d used a lot of the fixed angles on the set-up interviews. These were the Leica R 90mm f/2 Summicron, S21mm f/4 Super-Angulon-R 135mm f/2.8 Elmarit-M, 50mm f/2 Summicron, 135mm f/2.8 Elmarit-M and 180mm f/2.8 Elmarit. I knew that they were incredible glass, and combined with the incredible sensor of the FX9, the shots had an almost film-like grain quality. I also could trust Tom to shoot on a 90mm and find focus every time. So we went for it, and it was honestly a game-changing moment. The step up just blew me away. The intimacy, which the 90mm prime provided in those situations with our characters, was just breathtaking. 

I stayed on the Sigma 18-35mm f/1.8 DC HSM SA, which is a great lens for matching that shallow aperture feel. You can stop down to f/1.8, which is also very useful for low-light situations. We combined that with a 1/8 Pro-Mist filter to take the sharpness off the Sigma lens. That dovetailed nicely with the vintage primes. It was still useful to have the emergency wide of the Sigma. But since, this shoot, I’ve found myself feeling that it’s neither wide nor tele enough to be the perfect run-and-gun lens. 

For other projects, Tom and I have taken to using a Rokinon 85mm T1.5 AS UMC EF, which I sourced from MPB. And I’m in love with the results. For our next big doc, even if it involves the same fluid, run-and-gun approach—which I’m sure it will—I think we will make the switch to all primes. It just creates a feeling, a soul that elevated key moments across our shoot in Norway. For me, that’s worth far more than versatility in pick-ups. 

For the spring hide shoot, gear was very important. Each operator was on a Sony system, which was brilliant for data management, frame rate capability and matching colour science. I shot on an FS7 II with a Sigma150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM (Canon EF Fit), purchased from MPB, mounted on a SachtlerFlowTech 75 tripod. It was an interesting comparison to Charlie’s setup. Charlie was shooting with a Sony FX6and Sony FE100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 GM OSSlens, with its amazing Sony autofocus. It seemed to work exceptionally well in a wildlife situation. Ideally, we would have all used a Sony FX6 with Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSSfor that extra reach and autofocus ability if required. 

In other situations, our camera choices have been vital. Josh, our wildlife cameraman, shot primarily on Z-Cam. While the image quality and frame rates were a real bonus, in post I found the footage a little harder to work with than the Sony S-Log3, especially for shots in which high dynamic range was needed. 

In another scene in the film, I scaled up a 30m [100ft] Scots pine to film Justin Grant in an eagle’s nest. We’d just purchased a Sony FX3, combined with a Sony FR24-70mm f/4 ZA OSS Zeiss Vario-Tessar T*. This was an incredibly lightweight setup, which I could often operate with one hand while roped up—and, when the wind picked up and the tree started to sway, holding on for dear life! The FX3 image quality blew me away. It felt like the best of my FS7 and Sony A7S II combined.

Setting up interviews

From the start, we had a really distinct approach to filming with our contributors. We wanted to immerse the audience in as much action as possible, bringing them into the moment, into the landscape with each character in turn. 

But there’s so much important information to convey with each character. So, we knew that a sit-down interview is vital to provide that narrative backbone. If we have the same discussion out ‘in the moment’, that’s usually the version that makes the cut. But the interviews gave us an opportunity to really explore themes in depth, and get to the heart of each character and their motivations and fears. 

We also know that cutting back to these scenes was an opportunity to continue to tell the story of that character. We wanted the set-up interview frames to seamlessly combine with the rest of the visuals, feeling cinematic, beautiful and visually intriguing.

Framing

We made the creative decision to put each interviewee in the dead centre of a wide frame, abandoning convention and having every person talking straight to-camera. 

In our last film, we’d placed each contributor on a spectrum of left to right, giving the representation of each character providing a different viewpoint around the same table. We then used one character to break that, talking straight to the audience, presenting them as the ‘voice of reason’, and then subverting that expectation right at the end of the film. So we understood the power that we could have in placement. 

