Every programme I have filmed for since 2017 is still “In Production” as is often the way with natural history films. It takes a long time to see your work, and it can be years later when the project is broadcast. In 2018 I filmed three sequences for BBC’s Primates, for BBC’s One Planet, Seven Worlds, for Life Force 3, and for Offspring’s Luna. Unfortunately none of them will hit the screens until at least Christmas 2019, I’ll let you know when they do!
I recently filmed for Age of the Big Cats, a three-part series on the big cats. The story of how they came to dominate the world and how their prehistory shaped the animals they have become today. I’ve filmed jaguars, leopards, lions, cheetahs, and snow leopards all in their natural habitats.
The series was released on CuriosityStream in September 2018.
I have recently finished filming for a programme with David Attenborough on ants in the foothills of the Swiss Alps titled Attenborough and the Empire of the Ants. The story is of two physically identical species of ant that live in the same area but have two very different strategies to survive the harsh environment.
When I first visited them in the Spring of last year the ants were just starting to leave the nest after their winter slumber and were surrounded by snow. In fact it started snowing while we were filming and using a very powerful macro lens you could see the giant snowflakes come crashing down hitting the ants. However these ants thrive in this climate, their many adaptations to the fickle weather at the top of the mountains are remarkable and have allowed the development of two very different ways of survival: war and peace.
I went back to Switzerland for five more trips to visit the ants at different times of the year and to see the dramatic landscape change. The cows and their bells were always to be heard in the distance.
Getting up close and personal proved very difficult when your subjects have a head the size of a pinhead, so specialist macro lenses and relay systems were used to magnify while keeping a useable depth of field.
The programme will be on BBC2 around Christmas time.
There has been such an incredible reaction to a film that has been a labour of love for producer/DOP Martin Dohrn. Wildscreen Festival organised a showing of the film in an outdoor square in Bristol after dark, it drew more than a thousand people with blankets and camp chairs. It went on to win two awards at Wildscreen, the Science award and the Technical Innovation award.
Other festival wins around the world include the Grand Helix Award at Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival, Science Media Awards 2016, the Golden Dolphin for Nature, Environment & Ecology and the Black Dolphin for Best Camera at Cannes Corporate Media & TV Awards 2016, the Jury Award in Best Film Professional at the Wildlife Film Festival Rotterdam 2016, and the Grand Prize for Best Nature Documentary at INFF – Innsbruck Nature Film Festival 2016.
Just a small part of the Light on Earth team that helped make the programme at Wildscreen 2016.
Attenborough’s Life That Glows was aired on BBC2 last week, great to see all of our hard work over the past year (and for Martin about 20 years!) come together. There has been some very kind words said from the press:
The shots of dolphins [..] were perhaps the most beautiful and mystifying sight ever shown on any Attenborough programme.
Close the curtains, turn off the living-room lights and bask in the glow of this otherworldly one-off from the master.
It’s yet another Attenborough documentary that will leave you basking in its glow.
If you missed the show you can catch up on iPlayer until the 9th June.