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Wildlife producer Nick Easton has twice become a father since he began work on episodes of Sir David Attenborough\u2019s Planet Earth III<\/i>. Despite technological advances since Attenborough began presenting wildlife 70 years ago, it still takes an age to produce something that can take our breath away in a matter of minutes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always feel like I need to defend that time,\u201d says Easton, who worked on the \u201cCoasts\u201d and \u201cFreshwater\u201d episodes. \u201cBut it\u2019s a year of research and pre-production, then two summers to film, and the final year to edit. Cameras have got smaller and the quality\u2019s got better, but rather than being happy with that, those of us in the BBC Natural History Unit are like, \u2018How can we use that camera to its full capability, so we\u2019re always pushing it to the very edge?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
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Planet Earth III producer Nick Easton says it can take more than three years to film an episode of the nature documentary.<\/span><\/p>\n Spectacular vision of a female southern right whale arriving in Argentina\u2019s Peninsula Valdes to give birth took more than a year to make. The team devised a sucker system using corn starch to attach a rig to the whale, that would detach and float to the surface. The gadget was tested on the son of one of the crew, at the local swimming pool.<\/p>\n A sequence showing great white sharks hunting cape fur seal pups on South Africa\u2019s Robberg Peninsula took four years. \u201cWe went back year after year, building our knowledge, understanding how to film it better,\u201d says Easton.<\/p>\n Macro film equipment brings to light wonders such as the deathly ballet between the tiny sea angel and sea butterfly (\u201clike something out of a Manga film, just remarkable\u201d), and can capture octopuses rearing their young on thermal vents on the ocean floor. And while the director worked from his bedroom in Bristol, due to COVID restrictions, old-fashioned fieldwork with hand-held cameras still yielded incredible results, such as the underwater hunting habits of the Canadian wandering garter snake.<\/p>\n A whale with its calf in Planet Earth III.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe based our whole [garter snake] shoot on an anecdote,\u201d says Easton. \u201cIt had never been studied. In fact, we\u2019re sharing the footage with scientists. We weren\u2019t quite sure how it was going to play out. On about day three, I got a text from the director saying, \u2018This is great!\u2019 These snakes are doing this all the time and they\u2019re incredibly bold. We were able to get close to them without interfering, and it begs the question, how has no one noticed this before? This was a holiday destination. But then, the natural world is such a complex place and always reveals surprises if you look carefully.\u201d<\/p>\n A poignant part of \u201cCoasts\u201d is a return to the green turtle breeding ground of Raine Island, at the tip of the Great Barrier Reef, 67 years after Attenborough was the first to film there. The original footage is shown in the \u201cmaking of\u201d segment at the episode\u2019s end, as the narrator reflects.<\/p>\n \u201cIsn\u2019t that an astonishing lens to use to look at a place, from 1957, just how much has changed, but ostensibly nothing has changed,\u201d says Easton. \u201cIt looks the same, but there\u2019s a lot going on beneath the sand.\u201d<\/p>\n Conservation efforts across the world, including freshwater dolphin rescues in a city canal in Pakistan, and the rehabilitation of poaching lands in South Africa, are celebrated in the \u201cHeroes\u201d episode. \u201cWe\u2019d be in trouble without these people,\u201d says Easton. \u201cThat\u2019s why Planet Earth III <\/i>feels different. We\u2019re all more aware just what an effect we\u2019re having on the natural world.\u201d<\/p>\n By far the toughest part of Easton\u2019s job is showing the results to Attenborough.<\/p>\n \u201cSir David is our inspiration. His influence runs through the series,\u201d he says. \u201cAt the end, he comes in and watches what we\u2019ve done and, of course, that\u2019s a nerve-wracking moment. He brings the same delight and humour and wonder that you would expect from Sir David. In the \u201cFreshwater\u201d episode, there\u2019s a fish that fakes its own death in order to catch other fish. David was delighted to see that. Even he is surprised by the places, the animals and the dramas that play out.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n