Unbroken Thread: Singing Attenborough, Sagan & Goodall

I was so excited when I saw this that I just had to post it. A truly wonderful, legendary, inspiring piece of work - it's also pretty hilarious!

Short Film: 'Plastic Bag' from Supermarket to Sea

http://futurestates.tv/episodes/plastic-bag

This short film by American director Ramin Bahrani (Goodbye Solo) traces the epic, existential journey of a plastic bag (voiced by Werner Herzog) searching for its lost maker, the woman who took it home from the store and eventually discarded it. Along the way, it encounters strange creatures, experiences love in the sky, grieves the loss of its beloved maker, and tries to grasp its purpose in the world.

In the end, the wayward plastic bag wafts its way to the ocean, into the tides, and out into the Pacific Ocean trash vortex — a promised nirvana where it will settle among its own kind and gradually let the memories of its maker slip away

Wildlife Wind-Ups on BBC Wildlife Finder

'It's not only humans that like a good joke, animals play all kinds of tricks on one another in their attempts to gain an advantage. Based around the April Fool tradition, this collection of videos features the weirder side of nature where it's not always easy to tell what's real and what's not. Watch animals play practical jokes on each other and on us, and look back at some real gems from the archives where we've tried to fool you in a wildlife world that's often stranger than fiction.'

Visit the BBC Wildlife Wind-Ups collection

(BBC Wildlife Finder clips are only viewable inside the UK but other information and images can be seen)

Remember this one? Flying Penguins!

Nature by Numbers - a short film

Nature by Numbers from Cristóbal Vila

For more information go to http://www.etereaestudios.com/ This film is inspired and based on theories anc concepts such as Fibonacci, Golden Ratio, Delaunay, Voronoi… The website also has stills and screenshots showing the development of the film. Plus free training materials and 3D workshops.

Rare EarthTones: free endangered species ringtones

The eerie warble of the Puerto Rican crested toad, the siren song of the Okinawa dugong and the call of a relatively pint-sized elephant seal pup as it cries for its mother. All these and many more are now available as free endangered species ringtones

View and download all available ringtones

The Center for Biological Diversity offers you free endangered species ringtones and phone wallpapers — a collection of high-quality, authentic sounds and images of some of the world’s most threatened birds, owls, frogs, toads and marine mammals.

Whether the cry of the Mexican gray wolf or the underwater warbles of the beluga whale, these ringtones provide a great starting point for talking about the plight of threatened species worldwide.
The Center for Biological Diversity

750th Clip NOW LIVE on BBC Wildlife Finder

(Wildlife Finder video is only viewable by people within the UK)

Wildlife Finder now has over 750 video clips from 46 BBC Natural History programmes, clips from breathtaking and spectacular films such as 'Life in Cold Blood' 'Life' & 'Planet Earth' plus some gems from 'The Natural World' series. Wildlife Finder now has 523 species pages published - increasing weekly!!

This week you can see10 clips from the brand new series broadcasting on Sunday Great Rift: Africa's Wild Heart - Fire and 6 new clips from Wednesday's Natural World The Secret Leopards

Don't forget you can always find all these new clips and other information from each programme on their respective programme pages…

Subscribe to the RSS feed and be the first to find out what's new.
Click on the orange link on the homepage: www.bbc.co.uk/wildlifefinder

Watch 30+ UK TV Channels LIVE

www.tvcatchup.com

Watch 30+ UK TV Channels LIVE
In addition to BBC iPlayer it's all you could ever need.

TVCatchup is a free online service for viewing certain digital terrestrial channels live without the use of a television receiver. The service is currently under beta and is only legally available to users in the United Kingdomdue to licensing restrictions that limit the showing of streams to those users who can already legally view the same content on their television receiver. You are legally required to hold a UK TV license if you use TVCatchup.

Launch of The BBC Wildlife Finder

You may recall that the BBC launched Earth News and Earth Explorers in the Spring and animal pages in July. Since then they have been adding more content, more animals and more magic. Now its time for the launch of the much anticipated BBC Wildlife Finder, which promises to take 'Wildlife on the web' to a whole new level. What more could you expect from the worlds top Natural History producers?

50 years ago Sir David Attenborough led us into the era of wildlife Television and now aged 83 he, and the brilliant team in BBC Multiplatform, lead the way into Wildlife online. The highlight of the Wildlife Finder is David Attenborough’s Favourite Moments, two and a half hours of the most spectacular wildlife footage of the last few decades, all selected and introduced by the man himself.

