As the home to the BBC’s Natural History Unit as well as the Bristol Natural History Consortium, Bristol has rightly gained a reputation as a leading centre for the understanding and appreciation of the natural world. It makes sense then that it is also home to the world famous Wildscreen Festival, a biennial celebration of wildlife and natural world film making. This years event took place in venues across Bristol Harbourside and was bigger and better than ever before. The city welcomed a host of internationally renowned natural world filmmakers and broadcasters who joined forces to share ideas, form collaborations and compete to pick up a prize at the festival’s culmination; the glittering ‘Green Oscars’ event The Panda Awards, which honour the creativity, innovation and sheer talent in the industry.
This year we are incredibly proud to announce that One Strange Rock won in every category it was recognised for meaning it picked up not one, not two, but THREE Panda Awards at the event!
Episode ‘Gasp’ scooped up two of the prestigious awards; The Doghouse Editing Award and the Music Award. This episode explored the unlikely and unexpectedly interconnected systems that allow life on our planet to breathe. In this episode our VFX helped to explain the process of transpiration, depicting water's journey from the rain forest floor, through the trees and into the clouds. We took live action plates and added the effects to feel as if they were inside the structure of the tree itself.
The Innovation Award was presented to the ‘Home’ episode which saw NASAs most experienced astronaut, Peggy Whitson, smash through the atmosphere on her final journey home. Our photorealistic shots of the Earth from Space throughout the series were critical to the storytelling as the documentary was endorsed by astronauts such as Peggy who left Earth behind to see it for real.
It was a pleasure to be involved in such a ground breaking, unique and jaw-droppingly beautiful documentary about Earth and we are so proud that our hard work, and the hard work of everyone involved, has been recognised in such a way.
The series to date has been viewed by 81 million people worldwide.
Still from ‘Home’
