Travel show "Eagle and Tails": how is it actually filmed?

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

People love travel shows. You can, without getting out of a comfortable chair, see the whole world, visit, albeit virtually, in different countries. But listening to a simple description of the beauties and sights was no longer as interesting as our ancestors, who, because of the Iron Curtain, eagerly caught everything that was happening in the rest of the world. Therefore, extraordinary, conceptual travel shows appeared. One of these programs is "Eagle and Tails". It is broadcast on the Russian TV channel Pyatnitsa! But also on the Ukrainian Inter. And it is also shown with some delay on the Belarus 2 channel, in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Moldova, and even in Israel and Poland. But what country is filming Heads and Tails, whose product is it? At first glance it seems that the Russian. In the parallel project Eagle and Tails. Shopping”, launched from the beginning of 2014, foreign prices are converted into rubles. But if you watch the same series in Ukrainianchannel "Inter", you will hear the conversion of currencies into hryvnia. In short, the transmission is surrounded by secrecy. But in this article we will reveal some secrets and talk about how they shoot "Eagle and Tails". Does everything happen as the viewer sees on the screen?

TV show concept

Eagle and Tails is a completely Ukrainian product. Citizens of this country are very fond of traveling. That is why conceptual travel shows are so popular here. The leaders in popularity are the programs "The World Inside Out", where the presenter travels along non-tourist routes, and "Eagle and Tails". What is the concept of the last show? Avid travelers know that every country opens from the front door to a foreigner with money and from the black one to a budget backpacker. This idea was taken as a basis by the creators of the project, Elena and Evgeny Sinelnikov. Each country or city where the hosts of the show come, they show from two sides. The brilliance of Cuba's tourist areas and the poverty of its own favelas, elite restaurants and hotels in Europe and hostels rented by students - it turns out that you can look at any sights from different angles. And sometimes it happens that a budget tourist can see more interesting things in the country than someone who contemplates the world from the window of a luxury limousine. And why is the show called "Eagle and Tails"? How is the transmission filmed? According to the idea of a travel show, two hosts go to each city: one is budgetary, and the second is unlimited in funds. Whom to be - the coin decides. If it falls heads up, the thrower gets the "gold bank card"her, and if tails - another leader. The loser gets only one hundred dollars, for which he somehow has to survive for two days.

Seasons

So the idea for the show came up first. Four people came up with it. A pilot episode about New York was quickly filmed and aired in February 2011. The Ukrainians liked this interesting concept so much that it became clear: the project was clearly a success, we need to continue. That is why the presenters - the spouses (at that time) Alan and Zhanna Bodoev - went to Las Vegas, and then to San Francisco and Los Angeles. And while the audience was wondering how they shoot "Eagle and Tails" in such a short time, a group of presenters with cameramen went to Europe. The first city on the way of the film crew on the Old Continent was Barcelona. The show is constantly changing - from season to season. For example, in the second year of filming, a sponsor of the program appeared - a well-known wine producer in Ukraine. His advertising was carried out in a very intricate way: at the end of each episode, the “rich” presenter hides one hundred dollars in an empty bottle with an exact description of the location of the treasure. The finder is invited to send a photo or video of the search process. The bottle move has become a tradition, and now, in its fifteenth season, it continues. The director constantly puts other ideas into action. Take, for example, the 14th season: “Eagle and tails. Reboot". How was it filmed? The hosts drove around some cities where they had been before. The purpose of the project is to show what has changed in the country in recent years. The seasons "Back to the USSR" and "Heaven and Hell" are also interesting.

"Eagle andtails ": how to remove the transfer. What the viewer sees

On the screen, everything happens smoothly, without a hitch. Two hosts arrive in a city and play the "golden card" by tossing a coin. Throughout all the seasons, there was only one time when the results of the draw were annulled. It happened in Tbilisi when Alan Badoev sacrificed his winnings for Jeanne. How are they filming "Eagle and Tails" next? The presenters are separated (each with their own film crew) and live separately for two days off. A backpacker with his $100 (in some cases, euros) is trying to rent cheap accommodation, subsist in eateries, but also see the most iconic sights. All spending is recorded at the bottom of the screen so that the viewer has an idea of how expensive the country is. The other presenter simply burns life. He rents an executive car with a driver, rents the best room in the most expensive hotel in the city, eats at top restaurants, and book excursions with a personal guide. At the end, the presenters meet, share their impressions of what they saw. And of course, they hide a bottle with a hundred dollars. As a result, the viewer sees some sights twice: through the eyes of a rich and a poor tourist. Sometimes it turns out that a budget traveler plunges deeper into the life of the local population, and new interesting facets and nuances are revealed to him.

