BLUE PLANET
New tech – rebreathers , drones and whale-cams
Many SCUBA readers will remember the original Blue Planet , a visionary piece of television . The corporation was no stranger to ambitious series , but the scope of BPI was such that its name has gone down in the annals of television history . A generation of the finest cameramen were dispatched on a four-year mission to record some of the most spectacular and insightful marine behaviour ever committed to film . People still invoke its name when talking about blue chip natural history filmmaking .
Now , 20 years after work started on that landmark series , the BBC is about to televise the long awaited sequel . So why now , and why the long wait ? According to Executive Producer James Honeybourne , the time is right because scientific discoveries and new technologies have given filmmakers a completely fresh perspective on life beneath the waves .
“ It is amazing how much filming has moved on since the original Blue Planet series .” he says . “ We have harnessed new technology to tell stories – some never seen before – in completely new ways . Our underwater teams can now dive for much longer than conventional scuba ever allowed . Rebreather diving gives our teams time to sit silently and watch , with no bubbles or disturbance underwater , and really get to know new creatures and their behaviours .”
The new series has also benefitted from breakthroughs in camera technology – modern digital cameras can function to high standards in very low light , so for the first time the armchair diver can see bioluminescence bursting around the mobula rays as they feed on plankton at night . The orcas of Norway have always been a bugbear for photographers because they come into the fjords during the winter when the light is very poor . But the footage captured for the first episode is jaw-dropping stuff , with different perspectives offered by aerial footage shot from HD camera drones , from divers and even from the whales themselves . With special permission , the teams were permitted to attach suction cameras to the orcas , which remain in place for a few hours before they lose pressure , detach and float to the surface .
So you get to see an orca ’ s perspective of its family members attacking a school of herring as it rushes to join the feast . Viewed alongside David Attenborough ’ s commentary and the stirring music of Hans Zimmer , the effect is profound .
Producer Mark Brownlow explains how the series is going to be presented : “ The introductory episode is going to introduce the audience to the central premise of the series , which is that you ’ re going to see things you ’ ve never seen before . Through a series of new discoveries in the programme you ’ ll realise that everything within the ocean has a relationship with everything else . Then we follow with five habitat-based programmes , each giving the audience a distinctive experience .
“ In each of the habitat based episodes we try to give a snapshot of the context of the modern ocean , but in the final episode , Our Blue Planet – the Future , we really get into the substance of the major issues impacting the world ’ s oceans today .”
The episodes : a guide to One Ocean
The opening episode takes the viewer on a journey from the tropics to the poles , showcasing an array of beautifully filmed animal behaviour . Some of the settings will be familiar to divers : not far from Hurghada in the Red Sea , a baby dolphin learns how to rub against a gorgonian coral , which is thought to have medicinal properties . In the Great Barrier Reef a tuskfish shows great adaptive intelligence , using a particular coral head as an anvil to open clams .
The centrepiece sequence sees giant trevally launching themselves out of the water to swallow birds from the air . This behaviour had never been been filmed , and sequence director Miles Bardon embarked on a major expedition to the Seychelles literally on the strength of a fisherman ’ s story . This scene was singled out for praise by Sir David Attenborough , who said the intelligence required to calculate the bird ’ s speed and trajectory from underwater indicate that giant trevally are more intelligent than anyone had previously suspected .
PHOTO ©: ALEX VAIL
Above : A tuskfish uses a coral head as an anvil for opening a clam
Below : Humpback whales feeding in episode four : Green Seas
PHOTO ©: JOE PLATKO
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