Set on Earth

The making of a nature epic with Silverback Films

There’s a solid chance you’ve seen at least one of David Attenborough’s epic nature documentaries. And if not, now you have some homework. But when the crew at The Flow Trip sits and watches something like Ocean with David Attenborough, Our Planet, or David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet, we tend to think about what the hell goes into documenting something of such grand scale, in such remote locations, of everyday occurrences in the wild we would have never seen otherwise. That’s where wildlife producer and director Keith Scholey and the team at Silverback Films come into play. And there’s quite a bit that goes into capturing footage of never-before-seen behavior, landscapes, and natural history. We were fortunate enough to catch up with Keith to talk all things about bringing nature films with David Attenborough to life. 

Keith Scholey and David Attenborough on location while filming Ocean with David Attenborough | Credit: Silverback Films and Open Planet Studios/Keith Scholey

How many people does it take to bring a film like Our Planet to life?

So the basic unit of production looks something like this: There's a central, small Silverback core, then there's freelance craft specialists around it, and then there's a group of different scientists and field specialists who we bring in, who are almost always location-specific. 

We start with our producers. Usually, in a given three- to four-year period, we ask the producer to make two shows. On their team, they will have an assistant producer — someone who doesn’t have overall responsibility for the show, but can be sent to any location to manage it and create the scene.

And then the team will have a researcher who is there to find out a lot of the information on what we’re planning to shoot, and then actually goes on location to help out. Crucial is also the production management team that sorts all the finances and logistics.

Next, we bring in freelance cameramen and women — and you often want a real specialist for the sequence we're going to do. Normally, any program will probably have about 10 to 12 shoots in it, so you fit your freelance talent to suit each shoot. 

After that, there's the post-production period, when you bring in a freelance editor, sound-post, picture-post, and so on. 

On each shoot, we involve a scientist or field team. We need locals to provide a combination of the vehicles, the boats, and the knowledge. So, that's when it starts to become more of a village. 

How do you match the footage to the story — do you start with the storyboard and plan out what you want to document, or do you write the script based on what you get? How collaborative is this process? 

It's a bit like the military — you go into an operation with a plan, but usually the plan doesn't last very long. So that’s actually the principle we work to. The key is to be able to adapt because wild animals are wild animals and nature doesn’t read the script. 

The script varies depending on the type of show. Shows like Our Planet, which air cameos of the world, are more loosely scripted. We determine what we want to show, go to the field, see what nature has to offer, and then rescript based on what we captured. Whereas something like Ocean with David Attenborough, which is a thesis, is very tightly scripted, because Ocean is absolutely there to tell a very definitive story. So there is a spectrum. We always keep David in the loop, but for those with a set story he wants to tell, we keep him hugely in the loop. 

David is probably the best narration writer in broadcasting. He is a very skillful writer, and he can write for his own voice in a unique way. He's very precise with words, and he uses very few of them. The result is it looks and sounds effortless.

When filming something like Ocean with David Attenborough or Our Planet, how long does it take on average to get the shot the team is looking for? 

To make one of those productions, we always like to allow ourselves at least two seasons in the filming period. So, usually anything we do takes a minimum of three years, because you have all the preparation, then you’ve got two years of filming, and the post production. We want two seasons because in the natural world, things can often go wrong or not happen, and you can’t do all the things you planned. 

That’s where the field craft also comes into play. The camera teams, the producers, all have to pit their wits against nature. With wildlife filming, you have to know what’s going to happen in 10 minutes. Knowing what’s going to happen in just two minutes is too late. It’s basically like hunting, because you have to think about what the animal will be doing, and where it will be, so you’re in the right spot to capture it. It’s a lot of fun. It also can be frustrating and difficult, but that’s where the real experience comes into it. You can get lucky, and you can get really unlucky.  

So there’s always this element of risk. And I would say, our main job at Silverback Films is risk management. The calculation is crucial. Wildlife is uncertain. But the details of what happens always depend on the behavior. When we’re out in the field, we always try to be flexible. Because sometimes you might think, “Well, we really wanted to get a cheetah catching a gazelle,” but it turns out that the cheetah missing the gazelle was actually a lot better than the cheetah catching it. So you just go with that and make a story out of what nature puts in front of you. 

