Great to have some of the “Ocean” team back together recently for the Wildscreen Panda Awards!
Huge congrats to Director @tobynotown and the rest of the brilliant production team at @silverback_films for receiving recognition for delivering an excellent impact campaign. The film garnered global attention - with the bottom trawling sequence racking up over 700 million views across social media - putting it front and centre in the public consciousness in the lead up to the UN 2025 Ocean Conference.
For those wanting to know a little more about the impact of the campaign: since the film was released, some countries have taken bold and commendable steps towards limiting the use of bottom trawling in Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). Unfortunately, the UK government and DEFRA have, after a long consultation, decided to walk away from their own plans to do so — which is shocking and disappointing, and makes you wonder… if you can still trawl inside an MPA, how can you call it one? We must all keep the pressure on this government to change course — and look further afield for leadership in the meantime.
NEVER BEFORE SEEN FOOTAGE:
You’ve never seen damage like this. Because no one’s ever shown it - until now. Thank you to @silverback_films & @altitudefilmuk for releasing this clip to the public!
Bottom trawling is completely blind and as Attenborough says in the film, “very few places are safe from this.”
Hopefully sharing this will bring greater awareness to the reality of what’s happening and inspire stronger ocean protection. Only by seeing what’s happening beneath the surface can people begin to understand the impact on marine life.
Filming is never a solo endeavour - so a huge shout out to the team and Assistant Producer & Field Director @alexwarham
#Ocean #DavidAttenborough #Attenborough #OceanwithDavidAttenborough #SilverbackFilms #OpenPlanetStudios #FilmmakingForChange #DocumentaryFilm #bottomtrawling #OceanConservation #MarineProtection #UNOceanConference #UnOceanDecade @altitudefilmuk@pieceofmagicentertainment@natgeo
Today is David Attenborough’s 99th birthday — and at that age, can any of us truly grasp how much the ocean has changed during the course of his lifetime?
This film tackles industrial fishing — one of the greatest threats to our ocean — and shows us what we must do to address it. The message is clear and urgent.
It has been an honour to have worked on Ocean. I had some extraordinary experiences during the filming of this project but there is one in particular that stands out, and it profoundly altered my understanding of our relationship with the ocean.
Together with assistant producer Alex Warham, I spent several weeks aboard a bottom trawler filming the reality of what happens underwater as these vast pieces of industrial machinery scour the seabed for life. As we began to see what was happening down there I could hardly believe it. It was a world away from a typical natural history shoot and, without question, the most eye-opening experience of my career.
I spent many hours awake on those long nights, squirrelled away on some part or other of the upper decks, watching the night and the lights on the sea and waiting for the catch to be hauled in. It was during those witching hours where the my mind wandered freely and I slowly started to comprehend the scale of the impact this method of fishing has had on our planet.
It’s cliché because it’s true — it’s often hard to comprehend things until we’ve seen them - so I urge you to see for yourself.
David Attenborough: Ocean is out in cinemas worldwide today.
Congratulations to the entire brilliant team who brought this film to life - especially Producer/Director Toby Nowlan and Editor Philippa Edwards. @tobynotown@philippa_edwards@stormpetrelstudios@tobystrong1@olly_scholey@alexwarham@kizilkaya_zafer@silverback_films@katestreather@samicook@hectorskevingtonpostles@connorgallagherproductions@ruthyharries@erick.higuera@tomwalkercam@gavin.thurston@cabralsantiago_@maekld@j0e_woodyear@scuba_joel@spectralpics@hollytarplee@gracerussell@brodee_lowe@andrewjohnson7010@m.f.antunes@bd_stew ... and many more who aren't on Instagram.
OCEAN with David Attenborough — in cinemas worldwide May 8th! Go see it!
Feeling fortunate to have played a part in this ambitious feature film, working alongside an inspiring team of storytellers, scientists and sea-folk.
As part of the camera team I spent more than 130 days in the field over the past two years, shooting and assisting on some of the most eye opening shoots I have been on.
This process changed the way I think about our relationship with the ocean - and I can only hope it has that same effect on some of you.
Congrats to the fantastic team from @silverback_films -
@tobynotown@katestreather@alexwarham@keithscholey@olly_scholey Daniel Byers @maekld@hollytarplee Samantha Cook @colin.butfield@ruthyharries@duncan.fraser
And those I had the good fortune to work alongside:
@stormpetrelstudios@brodee_lowe Catherine Buckland @richardshucksmith@bd_stew@gracerussell Paulo Gaspar @m.f.antunes Lisa Medeiros Don MacNeish @lucyhpenny@andrewjohnson7010
#OceanWithDavidAttenborough #DavidAttenborough #OceanFilm
“So how long did you spent filming underwater?” - “Well, we tried to come up for a lunch on the boat”. Behind the scenes of BBC’s ASIA first episode “Beneath The Waves”.
Directed by @markwheeler001 and AP @stefanhunt93
Massive thanks to @jaccadeeble and Peri Paleracio underwater. We used specialty macro rigs, sliders & lenses. @revorebreathers diving kit gave us the opportunity to carefully build macro sets and we had the incredible opportunity to get to know the microcosmos of one reef area for several weeks! Dive supervision by @felicityflashman 🐳
Gratitude and congratulations to all our BBC production team
Narrated by @sirdavidattenborough
Series producer Matthew Wright
Emily Humphrey our brilliant production management
Researchers @georgie_bull_@sethdaood@stevenmcgeecallender
All our post production team
Location support by @inkynakpil and all that helped us on site in the Philippines.
@davidreichertdp and all the fellow camerapeople of this episode
Katie-Marie @kmg.management
🎥Tech kit support BBC @felicityflashman
Kit rental underwater @espritfilm Dave Blackham & team
🐠Shot with @gates.underwater on @reddigitalcinema
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Clip by @jaccadeeble
#underwatercinematography #underwatercamerawoman #underwatercameraman #marinelife #nature #diving #setlife #underwater #macro #technology #wildlife
Silently exploring the undersea forest of Catalina Island, California for the first time with @jeffbhester and @scuba_joel
A huge thank you to the endlessly generous @jeffbhester for taking me diving out there and to @gates.underwater for letting me get hands on with their new Pro-Raptor housing for @reddigitalcinema
🎥: @jeffbhester
#catalinaisland #reddigitalcinema #redraptor #gateshousings #revorebreathers #california #kelp #kelpforest #underwater #underwatercinematography #shearwaterresearch #naturalhistory #nature
Time to tune in… the Wild Isles series begins TONIGHT! at 7pm on BBC1 and iPlayer.
Having spent the last few years steadily chipping away at the marine parts it’s quite surreal that the time has finally come for it to be broadcast alongside David’s dulcet tones!
I feel very lucky to have had the opportunity to work alongside and learn from some of the best in the business and to collaborate with so many other wildlife fundi’s from around the UK - we certainly couldn’t have done it without you!
My own perception and appreciated of the British Isles as a home for wildlife changed dramatically over the course of this project and for that I’m grateful. I hope the series can help us all appreciate what we have so we can take better care of it.
@gisleks@stormpetrelstudios@mattcarr321@lolowillsher@richardshucksmith@nickmcfree
I’ll be sad to leave after 5 months here // That being said, this was one out of roughly 4 days of real summer we had. What you know about Scottish weather is true.
