Author: charlesdyer

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David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet

Silverback Films for Netflix and Altitude Film Entertainment – 2020
My role: Additional Editing

One man has seen more of the natural world than any other. This unique feature documentary is his witness statement. In his 93 years, David Attenborough has visited every continent on the globe, exploring the wild places of our planet and documenting the living world in all its variety and wonder. Now, for the first time he reflects upon both the defining moments of his lifetime as a naturalist and the devastating changes he has seen. Honest, revealing and urgent, DAVID ATTENBOROUGH: A LIFE ON OUR PLANET is a powerful first-hand account of humanity’s impact on nature and a message of hope for future generations. Created by award-winning natural history filmmakers Silverback Films and global conservation organization WWF, the film is Directed by Alastair Fothergill, Jonnie Hughes and Keith Scholey and Executive Produced by Colin Butfield. Celebrated British naturalist Sir David Attenborough has a broadcasting career spanning over eight decades. He has visited every continent on the globe, exploring the wild places of our planet and bringing the wonders of the living world to audiences worldwide through groundbreaking natural history series. His work includes: Life on Earth, Planet Earth and more recently the Netflix original documentary series Our Planet.

– IMDB

An exclusive world premiere event for David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet was intended take place at the Royal Albert Hall on 16th April 2020, where Sir David was to be joined live on stage by guests to discuss some of the most prevalent and pressing issues raised in the film. However, after a certain pandemic set in, these plans were abandoned in favour of an almost entirely online release.

Nonetheless, David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet went on to garner a great deal of attention and awards, including an Emmy nomination for outstanding picture editing.

The feature was edited entirely in Avid Media Composer.

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David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet hits select cinemas on Monday 28th September 2020

David Attenborough being interviewed by Michael Palin for Altitude’s release of David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet

Unfortunately, due to the worldwide pandemic that is currently ravaging the world, the planned release of David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet was delayed somewhat. However, on September 28th and for one night only, select cinemas across the UK will be screening the film, along with a special interview by Michael Palin to further explore the topics raised. You can purchase tickets here: https://www.attenborough.film/

Should you understandably not fancy a trip to the cinema at the moment, then you need not travel any further than your own internet connected device. The film launches on Netflix a few days later on October 4th.

Incidentally, today, Sir David has made the leap onto Instagram. At the time of writing, David has amassed in excess of 1.2 million followers in less than 24 hours, making headlines around the country.

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Natural Wanders: The Plodcast

Produced by Mandi Stark and Tom Jarvis for The Big Light – 2020
My role: Editor

For the past few months, I’ve been venturing into new, creative territory in the form of a podcast. For years, I have spent my free-time listening to all sorts of genres of podcast, so I was ecstatic when friends, Mandi Stark and Tom Jarvis approached me to edit their new project.

Every episode, Mandi and a special guest visit a location that is dear to her interviewee’s heart, be it a park that they spent their childhood in, a cliff-side walk that they use to escape the city, or a peaceful cemetery. Armed with a couple of radio mics and a Zoom recorder, she delves into what makes her guests tick, from hobbies and interests, to pivotal moments in their lives.

Editing is really at its most enjoyable when you’ve got a decent set of rushes to work with, and Natural Wanders is one of those great projects. Despite the challenges presented by a certain pandemic, Mandi and Tom have managed to track down some fascinating and famous guests, from actors to politicians.

Whilst I did consider assembling the podcast in dedicated audio-editing application, such as Audacity or Apple‘s Garageband, I chose to use Blackmagic‘s DaVinci Resolve – a professional application that offers an impressive, ever-expanding feature-set at outstanding value (mostly free, unless you want to delve into more advanced things). Resolve has consistently been my recommendation to anyone who wants to edit at home, but doesn’t want to feel limited by something like iMovie or committed to the hefty price of something like Adobe Premiere.

You can listen to Natural Wanders – The Plodcast on Spotify or anywhere else you download your podcasts. https://www.buzzsprout.com/847579

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World Wildlife Day – Our Planet Online Content Wins Two More Awards

Tuesday 3rd March 2020 marked the first World Wildlife Day, and to commemorate the occasion, the UN Headquarters in New York hosted a film festival in partnership with Jackson Hole and CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna). A number of films were screened to those attending the event, raising awareness of both the beauty and fragility of world, and what we can do to protect it.

Those films that best impressed the carefully selected jury, were presented with awards, and I’m pleased to announce that two of the films that I worked on (one of which I edited, and both of which I graded) were selected as the winners of their respective categories.

