[Author: Sanbei Cat, Editor: Qiaoqiao, Flower Fall eclipse, Ent, Calo]
Is Dawa really dead?
After the release of "We Were Born in China", the message I received on Weibo asked this one question.
The movie "We Were Born in China" tells the story of the snow leopard "Dawa" and two children, and according to the plot presented in the movie, Dawa eventually died of injury. Image source: "We were born in China"
From the very beginning, I knew that Disney was going to make a movie in China featuring wild animals, and I was looking forward to it, and as a practitioner of working with wild animals, I knew the charm of animals and the difficulty of shooting them.
However, with years of experience dealing with leopards, I felt when watching the film: this is not a nature documentary, and Dawa is not "a" snow leopard. The temperament of the snow leopard in the film is different, some are old and some are young, some have bright fur and some are disheveled. Disney and director Lu Chuan used the wording "nature movie" in their promotion, and there is nothing wrong with that: "Dawa" in the movie is a character, shaped by clips of many snow leopard "actors". And "Dawa's death" is not a reality in the wild, but a story that has been exquisitely created and edited.
So, how many snow leopards appear in the film? What about the real story of Dawa, which everyone pays attention to?
【The Seven Identities of Dawa】
To find out how many snow leopards have "participated" in Dawa, we must use the old method of dealing with leopards: individual recognition. The principle is very simple, the stripes and spots on cats such as tigers, leopards, and snow leopards are like human fingerprints, which are unique identity indicators. By analyzing the body side pattern of the leopard, it is possible to identify the individual of each leopard. I'm going to use the same method to see how many snow leopards there are in "We Were Born in China."
What is different is that to identify tiger leopards, we usually choose the markings on the side of the body, while snow leopards have long fur and are often covered with snow, so we will use the snow leopard's head, limbs and other parts with clear markings as recognition features. Although the film shooting will not deliberately use the infrared camera to shoot the parts that need to be identified as we did when we conduct field research, fortunately, the film's photography level is very high, and we still get a large number of clear snow leopard images, enough to try to do individual identification.
The process of identification is very tedious, but here are a few conclusions to preempt:
A total of 16 snow leopards were identified in the film, of which 9 were adult snow leopards and the other 7 were small snow leopards of different ages. Excluding 1-2 of those that could be repeated, I think the crew filmed at least 14 snow leopards, maybe more.
The character of Dawa was cut by 7 different snow leopards, and at least one of them was not a female snow leopard at all, but a male.
The snow leopard that attacks the yak in the film is a male snow leopard, so it must be without a baby. In my judgment, although it failed to hunt, it did not suffer multiple injuries.
Although the dawa corpse on the snow is too short to accurately determine the identity due to the short time given by the camera, only based on the markings on its legs and chest, the corpse cannot be matched with any of the above 9 adult snow leopards.
Therefore, the discussion about whether the crew fulfilled their rescue obligations is actually based on a hypothetical scene. Although I can't know the actual situation of the scene, according to the movie scene, there is not a single female snow leopard with a baby who is seriously injured, so it is impossible to talk about whether to rescue or not.
Below, we will analyze one by one through the film picture, who played dawa's snow leopard, and how her story was told through these "actors". For ease of description, we'll give each of these actors nicknames (of course, individual identification in normal studies wouldn't be named that way):
The snow leopard who plays the living Dawa: big cake face, black mouth corner, knife scar eyes, rock sheep killer, big mother, second mother, cow biting boy;
Snow leopards who play the invaders: Yellow Hair, Three Mothers, Scar Eyes;
The snow leopard that acts as Dawa's corpse: Bentowa.
I can't know the actual situation of the scene, just from the movie footage, let's see how Dawa's story is told.
【Chapter 1: Appearance】
In the opening 5 to 8 minutes after the opening, the film tells the first bridge of Dawa's life: Dawa appears and encounters the invasion of another snow leopard, we see Dawa drive away the intruder, and reveal that it is the mother of two baby snow leopards.
It seems that only two adult snow leopard characters appear in this segment: Dawa and the intruder. However, through individual identification, I found that at least 5 adult snow leopards appeared in this section! In addition to the invaders, there are actually at least 4 snow leopards playing the role of Dawa – they are black mouth, knife scar eyes, flatbread face and big mother. The intruder in this section is played by Huang Mao.
