New Apple TV+ nature docuseries Tiny World was definitely not shot on iPhone.
Documentarians who captured those pint-size critters’ everyday adventures show off some of their crazy camera rigs in a new behind-the-scenes video. And the photo gear looks absolutely crazy. The clip also shows off some of the incredible footage in the series, which debuted Friday on Apple TV+.
“Strawberry dart frogs are tiny little frogs with a lot of personality, and they’re only about the size of my thumbnail,” says director and cinematographer Joris Van Alphen in the clip, which Apple released Friday. “We brought this lens that’s really meant for scientific purposes, and that allows us to get shots that we wouldn’t have been able to otherwise.”
Long lens required for Tiny World
The lens looks like it’s at least a foot long. It and the camera totally dwarf the tiny frogs. And yet, the team managed to get close enough to the amphibians to capture some stunning footage.
“For days, we’ve been trying to get shots of two males wrestling, because the males are territorial and quite competitive,” Van Alphen says. “All of a sudden, these two males lock and they start going at it. And it got to the point where they actually jumped on the lens!”
Later in the video, Gabriel Kocher shows off the drone used to capture some incredibly dramatic video of a northern goshawk flying at 50 mph through a forest.
And after that, an Australian crew shows off the miniature motion-controlled dolly they use to get up close and extremely personal with a golden-tailed gecko. The high-def imagery is striking.
You can see the creatures — and the camera crews — in action in the video below.
Tiny World on Apple TV+
So how is Tiny World? We liked the show, which is rated TV-G, as you can tell by the headline on our review: “Tiny World amazes with an Ant-Man view of nature.” (By the way, the series is narrated by Ant-Man himself, Paul Rudd.)
If this behind-the-scenes video whets your appetite for a new nature doc, you can watch all six episodes of Tiny World now on Apple TV+.