How to Save Our Planet – Edited and graded by myself – Winner in the Biodiversity Short category
Ocean Farmer – Graded by myself – Joint winner of the Biodiversity Micro Movie category
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Our Planet Wins Jackson Wild Awards

Still from ‘How to Save Our Planet’. Image courtesy Netflix / WWF

We’re still making content to accompany the Our Planet series that was released earlier this year, but some of our first films just picked up awards at the prestigious Jackson Wild Festival (previously the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival).

How To Save Our Planet – Winner of ‘Best Changing Planet Film – Short Form’
‘Awarded for the best examination of our changing planet, including human impact, the environment, sustainability and climate change. Sponsored by Smithsonian Channel.’

How To Save Our Planet – Winner of ‘Best Limited Series Film – Short Form’
‘Awarded to the mini-series with episodes shorter than 20 minutes in length, that most effectively advances a natural history theme. Sponsored by ARRI.’

…and if that weren’t exciting enough, the main series (for which I was edit assistant) also scooped up some great awards as well;

Our Planet: High Seas (main series episode) – Winner of ‘Best Ecosystem Film’
Our Planet: Frozen Worlds (main series episode) – Winner of ‘Best Changing Planet Film’

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Our Planet nominations at 2019 Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival

Now in its twenty-eighth year, the world-famous Jackson Wild Film Festival (previously known as the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival) kicks off on Saturday 21st September 2019, with seven days of sessions, screenings, workshops and exhibitions to entertain and inspire. On the final day, creatives from all over the world will gather for the Grand Teton Awards Gala in the hopes of winning one of the festivals prestigious awards.

This year Our Planet, along with the accompanying online video content that I edited as part of a small team, battled through a list of 1,000 entries to receive no less than eight nominations.

From the Our Planet Series, for which I was edit-assistant…

  • Our Planet: Jungles – Nominated for Best Animal Behaviour (Long Form)
  • Our Planet: High Seas – Nominated for Best Ecosystem Film
  • Our Planet: Frozen Worlds – Nominated for Best Changing Planet Film (Long Form)
  • Our Planet series – Nominated for Best Limited Series Film (Long Form)
  • Our Planet: One Planet – Nominated for Best Visualisation Film

From the web-based video content to accompany the series, for which I was an editor…

  • How to Save Our Planet – Nominated for Best Changing Planet Film (Short Form)
  • How to Save Our Planet series – Nominated for Best Limited Series Film (Short Form)
  • What is Biodiversity? – Nominated for Best Micro-Movie Film

The Grand Teton Awards Gala will take place at the Center for the Arts in Jackson, Wyoming at 6pm on Thursday, 26th September. For more information on the festival and other finalists, please visit the official website.

How to Save Our Planet. Nominated for Best Changing Planet Film (Short Form) and Best Limited Series Film (Short Form)
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Penguins

Silverback Films for Disneynature – 2019
My role: Edit Assistant

Natural history feature film by Silverback Films for Disney Nature. In cinemas on Earth Day 2019.

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The Our Planet Launch

Never have I worked on a project that has been announced with such fanfare and excitement as Our Planet. The series, four years in the making, finally launched on Netflix on Friday 5th April 2019, marked by a special event at London’s Natural History Museum the night before.

Appearing at the event was, of course, Sir David Attenborough, the narrator of the series. Standing on stage before a huge projection screen, he proudly introduced the series to the small audience.

“What really makes Our Planet stand out is the clear driving story that runs through the entire series and the wider communications project. This has been a true labour of love for hundreds of film makers, cinematographers, conservationists, editors, musicians and production teams, all of whom have brought their best work to the most important story that there is – a story that could not be more universal or more timely.”

– Sir David Attenborough
David Attenborough at the launch for Our Planet, introduced by Lisa Nishimura, Vice President of Content Acquisition at Netflix

Amongst those attending the launch were some other well-known faces, such as singer-songwriter Ellie Goulding (who sang the music that features on the closing credits) composer Steven Price (the composer for the series) and world-famous footballer David Beckham and his son, Brooklyn.

Perhaps most headline-grabbing, however, was the attendance of not one, but three members of the royal family – The Prince of Wales, The Duke of Cambridge and The Duke of Sussex. Once Sir David had finished his introductory speech, he humbly handed over to Prince Charles, The President of WWF UK, who made the following thought-provoking ten-minute address.

Prince Charles’ Speech at the launch event for Our Planet

All eight episodes of Our Planet are available to stream on Netflix.