But this debate was different. This entire conversation felt siloed. No one saw eye-to-eye, and couldn’t seem to agree on basic facts, let alone meet around the same table. So we decided that everyone should have the opportunity to engage directly with the audience and make their pitch. 

The second angle presented an interesting opportunity, too. We chose to shoot this on the Leica 135mm f/2.8  Elmarit at a really profiled angle. In each interview, we closed off the space in front of the contributor to varying degrees, representing the closed-off disconnect at all corners of this debate, and a slightly uneasy, myopic feel to each character. That second angle also gave the face of each contributor close up, where the emotions aren’t lost—and, as this film is primarily about emotion, this was vital. 

Lighting

Each setup is styled to look like natural light. But we had some pretty developed lighting setups to achieve that normality. Tom excelled in this role, using every tool in his arsenal to manipulate light. For one setup, we took to firing an Arri 1K Tungsten Fresnel with a blue gel through the windows of our location to emulate a low sunlit feel, and we made a lot of use of negative fills to create shadow and depth on our setups. 

Audio

For contributor audio, we used a Rode NTG4+ mounted on a boom pole and C-stand directly over the contributor. We used the stock Sony XLR-K1M shotgun microphone, mounted onto the Sony FS7, for scratch audio as a backup.

Overcoming challenges

From the very beginning, this film’s production threw up challenges. To make the best use of time, we had to work hard to overcome these challenges. It wasn’t ideal that we started production during the pandemic. But, in order to start shooting, we managed some nice workarounds while still complying with the rules. 

We took on a small and agile crew for this film, a few people capable of doing many jobs at once. Our contributors' safety was our highest priority. In our first production tranche, we filmed almost exclusively outside to mitigate any risks.

Using drones

Because of the nature of this story, we had to travel to some truly spectacular locations. Beautiful aerial footage was the perfect way to illustrate the white-tailed eagle’s vast range of habitats. 

We shot this film in mountainous and coastal locations across Norway, Ireland and Scotland. Each shoot required some element of aerial footage. For each scenario, we used a different DJI drone to match our needs with our resources at the time.

We shot the bulk of this film in Scotland, with the same small crew. Our lighting camera, Tom, was our main drone pilot for the Scottish scenes. He brought along the big guns to help us capture the bulk of the aerials used in the film. We used the DJI Inspire 2, a heavy-hitting drone with the luxury of having interchangeable lenses, which enabled us to capture unique perspectives. We used the Olympus75mm f/1.8 and Olympus 45mm f/1.2 PRO, which allowed us to capture more intimate and cinematic looks—as opposed to the usual super-wide 24mm on fixed-lens drones.

Next, we shot in Norway. Because all of the crew travelled from the UK with their kit, we were conscious of keeping luggage and insurance costs down. As a result, we packed lighter than we normally would—and this included our drones. For this shoot, we packed the DJI Mavic 3 Pro. When packed down, it’s lightweight and portable, so travelling with this drone was a breeze. And with its 24mm 4/3 CMOS f/2.8 Hasselblad lens, the Mavic 3 Pro still allowed us to capture stunning 4K footage.

Shooting the stakeout scene was unique, for many reasons. But on the aerial side, we didn’t have our usual operator on the crew with us. Despite this, we needed a solution to capture establishing aerial shots of the farm. And that’s where the DJI Mini 3 Pro stepped up. Weighing in at just 249g [9oz], it’s extremely light and portable. But it doesn’t compromise on quality, as its 1/1.3-inch sensor is able to output 4k HDR footage at up to 60fps. Its weight means [in the UK] you don’t require a full drone licence, just a registration and operator ID. So, our producer Fin was able to stretch his wings and capture aerial shots quickly and efficiently, without excessive kit or flight planning required.

The Eagle With The Sunlit Eye is the 2023 winner of Best Environmental Film, Banff Mountain Film & Book Festival and winner of the People’s Choice Award, Kendal Mountain Festival.

Looking for more wildlife content?

This article is part of the MPB Guide to Wildlife Photography and Videography, our comprehensive look at how to create wildlife imagery, with camera recommendations, advice and interviews with experts.