One of the most time consuming things about filming outdoors is the walking shot. Speaking to camera interview style is mostly achieved easily after just a few takes. But the seemingly trivial and non-technical activity of filming me walking takes an inordinate amount of time. Yes, walking. From all angles and directions. Walking into shot, … Continue reading
Tag Archives: media
Notes from a small volcanic island
Early start from Gatwick to Tenerife, but greeted on lading with warm sun and blue skies. We are here for three days to film a documentary for the Weather Channel on volcanoes and their effects on the earths climate. Apparently the US meteorological community and weather watchers in general have got a taste for volcanoes … Continue reading
Earth Science Week 2012 – Palaeocast
There’s a huge range of career options for Earth scientists, from academia to communications. All week, in honour of Earth Science Week, we’ve been featuring geologists who have taken their careers in more unusual directions. In our final blog, we look at one of the ways scientists can take their research out of the lab, … Continue reading
The heat beneath our feet
We were expecting chilly weather here in northern Scotland, but so far the sun has been shining on the British Science Festival in Aberdeen! We don’t think of Scotland -or the UK for that matter -as a particularly warm place, but underground it’s a different story. Yesterday, scientists from the British Geological Survey explained the … Continue reading
British Science Festival 2012
It’s that time of year again! We’re off to the British Science Festival this week, and whether you can join us in Aberdeen or not, here’s where you’ll find all the geology news and updates. Our own flagship event, ‘May the force be with us’ is happening on wednesday 5th at 1pm. But it’s not … Continue reading
Survivors: Nature’s indestructible creatures
An ex – President of the Geological Society is bound to be one of the survivors. But starting on Tuesday 24th at 9 p.m. I am fronting a BBC4 series about different kinds of survivors – animals and plants whose relatives are known deep in the fossil record. “Living fossils” was how Charles Darwin described … Continue reading
Etna, Stromboli and smelly tshirts: part 2
Filming is just about wrapped up here – we had a good morning shoot on the flanks of Stromboli yesterday, now the weather has cleared. The hydrofoil back to Messina stopped off at all the main Aeolian islands, then we hopped in a taxi to Catania airport for a 21.30 hrs flight to Naples. We … Continue reading
Filming on location – Etna, Stromboli and smelly tshirts…
It is hard sometimes to overestimate the amount of time spent faffing around when making a documentary (or any kind of filming for that matter). I am currently on location in southern Italy making a documentary commissioned by National Geographic and produced by Pioneer Productions, a UK firm run out of London and set up … Continue reading