Filmmakers Record Tree In Woods For One Year And Manage To Capture Breathtaking Footage

Sep 17, 2021 by apost team

Forests are teeming with silent and secretive life amongst the padded, leafy floors and sprawling trees. When we pass by forests sometimes, we merely see the trees but we have no idea what goes on within the area away from human eyes. Thanks to the growing use of technology today, we are finally able to explore the areas we have never been able to, such as the vast seafloor, and even planets like Mars. One man decided to put a camera on a game trail in the forest. This may seem somewhat ordinary, but as this video from 2017 is about to show you, the area is nothing if not extraordinary. From deer to bears to wolves, the footage captured everything that one doesn't get the chance to see when walking through the woods.

After a year of filming, the video was condensed to show the best highlights of what's walking around in the forest when we're not around. It is amazing to think that such a common area that we are used to seeing and may pass by without much thought is actually home to so much activity. Wildlife videographers Bruno D'Amicis and Umberto Esposito created this video in Italy with the hope that people could see there was more to these areas than meets the eye. They also wanted to send out the message that these areas deserve to be concerned and preserved, and the only way this could happen is if more people took an interest to do so. This video is sure to inspire you! 

You may have heard the question "If a tree falls in a forest, and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?" Two nature lovers wanted to know once and for all what goes on in the woods when humans aren't around. The project was titled "A Tree, 365 Days" and the video ran from June 2016 to May 2017. When Bruno D'Amicis and Umberto Esposito first set out to do the project, their hope was for people to see animals that they would normally never see in their day-to-day lives. For example, aside from a few birds and squirrels, hikers rarely encounter wildlife on their walks. Many animals are nocturnal, and they only leave their dens at night. Animals are also incredibly smart. If they hear (or smell) a human in their territory, they are going to take off running! This means that a quiet environment without threats is of utmost importance to see animals in the wild, and D'Amicis and Esposito were able to provide this to capture an array of animals. 

This tree was specially chosen because it had proved to be a meeting point for various other animals in the past, according to the Daily Mail. There would be no telling what type of animals would come to the Abruzzo Lazio and Molise National Park in Italy to interact with this single tree. For D'Amicis, the highlight of the entire video was when they were able to spot the endangered Marsican brown bears.  This is an incredible sighting indeed! 

apost.com

This bear species is also known as Apennine brown bears, and it is critically endangered and its range is restricted to Abruzzo National Park and its surrounding areas in Italy. Along with that, the video captured bears that are scratching themselves on the tree and wolves marking their territory. Other sightings include deer that follow one another through a small blanket of snow, wild boars that run through the area, badgers that creep across, and a sweet bear cub that followed its mama. In the year of recording, all four seasons were also covered, which gave the opportunity to see all the kinds of animals that pass through the area at a given time. 

It must have taken a lot of work to edit an entire year's worth of footage down to a 2 minute and 34-second video. We are so glad that D'Amicis and Esposito put in the extra effort. The filmmakers also wanted to raise awareness about such forests across the world and this project stemmed from a bigger multimedia project, 'ForestBeat,' that aimed to document old-growth beech forests and make them more appealing to the public, according to Daily Mail. The video had garnered over 5 million views when it was originally released by the filmmakers, and in Italy, it was met with very positive reviews. 

"I am glad that many people can understand the importance of those unique forests and realize that even in a country like Italy, so densely populated, there is still an abundance of wildlife worth preserving," D'Amicis said. 

"The tree is placed along a wildlife trail and is a so-called rub-tree, where brown bears rub their back to leave a trace of their odor and thus inform other individuals of their presence and status," he added. National Geographic also reports that the tree was a "crossroad of smells, signals, and messages left behind by the 'extraordinary wildlife.'" D'Amicis also said that the act of animals rubbing themselves upon the tree "has a territorial and hierarchical function. It seems like simple footage, but to find such a tree takes a lot of work." The whole point of putting the time and effort into such a video was to draw attention towards conserving the forests. "Besides, we believe in the power of honest imagery to draw people's attention and convey a strong message of conservation," D'Amicis also said. 

This is certainly a good reason to work on a project. Forests are integral for human life and balancing ecosystems everywhere. Our life literally depends on these forests as the oxygen we breathe is supplied by trees that convert carbon dioxide into oxygen, and according to Conservation International, more than 20% of the world's breathable oxygen is produced in the Amazon rainforest. Moreover, forests are home to over 50% of all living things on the planet, which helps to keep our entire ecosystem balanced as well. We need more projects like this that creatively shed light on the wonders of the world we are living in as well as increase awareness of conserving our trees and forests. We thank these wonderful filmmakers for this beautiful video! 

Do you know any animal lovers who would enjoy this amazing video? Let us know — and be sure to send this amazing video their way!