So how DID they do it?
With ‘magic’ cameras that take pictures above and below the sea simultaneously — like this one — Blue Planet’s mesmerising images are stunning its 10m viewers. So what other jaw dropping wizardry was used?
Shot in lustrous colours that hypnotise us with their unworldly glow, Sir David Attenborough’s latest masterpiece, Blue Planet II, was four years in the making and is being hailed as one of the greatest natural history series ever.
technological advances have allowed the camera crews to record things never before seen on screen. As Sir David says: ‘Underwater films have changed a great deal in 60 years. Cameras have become smaller and smaller. they can record hours of material before they need reloading.
‘they are so sensitive that they can record pictures in depths far beyond the reach of the sun’s rays. In short, there is virtually no part of the seas we cannot explore.’
Behind every scene, watched by 10 million viewers, was the dedication and courage of a talented team of camera operators, wildlife experts and producers — all committed to bringing the wonders of the deep into our living rooms.
here, revealed by the camera crews themselves, are some of the strangest and most remarkable tales behind the wildlife documentary that is entrancing the nation.
WATCH OUT FOR THE WILY OCTOPUS
SometImeS, a naturalist will befriend an animal . . . even under the sea. marine scientist turned Blue Planet cameraman Craig Foster struck up a relationship with a common octopus in the South African kelp forests where he has dived every day for many years.
All octopuses have individual personalities and are capable of recognising humans and even telling them apart, Craig says. one seemed to enjoy his company and for months allowed him to follow her on hunting expeditions.
But when he started filming, disaster struck — his octopus friend was seized by a pyjama shark, a striped (hence the name) 2 ft predator that lurks in shallow waters around the South African coast. horrified, Craig thought he was about to witness his star performer being eaten.
But the octopus was a wily fighter. She inserted two tentacles deep into the shark’s gills, preventing it from breathing. to avoid being suffocated, the fish had to let go of its prey.
Craig’s octopus had another trick up one of her eight sleeves. She would gather empty shells around her while hunting in the open, away from her lair. If she saw a shark, she curled up in a ball and drew the shells around her like armour.
Both these behaviours are new to tV — and we can see them only because of the incredible patience of film-makers like Craig, who let their subjects learn to trust them.
TINY FISH THAT’S CAMERA SHY
PerCy the tusk fish may be clever, but he is no attention seeker. this little inhabitant of Australia’s Great Barrier reef has learned how to smash clams open by holding them in his mouth and whacking them against a piece of coral he uses like an anvil.
When underwater cameraman roger munns dived to observe and capture this behaviour, he found Percy was shy.
the tiny fish didn’t like to be watched while he prepared his dinner, especially by a creature as large and scary as roger. the cameraman had to remain in position for hours to gain Percy’s trust.
one major aid was his re-breather, a piece of aqualung technology that recaptures all the oxygen that a diver breathes out, and recycles it. this enables swimmers to stay under for much longer without replacing their air tanks. It also reduces the amount of bubbles from the mouthpiece, which can spook underwater creatures.
STAYING OUT OF THE LIMELIGHT
In the twilight zone, deep under the surface, the faintest glimmer in the wrong place can cost a fish its life. Creatures such as the Fang tooth roam the depths, snapping at anything that moves or glows.
Prey species, including fish such as barreleyes ( which have distinctive transparent heads), create luminous displays with their light-emitting organs, in an attempt to break up their outlines — just as zebras disguise themselves in the bright savannah light with their stripes.
trying to film these fish with an underwater searchlight is pointless. they all flee from the deadly beam.
But in the final year of filming on Blue Planet II, new low- light cameras became available that are capable of seeing in near total darkness. the result is footage of fish behaviour never seen before, including remarkable pictures of mobula rays that emit a ghostly light that makes them look like animations.
SEALIONS USE SHEEPDOG TRICK
ProDUCer miles Barton was sceptical when a Galapagos fisherman contacted researchers to claim he had seen sealions herding yellowfin tuna, like dogs with sheep.
