The Earth Touch web series Behind The Scenes (BTS) looks just there, behind the scenes on the company’s wildlife documentaries. Sharing their insider filmmaking secrets in an ebullient how-to series, from sussing out equipment in action to the tricks in the sound room; tips on the ground to the cutting room. The six-part series offers practical guidelines, in a droll and expedient manner, to make the most of your footage.
Stephen Embleton, news network and online manager at Earth Touch says “This is a fun series to make and put out for people to get a better sense of what goes into natural history filmmaking (and filmmaking in general).
And for them to have a better appreciation for the work on our screens.” The series has received close to half a million views with a good public response. “Generally comments and feedback have been ‘mind blowing, didn’t know how they did this,’ and so we are motivated to reveal more behind the scenes,” says Embleton.
The first in the series is 3D Rigs At 3000ft, a behind-the-scenes look at a film shoot using a Jet Ranger rigged with gyroscopic stabilised 3D cameras.
Embleton says the brief was to film BTS while the crew provide a variety of aerials above KwaZulu-Natal from the mountain ranges of the Drakensberg to the estuaries of the coastline. They filmed to as far afield as Hluhluwe and Sodwana Bay. It was to be rough and ready, behind-the-scenes in the field. For this episode Earth Touch worked with Visual Impact and Rocksolid Remotes. As with most of the series the vibe is handmade, drawn and informal; in other words, simple to understand and fun to watch.
For this episode they shot on two Arri Alexa cameras, Canon 5D DSLR, using a Libra mount stabiliser. They used no lighting techniques, in the belief that natural light was essential. Edited in Final Cut Pro, custom 3D parallax software by Visual Impact. The key crew involved in the production and post-production included: Embleton on camera, directing and post-edit; Bill Olmsted on heli; Stefan Nell on 3D rig, Brad Maloney on Libra, Shaun de Ponte assisting on convergence; David Birch on final mix, Adriaan Landman on graphics and Benjamin Hewett on production.
The episode covers all aspects of filming in 3D, “To educate people on the technology and what is involved in surviving a helicopter that is possibly at capacity over extreme conditions,” explains Embleton.
The second webisode is Drone Testing: Going underwater with hippos, where they show the BTS of a submarine drone rig being constructed, while in the field in the Okavango. This is another rough and ready BTS filmed between Durban and Botswana using nothing but natural lighting. The cameras used on this BTS were a GoPro to film the drone and DSLR for behind-the-scenes. It was completed in Final Cut Pro.
The key crew involved in the production and post-production were: Bartjan Hooft on the drone build and BTS filming, and edit; Barry Skinstad as underwater cameraman; Grant Brokensha as underwater cameraman; Chris Stear as underwater cameraman and camera assistant; Richard Boltar as dive operator and boat skipper; Embleton on edit, Birch on final mix, Landman on graffics, and Hewett on production.
Effectively Earth Touch teams built a drone to show audiences what Africa’s most dangerous animals get up to underwater, and apparently that was not as easy as they thought it would be. “Navigation via remote, watching crew fine tune the drone and not let water damage the expensive gear inside, get up close to hippos in the Delta, getting the final shot,” says Embleton, was no easy feat.
The third in the series is Filming Underwater with an iPhone, in which Earth Touch film crew test out the iPhone’s aquatic filming capabilities. Diving into the sea at Sodwana Bay to get the lowdown on the Patima iPhone 4S underwater housing, and they also give a few tips and tricks for setting up your phone, tackling challenging lighting conditions or no lighting underwater, and then the dos and don’ts of filming ocean life on an iPhone.
The next and fourth in the series is Making Of: iPhone Films where Earth Touch crew make a nature documentary with an iPhone. From setting up, to equipment rundowns and a few cheats in between, the webinar describes how one can make the smallest subjects come to life with a phone.
The fifth in the series is Holey Foley where audiences get to go backstage behind the soundproof doors and into the world of Earth Touch’s audio experts as they perform the finicky art of Foley. They show exactly what it takes to enhance or recreate nature’s diverse sounds and bring a wildlife documentary to life.
The final and sixth in the series is High-speed Camera 101 where an Earth Touch cameraman shows you how to get the best out of a high-speed camera as he travels to a tiny island colonised by birds to show you the magic of the Phantom.
“We are always looking at other aspects of filmmaking that we can feature,” says Embleton. “Because we are currently working on VR 360 content, we think this will be one of the next to be featured.” There may be six in the series for now, but there will certainly be more behind-the-scenes to follow.