The one who took the lead was the one with the black mouth. As pointed to by the red vertical line, there is a distinct dark spot at the corner of its right mouth. Image source: "We were born in China"
The second "Dawa" to play is Scar Eye. Remember the star-shaped scar under its left eye. Image source: "We were born in China"
The third place, "Dawa", who appeared in the movie at 5 minutes and 14 seconds, is the big pie face. Recognize the markings on the side of its body. Image source: "We were born in China"
The positive face of the pie face appeared at 7 minutes and 6 seconds. In addition to the markings corresponding to the above picture, you can also see why it is called a pie face. Image source: "We were born in China"
At 5 minutes and 16 seconds, the "Dawa" on the battlefield is a black mouth, and the camera is well connected. Image source: "We were born in China"
At 6 minutes and 29 seconds, the highlight of the battle between the two snow leopards is the black mouth corner that plays more of the "Dawa" scene on the left, and the yellow hair of the intruder on the right. The body-side markings provided by this picture are used in the individual identification of each picture. Image source: "We were born in China"
7 minutes and 21 seconds, pie face. Image source: "We were born in China"
At 7 minutes and 38 seconds, the fourth snow leopard playing "Dawa" in this paragraph, the big mother, finally appeared with her son. Big Mom's facial markings are clear. Image source: "We were born in China"
The story continues.
【Chapter 2: Rock Sheep】
The second bridge segment takes place between 14 and 17 minutes in the film, about 4 minutes. The storyline is mainly the love between Dawa's mother and son, and Dawa's hunting of rock sheep.
What I want to tell you is: there are new actors in this paragraph! The first to appear, "Dawa", with two children on the cliff rocks, has nothing to do with any snow leopards in the first section: this female snow leopard with two cubs is new, and I named it the second mother. The second mother will appear later, I guess the second mother's family is the longest time of the crew to track the shooting, and the big mother in the last paragraph seems to have quit the scene...
At 14 minutes and 17 seconds, the second mother debuted, and looked closely at its face, which was obviously different from the big mother. Image source: "We were born in China"
In this segment, in the childless shot, the big pie face continues to participate in Dawa, lying on the grass to watch the marmot; and the protagonist in the previous paragraph also shows a black mouth, that is, lying behind the rock to reveal half of his face. I was surprised to find that the picture was actually made a horizontal mirror image in the later stages of the movie, I said how to watch it for half a day always felt that this snow leopard eyes are familiar but not right, and then turned the picture sideways to find that this is the black mouth corner. Well, this doesn't happen when we do the survey...
However, I am not sure how many snow leopards there are in this paragraph, because some of the hunting scenes are really difficult to capture a clear picture to identify.
For 16 minutes, "Dawa" was replaced by a serious pie face. Image source: "We were born in China"
At 16 minutes and 30 seconds, the pie face continued to show its firmness. Image source: "We were born in China"
16 minutes and 47 seconds, black mouth corners, but the picture is mirrored horizontally. Image source: "We were born in China"
It is mirrored horizontally in this way. Flip the picture here in the movie back horizontally to see the feature markings above the left eye of the black mouth. Image source: "We were born in China"; Draft: Cat Alliance
Chapter 3: The Invasion
The third segment takes place in the film 35-38 minutes, about three minutes. The plot synopsis is that Dawa, who is eating rock sheep, is invaded by an old rival with three children, and is forced to abandon her prey and give up her territory with her son.
I admire the screenwriter's brain opening in this paragraph. Why? Please listen to me break it down one by one.
The "Dawa" who appeared first overturned a huge ram, and this snow leopard was actually a newcomer and an "extra". I named it Rock Sheep Killer. It was so powerful that the rock sheep looked like it had indeed caught it. However, it is useless to have the ability, you have to have relationships and acting skills to survive in the movie - the rock sheep killer quickly ran the dragon set, and never appeared again...
35 minutes and 21 seconds, this is the "dragon set" that plays Dawa: the rock sheep killer. The diamond-shaped markings on its forehead are very characteristic. Image source: "We were born in China"
At 35 minutes and 38 seconds, the rock sheep killer killed a large ram, please note that there are no stones in the grass at this time. Image source: "We were born in China"
At this time, there was a new person who played the intruder: the three mothers. It appears with the female snow leopard of three near-adult snow leopard dolls, and the narrator says that this is the return of the old rival.
Let's not talk about why Dawa's two babies haven't grown up for so long, and the three babies of this old rival have grown so big at once. The key point is that this intruder is no longer the yellow hair that appeared in the first chapter.
At 35 minutes and 40 seconds, with three mothers who are close to adult snow leopards, they starred in "Intruder", which is not at all similar to the original "intruder" Huang Mao. Image source: "We were born in China"
Contrast between two intruders. Image source: "We were born in China"; Draft: Cat Alliance
However, the director also gave the original intruder a shot: Huang Mao ate a few bites of rock sheep on the ground. But if you are careful, you will find that the ground where the yellow hair eats the sheep is the grass, but there are many stones in the place where the rock sheep killer who just hit the soy sauce works... Although the editor cleverly changed the angle so that people did not pay attention to how the horns of the big ram were gone, they forgot to drop the stone on the ground...