"Eagle and Tails" behind the scenes: how the program is filmed

On the screen, everything looks natural and simple: the presenter walks around the city, communicates with localspeople, tells and shows sights. However, smart viewers understand that they are following him: the director, cameraman and screenwriter. On the screen one person, but in reality - a team of four. In some series, the presenter spends the night in a tent on a glacier. But where does the technical staff sleep? Many viewers have doubts: do the presenters really spend the night in terrible hostels or, on the contrary, rent luxurious apartments in expensive hotels? Maybe all this is staged scenes in the pavilion at the Dovzhenko film studio? And then they are diluted with pictures of sights … Of course, not everything is going smoothly with the program "Eagle and Tails" behind the scenes. How do operators film the communication of the presenters with the local population? After all, Western European countries and the Muslim world have their own concepts of “privacy”. The director and co-author of the show, Yevgeny Sinelnikov, says that in Cairo and India, the operator, producer and screenwriter even spent several days in prison. And in Jamaica, the local population, believing that photos and videos take away a piece of the soul, attacked the film crew with knives. Of course, the screenwriter arrives first. But the shooting itself takes place in full real life.

Are MCs really living their travels as they show on screen?

Sometimes the atmosphere of hostels, where several strangers and sometimes aggressive people sleep in the same room, is quite frightening. Really, the viewer thinks, does the presenter really spend the night there? The veil of secrecy over how the "Eagle and Tails" is filmed was lifted by the chief director Yevgeny Sinelnikov. He reported that sometimes he takes pity on an actor or actress and lets them spend the night innormal hotel. But these exceptions apply only to city hostels. When the presenter Regina Todorenko, wearing a skirt with pantyhose to be beautiful in the frame, went to spend the night in a tent on the glacier, the director did not make indulgence for her. As a result, the viewer saw the blue lips of the girl and to her remark: “How cold it was here!”, Mentally answered: “I believe!” When the host spends the night in the skete, and at four in the morning a Buddhist monk wakes him up - you can’t film this staged, the scene is completely real. As for the owner of the "golden card", here, in some cases, the producer manages to save money. Mostly through agreements. We advertise your hotel/restaurant/tour agency, and you give us a discount. But at the bottom of the screen, the usual amount for services is indicated. It happens that people, for some reason, offer to use their luxurious transport - a helicopter, a convertible Ferrari, etc. This was the case, for example, in Italy and Georgia. But in most countries, the maitre d' said: "We are not interested in our advertising in Ukraine." And I had to pay the specified amount.

Cheapest and most expensive countries and aerial scenes

Viewers are often interested in the issue of prices. In particular, it is important for potential tourists to find out in which countries it will be the cheapest to relax. The general producer of the show, Elena Sinelnikova, answered these questions. London is the most expensive. The owner of the "gold card" spent $53,557 in the capital of Great Britain. True, fifty thousand paid for a hotel room, inwhere Elton John, Marlene Dietrich, Marilyn Monod and Charlie Chaplin stayed. And Madagascar turned out to be the cheapest, where the presenter simply had nowhere to throw money, and with all his imagination, he was able to spend only $ 32. Singapore ranks second in terms of budget travel. True, this refers to the leader with a hundred dollars. If you spend the night in a tent in a city park, in a special place for camping, then it will take only $ 34 for food and museums for two days. Some of the objects that the hosts talk about, the viewer sometimes sees from a bird's eye view. How is Eagle and Tails really filmed? For panoramic views, a quadrocopter is launched into the sky - a drone with a camera attached to it. With him, too, there are curiosities. So, in Rotterdam, a drone crashed into a skyscraper. As a result, not only the footage was lost, but the entire group was detained by the police for a day.

Scandals, accidents and arrests

Naturally, the countries of the world have different levels of freedom of speech. And the cultural characteristics of Muslim states do not allow to fully shoot people on the street, especially women. But the most difficult for the group was… Belarus. Policemen constantly climbed into the frame, demanding documents. They forbade filming everything, even the parade. But the local population, at the sight of a aimed camera, became extremely suspicious and even aggressive. We have already mentioned the arrest of the entire group in Rotterdam. The operator in Cairo had to sit in jail, and in India he spent three days on the bunk in a campaign with a producer and director. An international scandal almost broke out when the presenter Alan Badoev decidedcollect tangerines on the territory of the US Embassy. Andrei Bednyakov was fined in Batumi for picking flowers from a tree. It does not do on the set and without accidents. Regina Todorenko in Alaska fell from a height of 7 meters. Fortunately, the presenter escaped with only abrasions. The entire film crew got into an accident in New Zealand while driving to Queenstown. How they filmed "Eagle and Tails" in the season "Heaven and Hell", we will tell later. But the photo of her bruised face, host Lesya Nikityuk, posted on social networks just a few minutes after the accident.