Cheetahs in the Maasai Mara, Kenya | Credit: Silverback Films

So, if nature ends up working against you, and you don't end up getting the anticipated shot — let’s say there was no gazelle for the cheetah to hunt, nothing happens, and you don't get any footage from that shoot — how do you adapt the film storyboard and script in that way?

It depends on the scale of the project. Occasionally, you go on a trip and it all goes wrong. Fortunately, I think that's happened very rarely in my career. But it does happen. I remember doing a film on bears and salmon, and the rain was so unseasonably large that the salmon never got moving, so the whole thing just fell apart. 

But we always have what we call a “contingency back” in case something like that happens. If the chances of getting the shot are small, we have a fallback plan and pivot to something we know is more likely to happen.

So again, it's risk management. All while wanting to continue to amaze viewers. Audiences always want more. They want to see new things, but there's a reason why it hasn't been shown before — because it's probably difficult to capture. We always have to push harder and harder.

 
A bait ball in the open ocean near the Azores | Credit: Silverback Films and Open Planet Studios/Keith Scholey

Biggest challenge when shooting predominantly underwater? 

It depends on the realm — deep ocean, open ocean, and coastal ocean — all very different worlds. 

Coastal ocean: You have a bottom, like a coral reef, where you at least know there is topography and probably animals that inhabit or visit that area. You have a way of planning what's going to happen and what’s likely to be there and how to film it. It’s still challenging because you’re underwater and you have limited time, but it's manageable. 

Deep ocean: This is a completely different game. Filming requires either a submarine or a remote operating vehicle (ROV). So, you are a bit removed from the action. 

Open ocean: Life just bubbles up from nowhere, and you don’t know where it’s going to be, you just have to watch what’s going on across the sea. If something happens, there’s a very rapidly ticking clock before that event is over. You have to scramble and jump in and shoot whatever the hell’s going on. Sometimes it’s very exciting, but often it’s all over by the time you get in the water. For Ocean we did a shoot in the Azores. The shoot was four weeks, and we had four good days. Everything we got was shot in those four days, everything else was a write-off. But when those days are good, they’re very good. The Team needs so much courage in all this — to jump into a whirlwind of whales and bluefin tuna buzzing by you. The caliber of people we have is top-notch. 

Left: Director of photography Doug Anderson films the coral reefs of Raja Ampat, Indonesia
Right: A compass jellyfish off the coast of Pembrokeshire, United Kingdom
Credit: Silverback Films and Open Planet Studios/Olly Scholey

One thing you genuinely didn’t know before you started — could be about nature, filmmaking, people, the planet, etc. 

How we're changing the planet could actually have profound effects on the future of humanity. I didn't believe that, I think, until about 20 years ago. I didn't understand that human civilization was so dependent on stable global temperature. And I still think that's a message we probably haven't told hard enough.

I used to think conservation was about protecting species as opposed to habitats and the planet. When I started out, it was all about saving elephants and rhinos, and now it's about the larger landscape. In my journey I’ve also learned how profoundly intelligent some animals are. And the two that had the biggest impact on me are elephants and dolphins. 

A pod of Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins swimming across the coral reefs of the Red Sea, Egypt | Credit: Olly Scholey

With all that risk you have to take, was there ever in a more serious or tense moment an unexpected moment of humor or lightness?

I think we have so many wonderful experiences with wildlife, and it's such a privileged job. People often think filming wildlife must be really dangerous. And actually, it isn't. The most dangerous creature on the planet is Homo sapiens. There is no doubt in my mind. If you know what you're doing, wild animals will tell you if you're pushing the boundary. Wild animals are quite predictable compared to people. 

The most profound experience you had while working on a film with David Attenborough? 

It's a difficult question because I've known David for around 44 years. It's been a long time. But I would say, with huge confidence, that every moment I spend with him, I learn something new. And I think that's probably the most profound thing. 

He's a complete Renaissance man. He's an expert in classical music. I mean a real expert. He's a concert pianist — he will never play in public, but he's very good. He has a huge knowledge of anthropology and paleontology. During his life he has experienced so much more than anyone else I will ever know. 