If that's not enough, the site boasts an additional 550 clips from across 30 TV series and covering a whopping 370 animals - an Ark of awe-inspiring entertainment that will keep you captivated for hours. Prepare for a jaw-dropping adventure...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/collections/p0048522

 

BBC Natural History Archive launched

Following the recent launches of Earth News and Out of the Wild the BBC Natural History Unit have just launch the archive clip section of 'Earth'. This provides unprecedented access to the BBC's natural history assets combines with 3rd party data, to create media-rich pages about species, behaviour and habitat and forms the foundation of the new Nature offering on bbc.co.uk.

There aren't yet any 'homepages' to aid navigation, but if you fancy a browse here are some entry level pages to showcase the different areas of interest:

Species

Adaptations

Habitats

Still to come on the archive section are radio programmes, plants, season, timelapse and other special capture pages and lots more behaviour..

UK's Biggest BioBlitz Hits Bristol

The UK’s largest BioBlitz will be kicking off in the Ashton Court Estate in Bristol this Friday the 26th June. For 30 hours, naturalists from all walks will be racing against the clock to catalogue the fauna and flora of the estate.


Wherever you are, you’ll be able to follow the action via the BioBlitz Blog at http://bioblitzbristol.wordpress.com

The dedicated media team will be on location posting up to the minute tallies, photographs, video and more, so, come rain or shine, you don’t have to miss any of the action.

Get involved by posting your comments or by coming down to the event and sharing your images and experiences of the BioBlitz to appear on the blog.

For more info check out:
BioBlitz Blog
BioBlitz Website

10 steps to becoming a Covert Google Earth Surfer

If you are a Natural History film-maker than you will no doubt find Google Earth invaluable. Unfortunately some organizations seem to have put a block on this crucial piece of software - even years after it was first released! As a result they have limited, if not reduced, the 'productivity' of their staff. Here is a guide to Covert Google Earth surfing... use this at your own peril!

1. Visit the Google Earth website and download the 'Google Earth.exe' installation file. You'll need to save this to your computers non-networked drive it might be called the 'D' Drive.

2. The first step in covert Google Earth use is to rename the downloaded file 'Google Earth.exe' to 'decoy.exe'. High-tech I.T.bots sweep through your computer for anything named "Google Earth" and then deploy their digital missiles to obliterate them from your system.
So to avoid this and to prevent a .exe from being an ex .exe - rename 'Google Earth.exe' to 'Decoy.exe'

3. Next - the point of no return - launch the installation of Google Earth by double clicking on 'Decoy.exe'

4. Go to C/ Documents and Setting/ Your Username/ Application Data/ Google/ Google Earth/ and once again change the 'Google Earth.exe' in this folder to 'Decoy2'.

If you've gotton this far without being shot by the I.T.erminators then well done.

5. Under the cover of darkness, right click on 'Decoy2.exe" and select 'send to desktop (shortcut)'.

6. Go to desktop, and while simultaneously looking over your shoulder, right click on the shortcut of "Decoy2" and select properties.

7. In the window that pops up click on "change icon" - try to withhold your excitement - any hint of this may alert the I.T. Bots.

8. Another window will pop up. browse for another icon, or paste this: C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe into the browse box to give you access to a selection of carefully trained decept-icons.

9. Select an alternative icon from this platoon. My favourite decept-icon is the earth icon - very experienced in the field of covert Google Earth access.

10. You should now be ready for a life of secret Earth surfing.

The Earth is in your hands - enjoy, I hope it helps with planning your shoot.

- Matt the Mysterious

BBC Earth News launched today

BBC Earth news launches today, part of the exclusive Earth Multiplatform project from the BBC Natural History Unit. For over fifty years, the NHU has produced award-winning wildlife films and documentaries. Each year, up to seventy NHU expedition teams travel the world, visiting the most remote and inspiring locations, filming, reporting and celebrating life on Earth. Earth News is here to bring that world to you, and to tell the greatest story of all. The story of life.

Also visit 'Out of the Wild' for expedition updates from Natural History crews in the field.

BBC Earth News has launched with a strong lead story exclusive to Earth News, disclosing the origin of the gigantic tide of green algae that almost derailed the Beijing Olympic sailing regatta.

Multi-platforming: Breaking out of the box REVIEW by giantsorbiting

See GiantsOrbiting for a review of this fantastic workshop, hopefully soon to be a regular at the Wildscreen Film Festival.

Breaking out of the box: A rough guide to Multiplatform and what it can do for you.

If anyone is planning on visiting Wildscreen 2008. I am running a workshop called Breaking out of the box: A rough guide to Multiplatform and what it can do for you.

'Battle of the Kruger' and 'Springwatch'. One is a shakey homemade video that became an instant hit when it was posted to YouTube just over a year ago and has since been viewed 36 million times, the other is a core multiplatform production from the BBC. One required nothing more than a fortunate moment and a cheap camcorder, the other cost millions and took months of careful planning and preparation. Both are a huge success in their own right and reveal a thirst for natural history content online in all its guises, and in a world where anyone can be a player.

