by Thinus Ferreira
Unless you're one of his grandchildren the closest you'll get to Sir David Attenborough in the time of Covid is through Zoom and that's what happened when the narrator and producers switched on the cameras on their computers to talk and answer some questions about their new natural history series A Perfect Planet on BBC Earth (DStv 184), starting on Sunday 14 February at 16:00.
With the 94-year old Sir David Attenborough as the narrator, A Perfect Planet is a brand-new 5-episode natural history series from Silverback Films for BBC Earth, looking at how systems in nature - ranging from volcanoes, the weather, ocean currents and solar energy - affect and shape the world and all life on Earth.
"This year, perhaps more than ever, people are finding comfort and solace in the natural world. Whilst we may not be able to travel, we can take a few moments to enjoy our wonderful and diverse planet in this incredible footage," says the rusted, trusted, Voice of premium natural history series on television.
First in December 2020, and again in January, Sir David Attenborough - with some of the producers and cinematographers - got together to do roundtable interviews about this remarkable new series that has been over 4-years in the making and that filmed across 6 continents and 31 countries.
What a global pandemic is teaching us
"The remarkable thing about it," says Sir David Attenborough reflecting on the global Covid-19 pandemic, "is that it has made a lot of us actually suddenly become aware of the natural world in a way that we have not been before".
"In our busy lives, running around - moving here and there and everywhere - now we're stuck at home. Some of us are lucky enough to have gardens. This pandemic started last year. I've never listened to more bird songs in my life and I think that applies to a lot of people."
"We realise our dependency - emotionally and intellectually - on the natural world in a way that we've never done before."
Voice-over maestro - with help from duvet covers
Pulling back the veil a bit on how Sir David Attenborough did the voice-over recordings for A Perfect Planet, series producer Huw Cordey says that the narration for two episodes was "done in a professional studio, but the other 3 happened during lockdown when David was shielding in his house".
"He just took the changes that we needed to do in his stride. So we recorded the commentary for three out of 5 of the episodes from his dining room."
"He sat in his dining room with a professional microphone and the walls covered in sheets and duvet covers to stop the sound bouncing around," says Huw.
"Then we had a cable running from the microphone in front of him, out through his dining room window, into the garden, where the dubbing mixer recorded all these scripts."
"So we recorded 3 like that but Sir David just took it in his stride. It was completely different to how we normally do it but he didn't bat an eyelid. And actually, you won't notice the difference between the ones that were recorded in the studio and the ones that were recorded in his dining room".
About human nature
The final hard-hitting episode is themed "humans" who of course impacts Earth profoundly as well, with the episode that has a slightly different style and tone.
"Well, what can I say," says Sir David Attenborough when he's asked about ... us. "The first thing I keep reminding myself of is that there are 3 times more human beings on this planet now that when I first made a television programme".
"If we don't sort out how we deal with the planet, we're in trouble. The answer, of course, is that we can preserve the planet if we all behave in certain ways but to start, you've got to recognise the problem and that's what this last episode shows," he says.
Alastair Fothergill, executive producer, says that "Huw and I were very determined that humans as the last episode were very much part of the whole series, and we thought that A Perfect Planet is an extraordinarily timely series, in fact."
"You just have to look at the fires in Australia and California and the power hurricanes hitting America to question whether 'the perfect planet' has been upset by the dominant force which is humans. Throughout the series and particularly in the last episode we look at that, and of course, the big way that humans are changing the forces on our planet is the production of CO2."
Sir David Attenborough says humans have to "reduce our demands that each one of us makes on the planet - our demands in terms of what food we eat, and what we throw away, our demands in what we use for our power".
The beautiful soft glow ... of horrific Amazon deforestation
Cameraman Matt Aeberhard is responsible for filming the river turtles on the Bolivian border and drove for 13-hours to get there as he drove through Amazon forest getting chopped down.
"The turtle sequence itself is lovely - beautifully shot is wonderful, soft light," explains Matt.
"But what doesn't come through the film is that the burning of the Amazon is happening everywhere. The beauty of the pictures, ironically, is brought to the fore by the softness of the light - which is caused by the burning smoke. So that's a real take-home for me."
Huw Cordey says "the story of the turtles - they're very much affected, year on, by the changes of this global conveyor belt, this global ocean current, that is slowing down because of the melting sea ice. So by a large degree, the subjects choose themselves, but we are looking for the emotive subjects".
"There is a flamingo sequence that is one of the most memorable sequences I've seen on television," says Sir David Attenborough about Lake Natron, "shot under extremely difficult circumstances."
"It's impossible not to identify with these poor little chicks who have to make it from from the middle of this lake to the edge. But apart from that, it has been filmed so beautifully. My goodness, it's extraordinary."
The South African-born cameraman Justin Maguire filmed the rain frog sequence in A Perfect Planet but reveals he was actually scared that they might not find them during the time they had available.
"We were actually fearful than we might not see any frogs to film. Then we had a change of the weather conditions, we had the coastal mist start to thicken and come in, and you hear that very first distinctive call of the rain frog. It becomes very endearing when you get to know them. And we found our first frog."
Go inside waves breaking and tidal currents
Alastair Fothergill says he's really proud of the way in which the series filmed the various forces of nature.
"It was a real opportunity to raise the photographic bar and some of the images of the volcanoes, some of the extraordinary images from within breaking waves, some of the beautiful weather images - I think are very, very fresh and really add to the landmark feel of the whole series."
"There's a sequence I particularly love in this series of this extraordinary tidal current in Norway, it's one of the fastest tidal currents in the world. It looks like being inside a vicious washing machine underwater."
"Getting those images were pretty spectacular and seeing the eider ducks diving down in the swirling race to get to mussels is really special".
Huw Cordey says A Perfect Planet is really a series "about how the world works - how perfect it really is".
"I don't think people have had a chance to really appreciate that and now is as good a time as ever to really look and see how well everything fits together and how beautifully it's all connected. We have to see the planet as a globe - we can't see it as nation by nation. We have to see it as a whole."
"Until humans came along, especially the last 100 years, it has worked extraordinarily well and it can work again. A Perfect Planet is a celebration of the planet".
Watch A Perfect Planet from Sunday, 14 February on BBC Earth (DStv 184) at 16:00. The series will be available on DStv Catch Up as well.
