I know that sounds odd, but I was curious if anyone knew? It struck me that many of the subject birds are rare or even endangered and furthermore the vast majority are protected species under the IMBTA. Does anyone know how they are depicting the birds if at all? Captive birds? Preserved specimens + CGI? Puppetry? It's a weird question, but presumably birders will be a big target audience and will notice if the birds are a mess ...
sharestock footage? Maybe they actually filmed some of them. But I'd guess they'll weave in footage from nature shows or something like that.
They don't have to all be rare ones that they show, every bird counts in a Big Year and I think they saw close to 700 per person.
Good theory. I think Komito's record is 745. So absolutely, as you point out, only a small fraction of the birds will be featured, although the rarer birds are more narratively important as everyone will get commoners. I was just curious if anyone knew; I'd agree that's probably the most realistic option.
shareThey will be leftover dailies from the RIO flick. Perhaps even a couple of Angry Birds flown in for topical status.
shareSo I think the trailer answered my question: Birdemic quality CGI. Yikes!
sharedone in post production.
share"What the hell is post? Keep swinging!"
shareVFX added in post production (none of them were shot as real birds).
shareSorry, I was just kidding -- there's a RiffTrax thing about (not) adding the birds in Birdemic in post. Thank you for your serious answer though.
((http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQVv_qNKkQQ @ 1:28))
Probably with wings and feathers.
shareSaw a preview screening the other night. More common birds are done with real footage, and a few they seem to have a trained bird for. There are some particularly rare birds (I only know because they refer to them as such in the script), which are created with CG imagery. No doubt some of these endangered species could not be trained or used in captivity.
shareThank you for your answer! I'm glad it sounds like they they did their best to make the birds look accurate! : ) (Although I'm a little sad the poster who said "with bowties" was apparently incorrect, haha).
sharesurprised this movie got a pg rating. the birds are naked!
Season's Greetings