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http://www.metro.co.uk/news/810341-chimpanzee-made-movie-is-tv-first

BBC in television first with chimpanzee-made movie

Martin Higgins - 25th January, 2010

The results of an experiment in which a group of chimpanzees was given
a video camera has produced a telly milestone to be shown later this
month on the BBC.

The BBC is to show the first-ever film shot entirely by chimpanzees.
No, it's not the result of massive budget cuts – it's actually part of
a nature documentary that airs later this month.

Betsy Herrelko, studying for a PhD in primate behaviour at the
University of Stirling, came up with the idea of giving the chimps a
camera to see if she could learn how the animals perceive the world
and each other.

Over the course of 18 months, Betsy introduced video technology to a
group of 11 chimps living in a new, high-tech enclosure at Edinburgh
Zoo.

She first tried to get the chimps to select images using touchscreen
technology, but they didn't seem to have any particular favourite out
of the options presented to them.

Then, a specially designed 'Chimpcam' – which comprised a camera
inside a chimp-proof box with a screen on the top showing the image of
whatever the camera was aimed at – was put into the enclosure.

The chimps soon became interested in the viewing screen, watching what
happened as they moved the camera around and recorded new images.

It is not thought that the chimps were actively trying to record
specific scenes or actions, nor that they had any idea that they were
making a film by moving the camera around.

Nonetheless, further analysis of the footage is ongoing and may yield
new insights into primate behaviour, and it's still a television
first, however you look at it.

Who knows, given enough time, the chimps might produce Citizen Kane?