He has this incredible view of history, the world, natural history, and so on. So trying to pick out a profound kind of moment is quite difficult, but I think filming him for some of the pieces we did for Ocean was very special. Remembering that htis was a 98-year-old man speaking with such power down the camera. I just thought, there's no one else on Earth who could possibly do this. He stays youthful because he still challenges himself to deliver such high standards.

The sad thing with David is that what the public sees of him is just a tiny, tiny sliver of all the wonderful aspects of this remarkable man. 

The other wonderful thing is that David has no interest in “David Attenborough.” He’s completely genuine and very humble, so he is never pushing his ego forward at all. He has high standards and is challenging, but it’s never about him. And I think that’s why he’s so trusted because everyone gets a sense of that. He can’t understand why he’s become such a celebrated celebrity.

He’s very careful about everything he says. He used to say to me, "Keith, if I say something, people are going to believe it. So I've got to be really sure what I say is right.”

Sir David Attenborough pictured in Maasai Mara, Kenya, for David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet | Credit: Keith Scholey, Silverback Films

Describe the feeling when you see the final product of these huge films that you've spent years working on up on the big screen along with the reaction of the audience. What's the feeling?

If it's worked out the way you want it, it's absolutely wonderful. As an example, Ocean is touring as a concert around Europe and Britain, where we show the film, but the music is played by a live orchestra. At the opening night in Bristol, I watched the film for the first time in a while in a theater full of more than a thousand people, and was able to watch all these people enthralled by what they’re seeing.

It was a very profound experience, because when you make telly, you usually aren’t going to a cinema to watch or experience it with others. You just get the audience figures and performance stats back, and it doesn’t feel quite real. Whereas on this night, it was real. We could stand back, with a large bunch of people in a big room, watching it, and thought, “Yeah, that works.” And that’s very special. I came out of the event feeling very moved. 

Who do we need to talk to to get that tour going in the US?

I think they are hoping to bring it to the States. It was a lot of fun.

A clown anemonefish on a coral reef in Raja Ampat, Indonesia | Credit: Silverback Films and Open Planet Studios/Olly Scholey

Anything upcoming we should know about? 

There's a famous scene in Life on Earth of David with gorillas. This little baby gorilla called Pablo sat on him, and Pablo became one of the most successful silverback gorillas in Rwanda. And they’ve been filming Pablo’s dynasty ever since. So we are telling the story of Pablo's dynasty on Netflix. It's called A Gorilla Story: Told by David Attenborough. It’s really good — David presents and narrates it.

And what’s special is he reads from his diary about that encounter he had with Pablo as a baby, and how no one knew about mountain gorillas before. It’s a moving film. 

Watch the film here.

An Encounter with Gilbert

I think some of the lighthearted moments are often where they're a little bit on the edge. I was making a series with David called The Private Life of Plants, and we wanted to capture an elephant traveling across the plains in northern Kenya. At that point, to film on the move all we had was a Steadicam. A ranch owner, Will Craig, thought he could persuade the elephant he knew called Gilbert to follow his car and we could stand in the back with the Steadicam to get the shot. 

It worked, standing in the back of a truck with this big bull elephant just behind us. But Gilbert knew Will, and knew he was the boss.

One day, cameraman Gavin and I met Gilbert without Will. He walked right up to the bonnet of the car, stared and looked at us, and seemed to say, “It’s these two idiots, and Will isn’t here,” and then he walked around the side of the car. Keep in mind, we used to take the door off the side of the car for the camera mount, so Gavin had no door protection.

Gilbert walks right up to the door frame, and he stops with his tusks on either side of it. At this point, Gavin’s in my lap, I’ve stopped taking pictures, and then we hear this sucking noise. Gilbert sucked up all this dust from the ground, put his trunk right in our faces, blew it all out, and proceeded to walk away. And what he was clearly saying was, “You need to understand you are lesser forms of life than me. I’m not going to hurt you or anything, but I want you to get the message.”  

It's an incredibly funny story, slightly terrifying at the time, but because we actually knew this elephant well enough, we knew that he didn't mean to harm us. 

It's profound moments like this with animals that make you think, “Wow… this guy could kill me.” But elephants can recognize an individual human very quickly and learn who you are. They’re incredibly smart and so you can build trust with them.

Keep up with Silverback Films at silverbackfilms.tv