Making of: Earth's Greatest Spectacles
Earth's Greatest Spectacles is a trilogy of films set in New England, the arctic islands of Svalbard and Botswana's Okavango Delta. Each is a spectacularly beautiful place that undergoes equally spectacular seasonal change. The films trace the changes and how wildlife endures and thrives despite it all. Naturally, the first challenge for the team was to find the best ways of filming these three dramatic transformations in all their glory; on the ground, from the air and even from space.
But to make these films really satisfying meant also delivering real insight to just how nature survives and flourishes in the face of such extreme change. That meant getting to the bottom of the full story - from the vast to the microscopic - then figuring out just how to film these fascinating details in a way that was every bit as captivating as the spectacle of glorious landscapes changing. And for me, it was bringing these together – the vast and the microscopic – that was the really exciting challenge for this series. But at the heart of each film is an ensemble of extraordinary animals.
It is through the unfolding of their unique dramas, that we're able experience the real impact of Earth's Greatest Spectacles. And it was the witnessing of their lives that was truly the most thrilling part of making this series.
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Narrating the series
Earth's Greatest Spectacles
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Composing the music for the series
Earth's Greatest Spectacles
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Filming the changing seasons
New England
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Filming a wild rattlesnake hunt
New England
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Filming a rattlesnake birth
New England
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Filming inside a sapsucker nest
New England
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Filming the Northern Lights
New England
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Tracking the rhythm of the seasons
New England
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Time travelling by skidoo
Svalbard
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Filming a portal to 1980s Russia
Svalbard
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Working in 24/7 daylight
Svalbard
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The mighty beasts of the Okavango
Okavango
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Plankton: The source of life
Okavango
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Islands: The kidneys of the Okavango
Okavango