At 36 minutes and 41 seconds, Huang Mao appeared again as an "intruder", and the film said that it robbed Dawa's sheep, but notice that the ground in this place is full of stones, and the place where the rock sheep killer ate sheep before is fundamentally different. Image source: "We were born in China"
I suspect that the actual situation may be that the black mouth and the yellow hair in the first chapter did have a dispute over the robbery of the lamb, and the yellow hair did eat the lamb, but this is completely different from the third chapter where the rock sheep killer eats the lamb but is driven away.
But anyway, in the movie, after the extra actor rock sheep killer who played Dawa ran away, the black mouth came out and made a scene, and next, the shadow emperor Scar Eye made a grand appearance.
At 36 minutes and 48 seconds, the black mouth came out and made a field. Image source: "We were born in China"
Scar Eye is said to be the Emperor of Shadows because it plays two roles at the same time in the following episodes: Dawa and the Intruder. This is where I admire the director and the editor very much, and this brain hole is not opened by ordinary people. Dawa in the movie is not willing to fail, but still wants to fight back; while the old opponent does not budge, and finally lies on the sheep and eats. But take a closer look at their faces: the scarred eye is too obvious...
At 36 minutes and 53 seconds, the shadow emperor Scar Eye began a snow leopard performance of two corners. When the star scar is not visible, it can also be recognized by the arrangement of spots on the forehead. Image source: "We were born in China"
At 37 minutes and 19 seconds, it was playing Dawa, who was preparing to fight back. Image source: "We were born in China"
At 37 minutes and 26 seconds, Scar Eye began to play the intruder. Note: The hairs on its face may look messy due to different shooting times, but the striated features of the eye are still obvious. Image source: "We were born in China"
At 37 minutes and 41 seconds, Scarface played the successful intruder. Image source: "We were born in China"
Chapters 4 & 5: Injuries
The fourth and fifth sections of the story take place in 43 minutes and 50 to 52 minutes, and the plot is relatively simple - Dawa takes a snow leopard doll to swim in the ice and snow, and her foot is injured while hunting.
The "Dawa" who appeared this time was the second mother and the black mouth corner, respectively. From the movie, it is the black mouth that hides behind the rock, while the second mother who takes the leopard to watch the snow in the cave and chase the rock sheep scratches her foot. Moreover, that is not a big injury to the snow leopard, and the movie is suspected of sensationalism here.
At 43 minutes and 38 seconds, the second mother and the children began to enter the play, identifying the arrangement of spots on the forehead of the second mother. Image source: "We were born in China"
The bug here is that the time span of the film's story is as long as one year, and the snow leopard cub of "Dawa" has not grown much from beginning to end, and in fact, the one-year-old snow leopard should have been close to the size of its mother... It's really unscientific.
At 50 minutes and 40 seconds, the black mouth was observing. Image source: "We were born in China"
At 50 minutes and 52 seconds, the snow covering the body of this one in the shot is too thick to be recognized. Image source: "We were born in China"
At 51 minutes and 38 seconds, this "Dawa" is the second mother, and it seems that her foot is slightly injured, but it may not be. Image source: "We were born in China"
Chapter 6: Yak
The sixth section takes place in 103 to 106 minutes and is very informative, with the most intense dramatic conflict in the meantime: in the spring, Dawa ventures to attack a yak and is seriously injured, ending in tragedy.
The first "Dawa" to appear here is the black mouth corner, in fact, it is particularly recognizable - there is a black spot protruding upwards in front of the right corner of the mouth, and the coat color is shiny and distinctive.
At 103 minutes and 38 seconds, the black mouth appeared, and it looked very beautiful. Image source: "We were born in China"
At 103 minutes and 49 seconds, the black mouth looks up at the sky at a 45-degree angle. Look at the right corner of its mouth. Image source: "We were born in China"
The "Dawa" who attacked the baby yak was a male snow leopard. Although the snow leopard has long fur and a thick tail, it is difficult to see the eggs clearly, but there are indeed a few shots in the process of it biting the calf, it... Gone... I named it Cow Biting Guy. This kind of play is usually performed by a stuntman, so after it has performed this scene, there is no other role.
At 104 minutes and 50 seconds, the cow-biting boy who played "Dawa" was attacking the cow, note: its body was very low, and the cow could not use its horns to reach it. Image source: "We were born in China"
105 minutes and 2 seconds, walking light bridge section - we can see the eggs of the cow-biting boys, the male snow leopard is no doubt. Image source: "We were born in China"
This shot is very valuable, from which we will find that the snow leopard is very clever, and when biting the calf, it has always tried to keep its body down, so that the big bull will have a hard time using its horns to top it, and can only arch its nose.