From 'World on the Move' to 'Big Cat Live' TV, Radio and web are colliding, leading the way to a multiplatform future from which no producer can escape. This workshop aims to introduce you to the wonderful world of Web2.0, a world where you can put anything anywhere at anytime to create a truly unique and individual web experience.

Get to grips with the basics, understand some of the key tools readily available on the web, create a blog, upload video, geotag content and learn what RSS is and how to make it a powerful ally taking your content directly to the audience.

If you thought Multiplatform was a term used to describe Paddington Station then think again.

The workshop will be hosted by Paul Williams BBC NHU and colleagues from BBC Multiplatform and World on the Move.

Tutor: Paul Williams and colleagues
Venue: Marriott Royal Hotel

21st Edition of World on the Move

Tomorrow (Tuesday) at 11.00 on Radio 4 "live from the BBC Natural History Unit" is the 24th edition of World on the Move, and the last before a 4 week break. It will return on 2nd September and will broadcast weekly until December 16th.

Tomorrows show is anchored, as ever, by Philippa Forrester and the NHU's very own Brett Westwood. And you'll also hear from two other members of staff: A thrilling piece about Humpback Whales bubble netting in Alaska reported by Joe Stevens (Natures Great Events) and the third instalment from Grant Sonnex as he follows the migration of Salmon through the river systems of Alaska. We also have our World on the Move scribe Paul Evens delivering his prose on the show - And a fascinating insight into how Alaskan Bar-tailed Godwits sustain their migration between Alaska and NZ.

So an Alaskan fest as a mark of poignancy for this hugely important part of the world for migrating animals. And all can be seen and heard on www.bbc.co.uk/worldonthemove

And you can listen to the 21.00 repeat on Wednesday or hear elements of the programme on World Service Science in Action.

Video: Stephen Fry discusses the Future of Public Service Broadcasting

Watch the video

Stephen Fry has delivered the second of the BBC's creative lectures on the future of public service broadcasting in the UK.

"Before I can even think to presume to dare to begin to expatiate on what sort of an organism I think the British Broadcasting Corporation should be, where I think the BBC should be going, how I think it and other British networks should be funded, what sort of programmes it should make, develop and screen and what range of pastries should be made available in its cafés and how much to the last penny it should pay its talent, before any of that, I ought I think in justice to run around the games field a couple of times puffing out a kind of “The BBC and Me” mini-biography, for like many of my age, weight and shoe size, the BBC is deeply stitched into my being and it is important for me as well as for you, to understand just how much. Only then can we judge the sense, value or otherwise of my thoughts."

Video: David Attenborough discusses the Future of Public Service Broadcasting

Sir David Attenborough has given the first in a short series of creative lectures by leading figures from the world of broadcasting. Recorded in London on 30 April, Sir David gave his views on the future role of public service broadcasting in the UK.

Watch the video

"This lecture is about the future of public service broadcasting or, to give it today's fashionable acronym, PSB. I am saved the need to define PSB because OFCOM, in the person of its Chief Executive, Ed Richards, has defined it for us. He says it is broadcasting that aims to do four things: to increase our understanding of the world; to stimulate knowledge and learning; to reflect the cultural identity of the United Kingdom; and to ensure diversity and alternative viewpoints..."

WOOT: R2D2 Home Theatre, and Webcam

http://www.nikkoamerica.com/nhe/

Awesome 360 panoramic city scapes with aerials

If you love 360 panoramics then check this out. This is exactly the kind of thing I've been wanting to do when out filming in some spectacular location.

360 panoramics mapped onto each other so you can jump from one view point to another, including 360 aerials. They are viewable in Flash or QuicktimeVR

The Las Vegas one is so immersive I could waste hours just jumping around. If it incorporated a soundscape it would just blow me away.

http://bigeyeinthesky.com/

Doovling, the BBC & non-linear video navigation

I was recently sent an experimental mock up of a huge Collection of Natural History content made navigatable through something called Doovle, produced by Green Cathedral PLC.

I was interested in Doovle from a "Life" perspective (which is the series I am currently working on) and whether it was a way that we could split our 10 hours of broadcast programme content. When I use Doovle it really changes my viewing, and makes it completely non-linear. I was looking into Caterpillars recently for example and so just watched all the clips featuring caterpillars, pulled out from many different programmes to create a self-assembled "Life of the Caterpillar" - genius.

Green Cathedral has already officially Doovled the 1966 World Cup. Fawlty Towers and Blackadder which can be seen here. I enjoyed searching for words such as "Scrotum" "Turnip" and "Cunning".