Concept seasons

After four years of filming the show, its creators decided to diversify it. This is how the fifth and first conceptual season appeared. It was called "Resort". After all, tourists are mainly interested in "untwisted" places of rest. Having made a trip to Abu Dhabi, Antalya, Corsica, Dubrovnik, Ibiza, Crete and other resorts, the group opened the “Back to the USSR” season, which caused a mixed reaction among the audience. It was not possible to get into Uzbekistan - the authorities forbade the film crew from entering the country. It is noteworthy that for the Russians, the Back to the USSR season went through an additional edition - after all, the inhabitants of the Russian Federation are proud of their Soviet past. At the same time, in Moscow, where they filmed "Eagle and Tails", there was a fight between those who wanted to find the coveted bottle of Shabo wine with a hundred dollars. Residents of Tajikistan expressed stormy indignation because of the remarks of the host Andrei Bednyakov about Dushanbe. Then there were conceptual seasons: "At the End of the World", "Unexplored Europe" and "10th Anniversary". In this lastcities were represented by all the presenters who had previously participated in the program. It was then that the concept of the next season was born - “Eagle and tails. Around the World". Lena Sinelnikova describes how it was filmed. The round-the-world TV show was her know-how. All preparatory work fit in six months. But what happened next?

Around the World

It was decided to show those cities that have not yet been filmed within the framework of this season. It turned out to be difficult - after all, the creative team already had five years of eventful travel behind them. Therefore, the approved route did not resemble a straight line, but rather a cardiogram. In some countries it was not possible to open a visa, others were frankly dangerous. Ten people went on a round-the-world trip: two presenters, cameramen, directors, as well as an editor, producer and Lena Sinelnikova herself, director. The tenth was the specialist responsible for filling the heading “Eagle and Tails. Around the world: how it was filmed. It included various curiosities, dangerous or funny moments cut from the main show. Moreover, the difficulties began on the very first day - on the zero meridian. The group was not allowed to take professional filming at the location. Therefore, the episode of the transition of the leading symbolic lines was made using iPhones. Not without curiosities in the future. For example, how was the "Eagle and Tails" filmed in Goa? Then the whole group suffered from food poisoning. Therefore, even the owner of the "golden card" Lesya spent 34 dollars for food in two days, and her colleague Regina - five. The round-the-world film tour lasted from February 15 (Antwerp) to November 14, 2016of the year. In connection with such a long business trip, the audience had questions.

Theater or reality?

It's amazing that the hosts of each episode were in a different outfit. This aroused suspicion. But clothes (as well as European food in some countries) were brought from Ukraine. The audience also noticed that already at the airport one can guess who will get the “golden card” during the draw: the future backpacker is dressed simply, in a sporty way. But in the case of the draw, everything is fair. There were only two occasions when a coin was tossed in the studio: when one of the presenters was delayed in issuing a visa. Then the episodes were filmed out of sync. The suspicion of the audience was also aroused by the magical ability of the hosts to “open all doors”: wherever they come (supposedly spontaneously), they are shown everything and taken everywhere. This is explained by the way the show "Eagle and Tails" is filmed: two or three days before the arrival of the presenters, the director arrives in the city. And before him, negotiations are still underway about places in hotels, ordering a car, etc. The director determines the route of both presenters and locations. It defines cheap and expensive dining places, sights worth showing. But this does not mean at all that the show "Eagle and Tails" is completely staged. The presenters do not have written texts, they give out emotions from what they see directly, they do not play, but live. But even with such preparation, there are overlays. One of them took place in Alma-Ata. The director, before filming the program "Eagle and Tails", found a cafe in which he was assured that it was very budget. When is the presenter with her already incompleteone hundred dollars came there and ordered beshbarmak, she was billed $ 110! And in Monte Carlo, the host with the “gold card” got carried away so that she lost 35 thousand. It was purely her initiative, and such an act caused the wrath of the producer and sponsors.

Heaven and Hell

The Eagle and Tails program constantly surprises the audience. In February of this, 2017, a new season started, called "Heaven and Hell". The concept of the project is quite simple: to show the tourist "facade" of a country and at the same time behind the scenes, how ordinary people live. As it turned out, not only in the states of Southeast Asia, India, Latin America or the Caribbean, but also in Europe. This was eloquently told stories about Switzerland, Corfu, New Zealand (Queenstown and Queensland). But, surprisingly, some tourist countries were able to profit from this for themselves. When filming "Eagle and Tails" in Nha Trang, a favorite resort of Vietnam for Russians, the hosts were constantly accompanied by crowds of vacationers. And after the release of the story, many travel agencies offer a route to the sights shown on the TV show.

Reboot

Even before the 13th season of Heads and Tails was filmed, the idea for this most recent season was born. The first story about Hong Kong was released in March 2017. Thus, the TV show was divided into two independent projects, with its hosts and film crew. The concept of "Reboot" was inspired by circumstances. For thirteen filmed seasons, there are almost no countries left,where the crew of the travel show "Eagle and Tails" has not yet visited. Then it was decided to take a ride on the old places. What has changed in them over the years? It turned out that time does not stand still. And those who visited a country a few years ago can go there again and get completely new experiences.

"Eagle and tails. New Year" and other parodies

When your popularity rating is going through the roof, why not laugh at yourself? In November-December 2016, the group decided to shoot a New Year's skit. Everyone who participated in the filming of the Round the World gathered in a wooden house in the village of Reshkino. Everyone ordered a New Year's wish, which unexpectedly came true. It turned out that this is not at all what the participants in the show "Eagle and Tails" really wanted. After various funny ups and downs, everything returns to its place, and the creative team again sets off to travel the world.