China Daily Global Edition (USA)
Series producer praises nation’s love of nature
APerfectPlanet highlights wonders of world, offers hope on reducing damage by humans
The executive producer of A Perfect Planet, the new landmark documentary series made by veteran British wildlife filmmaker David Attenborough, praised China for its efforts to find a solution to the world’s energy problems and said he was delighted by Chinese viewers’ enthusiasm for wildlife programs.
The five-part series, a coproduction of the BBC, Tencent Penguin Pictures, ZDF, China Media Group CCTV 9, France Televisions and The Open University, began showing on CCTV-9 and Tencent on Monday. It once again features Attenborough, who over the past six decades has become one of the world’s greatest educators and broadcasters on the natural world.
The show highlights the importance of four great forces of nature — volcanoes, the sun, the weather and oceans — in shaping the world. It also has a fifth episode that focuses on the damage being done to the natural balance by human beings, while also offering hope on how the impact can be reduced, a field in which producer Alastair Fothergill said China is playing a leading role.
“Yes, China does have issues with pollution, but they have been leaders in technology and the leading makers of solar panels,” he said during a group video call with reporters.
“Until recently there was not a lot of natural history programming being shown in China, but I’ve heard the shows go down extremely well and are very well received.
“I’m really pleased our films are being seen in China,” he added. “It’s a very urban population, so they need to see these things. The country is home to the world’s biggest snow leopard population, but how can you expect someone in Shanghai to care about that until they’ve seen them? There is a continuing need with every generation to show them the beauty of the natural world.”
The opening episode of the series, which took four years to make and features scenes shot in 31 countries, focuses on the destructive and lifegiving power of volcanoes. But it is the episode about the importance of the sun in which China’s natural wonders are displayed, specifically snub-nosed monkeys in Shennongjia National Park in Hubei province.
Attenborough’s previous series, Seven Worlds, One Planet, also featured the creatures, but showed them during the winter. This time, it is their behavior during the fall that is shown.
Nick Jordan, who was the director and producer of the sun episode, said filming in China was an exciting experience.
“The theme of the episode is about how the power of the sun drives the diversity of life on Earth,” he said. “In China, as fall approaches, resources become very scarce, so the monkeys have to battle it out for pine cones, which are a very tasty, high-calorie, prized seasonal delight. “It was filmed by local cameraman Jacky Poon, who was there for several weeks and caught some amazing natural behavior. Previously we’ve seen the monkeys in the snow, but this time it’s in the golden leaves. It’s a beautiful and spectacular sequence. I think the audience will love it.”
Filming of the series was completed just before pandemic restrictions, so Attenborough, who is 94 years old and in the high-risk category for COVID-19, did his work from home.
This presented the challenge of how he could record his commentary for the film sequences, since he could not travel to the studio, but he said they had to use some imagination for him to work from home.
“We hung duvets all around the wall of my dining room to get rid of echo, and I spoke into a microphone on the table in front of me, watching the sequences on a monitor, with the commentary being recorded by a sound recordist sitting out in the garden, and a producer at the BBC Natural History Unit in Bristol watching along and giving me feedback on my narration,” he said.
“That way, we were able to record the entire commentary. We were concerned it would sound like an amateur setup, but it’s indistinguishable from the professional way.”