This next film is a first for me with this project. It’s the 32nd film which means it’s the first film that I’m actually seeing for the first time since the official start of the DFP. I definitely had no idea what I was getting myself into with this film but it turned out to be much cooler than I thought it would be. For this project, I’m focusing on the story itself, including dialogue, character development, any subplots, how a story presents itself, the speed at which it moves, if it slows down unnecessarily, etc.
Update: In February 2022, I started a video version of the DFP on Tiktok. You can find the video below. Thoughts expressed in the video may be different than what are expressed in the blog post, due to the time difference in posting.
A Brief Summary
With a focus on how different species in the plant, insect and water world survive and reproduce, the audience gets a unique up-close look through time-lapse photography. Includes mushrooms, a blind snake, and a volcanic eruption.
What works
- The text between credits and the opening scene of the film. Since the title of the film doesn’t give away the subject quite as easily as the previous True-Life films, this really helped me get a better idea of what was to come before the narrator took over.
- The opening scenes and narration were a bit more straight-forward than the last couple, being most similar to the opening scenes of The Living Desert. It was actually nice getting a bit more serious to start off the film, and I think it helped set the tone for the remainder of the scenes to come.
- I don’t often talk about camera work but for this particular film I will because its use of time-lapse footage shows off well how seeds move and begin the next cycle of growth. And let me tell you, I was both intrigued and terrified by the footage. Nothing was wrong, in fact, it was super cool watching it, but since I rarely, okay, never see plants move as fast as they appear during a time-lapse shot, it was like attack of the killer plants. Maybe not quite that violent but they do move in some freaky ways. It didn’t help that Disney chose to use bolero music to accompany a portion of the footage. I couldn’t take my eyes off the screen.
- Plants aren’t all that’s covered here, with the film focusing on ‘the plant world’, ‘the insect world’ and ‘the water world’. Each segment had a nice segue into the following topic, with the assistance of a brief animated scene. The organization of the film helped SO MUCH. I’ve enjoyed all of the True-Life films I’ve seen so far but the earlier films often cut back to different animals or insects that had already been shown. Here, once the film moved to the main portion of each segment, it stayed focused in that segment, not straying to return to any previous life-form. For me, as the viewer, I was able to pay attention better because I didn’t have to remind myself what had already been said about what I was watching on the screen.
- The ‘Insect World’ portion was probably my favorite. Two main insects were focused on: bees and ants.
- Bees came first, and maybe it’s just because I watched the Royal Wedding over the weekend, but I loved that the narration gave the bees the Royal Treatment. I already knew about Queen Bees but it made the other information that was being shared more accessible as they put a ‘fairy-tale’ spin on how the information was presented. It wasn’t overly cheesy, in fact, it didn’t feel cheesy at all, it felt natural.
- Ants followed with so much information packed in, I’m still trying to wrap my head around it. I couldn’t even tell you the names of the different types of ants (because I forgot them already) but I could describe them to you (hanging from the ceiling, looking like a wine bottle with a stomach filled out to match) or tell you what their job was (gardener or hunter). I mean, it was insane watching the black ants and the red ants fight an all-out war, and I’m not even sure which side to root for because, well, they’re ants.
Honorable Mentions
- Wild oats: a self-planting plant (I had no idea) THAT LOOKS LIKE A WEIRD CRICKET-LIKE BUG CRAWLING ON THE GROUND. Just one of the many marvels from the time-lapse footage.
- They had this great section on corn, talking about how corn pollinates itself through the crown and the corn silks. Also, I never actually paid attention to the fact that corn kernels are essentially seeds and I love eating corn so I’m basically a corn child killer. #notthosechildrenofthecorn #needmypopcornforthemovies #alsoIlovecornbread #dontforgetcornonthecob #noThanksgivingmealcompletewithoutcorn
- I had no idea that new Queen Bees had to remove their competition before they could fully become Queen of the hive (or that they even had competition to remove). But the Queen/Queen battle was really cool to watch*.
Side Questions
- During the bee segment, heat from a forest fire starts melting the wax of the hive combs. They show the bees working to save the honey but what about the ‘brood combs’ where all of the new bees are? How do they protect them or do they do anything?
- The bugs. How did they get such close-up footage of the bugs?! There’s a couple of shots of some bugs eating flowers and thanks to the camera, the bugs are super close to the screen.
What I learned from watching this film
- So the film was about the same length as the earlier True-Life films but it felt twice as long. This wasn’t a bad thing, I think it actually had more to do with the time-lapse photography used during the ‘plant world’ section. Watching a steady stream of plants growing, I thought for sure the film was half-way through by the time the bees came in, but no, that wasn’t the case. But doing something like that, you would have to make sure to have balance with the rest of the story to make sure that it doesn’t fall flat or get cut off prematurely. It’s the worst thing to read or see something that had a good beginning and middle, only to rush the ending because there’s no more time.
*I promise, I’m not usually this morbid. Cross my heart.
If you’ve seen Secrets of Life, what are some of your thoughts? Share in the comments below!
Rewind to the beginning of the Disney Film Project
Skip back to the previous film with Davy Crockett and the River Pirates
Fast Forward to the next film with Westward Ho the Wagons!
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