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the end of March, full or partial lockdowns “We wouldn’t do a shoot if the quality of the images were in any had been implemented across more than way compromised,” explains the BBC Natural History Unit’s head of 100 countries worldwide in an effort to development Gavin Boyland. “The equipment we’re using is much curb infections of the novel coronavirus. the same as we would do if it was a shoot organized out of Bristol Six months later, COVID-19 cases have and traveling out of the UK — a lot of these high-end natural history surpassed 29 million globally. camera operators own their own RED cameras, their own lenses.” The World Health Organization continues to caution nations While the pandemic has accelerated the process of working with about the risks of opening back up too quickly and imposed travel remote crews, several new hurdles have risen to the surface that restrictions remain in place across much of the globe. producers must now maneuver around. For example, if a filmmaker As a result, natural history productions is wanting to direct a sequence but have been forced to cultivate creative is unable to travel — due to bans, ways of churning out new content, and pre-existing health issues or whatever in the process, are handing the genre a else — creative teams have been crucial lifeline. attempting to find innovative solutions Bringing key individuals While wildlife producers have been wherever possible. and then building your crew struggling with the same challenges as “We’re using tools like Zoom around that... you’ll see more most across the unscripted genre during and WhatsApp to actually direct of that post-COVID.” this time of upheaval, organizations sequences, even in the most remote such as National Geographic have and wild places,” states Boyland. continued to fortify their pipelines with BBC’s Springwatch was first greenlights. The pay-TV channel has been working in tandem broadcast 15 years ago and has since become a familiar with parent company Disney and its production partners around seasonal highlight among British audiences for the ways in which the world to establish on-set health and safety protocols, the nature series charts the local wildlife during the changing of affording the American cable network the opportunity to get the season. Launched this year in late May at the peak of the nearly 60% of its productions into the field. lockdown, the pubcaster was forced to incorporate a number of “We’re working with smaller crews and thinking about the ways in which new remote, autonomous and lighter camera technologies will allow us to still capture epic scale and extraordinary behaviors,” Geoff Daniels, Nat Geo’s EVP of global unscripted entertainment, tells Realscreen. “It’s [allowed us to] bring in new, local voices and more diverse and inclusive storytellers … and a new generation of passionate storytellers that can not only speak directly to their local community, but also to the world at large.” And while Nat Geo has been employing local filmmakers and crews for a number of years now, the network has recognized that working with those who know the locale and its native wildlife best elevates the storytelling for a global audience. Blue Ant Media’s specialty channel Love Nature is following a similar path by having key production individuals venture out to remote shoots in order to lead and develop smaller local crews. BBC’s Springwatch “It’s starting to open up the cultivation of the next followed presenters generation of wildlife filmmakers [by] giving these local crews into their back gardens to keep practice under more experienced DOPs and producers,” says production moving. Carlyn Staudt, global general manager at Love Nature. “Instead of always having to bring the entire crew from wherever the production company is based, bringing key individuals and then building your crew around that — I think you’ll see more of that post-COVID.” Despite the challenges that can come from having relatively inexperienced camera crews helming natural history shoots in the midst of a pandemic, studios and broadcasters alike have gone to great lengths to maintain the high standards that audiences expect from premium wildlife programming. 016
SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER ‘20