‘I found it hard to believe,’ miles said. ‘So we gave the fisherman a GoPro, a portable video camera like the ones cyclists wear on their helmets, and told him to get us some footage to prove it!’ to the producer’s amazement, the grainy video showed behaviour that had never been recorded by scientists, let alone captured for tV.
But there was a problem: to film the sealions properly, the team would have to contend with Galapagos sharks.
the sealions were herding the tuna into coastal inlets, trapping them, and then killing them with a single bite to the back of the neck. It was a sophisticated and effective hunting technique. But the blood in the water quickly attracted the sharks which snapped at anything they saw, including the crew.
this problem was compounded by the fact that sharks are also sensitive to electrical impulses and bright lights which can both signal the presence of prey — a fully kitted- out camera crew must have looked like a slap-up meal.the cameras themselves were robust enough to withstand bites, but the team were obliged to wear wholebody ‘shark suits’ made of chainmail over their wetsuits, which protected them from bites but made heavy work of swimming.
A diver armed with a ‘ shark stick’, like an electric cattle prod, was also close by to protect them, and by limiting their use of flashes they were able to keep unwanted attention to a minimum.
WHALE OF A TIME TAKING SELFIES
not eVeryBoDy entrusted with a camera during the filming
of Blue Planet II was a human. Fingers is a female sperm whale, about 35ft long, and she has a calf called Digit who is learning to hunt with her in the Caribbean waters off the island of Domenica.
Using a long pole and four suction pads, a camera was attached to Fingers’s flank, just ahead of her dorsal fin.
It captured intimate footage of the whale family at play, deep below the waves and completely unaware they were being watched. The cameras pop off the whale’s bodies automatically after a few days. Radio locators then help the teams to find them.
A CASE OF SPLIT PERSONALITY
One signature shot on Blue Planet II is the split- screen, with the camera looking simultaneously above and below the waves.
This is done with a Megadome, a camera with a wide-angle lens that gives a clear picture of what’s happening both on and under the surface — especially effective when filming walruses as they slide off ice floes into the water. The camera rig, which weighs 110lb, requires three people to maneouvre it into the water.
‘It’s an ordeal to get it going,’ says David Reichert, who steers it through the sea with his flippers.
The Megadome requires smooth seas (choppy waves make for bad television) so the crew had to be prepared for filming at any moment. Some of the best shots of the walruses were done at 4am: during summer in the Arctic, the sun doesn’t set for weeks on end, so filming at any hour is possible.
A BIG NOISE UNDER WATER
QUADROPHONIC surround sound, once the delight of hi-fi enthusiasts, has become an invaluable tool for marine research.
Dr Steve Simpson of the University of exeter has invented an underwater rig with four giant microphones that enables him to home in on sounds in any direction. ‘We can work out who is making noises and why,’ he says. ‘We now know that fish larvae listen in to the coral reef and then choose where to make their home.’
STRIKING IT LUCKY WITH THE TURTLES
The arrival of the olive ridley sea turtles — named for their green shells — on the Costa Rican beach where they will lay their eggs is one of the wonders of the natural world. Known as the ‘ arribada’ (Spanish for ‘arrival’), this event can happen at any time between September and December.
Ostional Beach on Costa Rica’s Pacific coast is one of the key sites. But to leave a camera team waiting there for months was too expensive. Instead, a unit was kept on standby in the capital of San José, eight hours’ drive away, ready to scramble at a moment’s notice.
But they were beaten to it. A Costa Rica footballer tweeted a selfie with the turtles to his huge social media following. Within hours, Ostional Beach was inundated with sightseers.
Filming amid the mayhem was impossible. It took 18 months more planning and waiting before another large enough arribada.
Blue Planet II: A New World Of Hidden Depths by James Honeyborne and Mark Brownlow (BBC Books, £25).