Although there is a shot that does look like it was being hit by a bull's horn and flying up by a bull with its head, I don't think it's a big deal for the snow leopard, and it's not as badly injured as the movie says.
In the end, the Shadow Emperor Scar Eye came out and turned around again, playing the "Dawa" whose attack failed and was about to end in tragedy, it lay there listless, acting very carefully.
At 105 minutes and 36 seconds, Scar Eye came out to play the badly injured Dawa. Image source: "We were born in China"
Chapter 7: Death
The seventh shot is short: a snow leopard dies in the snow.
Since the parts it reveals are so limited, I can only use its recognizable markings to compare with other individuals, but I really did not find it in the 9 known individuals. But even those 9 individuals lack all the marking information, so it's not entirely certain whether the dead snow leopard is an actor who has played.
This is the dead snow leopard, I compared the markings that can be seen, and I did not find this individual in the previous snow leopard. Image source: "We were born in China"
All I can do for sure is that the dead snow leopard is certainly not the black mouth, the big cake face, the knife scar eyes, the cow biting boy and the second mother. It doesn't really matter, what matters is that a snow leopard did die, the cause of which is unknown. But in a place with a high ecological quality that can house so many kings of snowy mountains at the same time, the death of a snow leopard may only be the result of natural selection.
As for the female leopard aunt and second mother who came out with their children, as well as the 7 little snow leopards, I am not worried about their survival. Usually, female snow leopards choose the most abundant areas of their territory as their breeding grounds, and after millions of years of evolution, they have long known how to live on the plateau.
This concludes the movie. Through the individual identification of this film, the snow leopard actors I can confirm include (arranged by scene): scar eyes, black mouth corners, big cake face, second mother, biting cow boy, rock sheep killer, big mother, three mother, yellow hair A total of 9 adult snow leopards, two cubs of big mother, two cubs of two mothers, three cubs of three mothers, a total of 7 juvenile snow leopards. Among them, there are 7 snow leopards who played the surviving "Dawa".
In addition, the dead bento baby, the male leopard with which "Dawa" entered its territory and fought with it, and the snow leopards who hunted several other sections were not well identified.
It should be pointed out that after all, this is only the use of some screenshots to do individual identification, and the available angles are really lacking, so it is inevitable that the recognition error or incompleteness will be. Interested friends can play this game together: count how many snow leopards are in the movie?
Conclusion: "We were born in China" is not a good movie?
In terms of the habitat and animal behavior shown on the camera, the film's production team is great. We rarely have the opportunity to see such a magnificent Chinese habitat in the cinema; this is probably the first time that most people have seen the life of the mysterious king of the snowy mountains. How many people have seen how snow leopards pedal on the ground? How many people would know that snow leopards are territorially aware and that there will be battles for territory and prey? Has anyone ever seen a snow leopard ambush a rock sheep on a steep cliff? Who would have known that snow leopards are so good at protecting themselves while attacking? In fact, no domestic natural image practitioner has ever achieved the same feat as this film, conveying so much knowledge and information about wild animals to the public.
It is also understandable that the final film uses multiple snow leopard clips to tell such a story. After all, at an altitude of more than 4,000 meters, it is almost unimaginable to really track a snow leopard for a long time and shoot its complete life history story; and the impact of such long-term shooting on the snow leopard is even more unpredictable. From the perspective of individual identification, the crew did not shoot step by step according to the script that was already there. In the face of a huge number of shots, organizing a story that can be understood and accepted by people who are not familiar with the snow leopard, and let people remember the role of Dawa, is indeed a very difficult challenge.
Unfortunately, the production team didn't make these efforts clear. Although director Lu Chuan did emphasize that it is a nature film rather than a documentary, and that there are plots, he does not point out that these plots are created by humans. When the interviewer of the fruit shell network asked the producer Roy Conley why the "story" of dawa the snow leopard could be so complete, Conley only attributed the efforts of the field photographer and the richness of the material, and avoided the creation and editing of the "Dawa". Even when "should the film crew rescue Dawa" caused a hot discussion on the Internet, no team member clarified the fictional nature of Dawa's character.
Ordinary moviegoers don't go out of their way to find interviews with directors and producers, and probably the vast majority of viewers have never noticed the concept of "nature movies," and many people don't even realize that this is not a nature documentary that we are familiar with until they finish watching it. This is bound to create a certain degree of misunderstanding, an explanation and causal connection that does not exist on the real lens and the real animal behavior. Perhaps there are market-based considerations for doing so, but in any case, it is a pity.
Source: Fruit Husk
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