Conquest of the Skies

GeeBax wrote on 2/26/2015, 1:55 AM
I watched a doco the other night about the making of the latest David Attenborough hosted series 'Conquest of the Skies'. It was very interesting to me because it was being filmed in 3D, using a pair of RED Epic Mysterium X cameras mounted in a custom 3D rig that is a monster.

Even in close-up shots of the rig, it was very hard to work out what the various parts were, it looked more like a random collection of spare rocket parts lashed together in a rough cube shape about a foot and a half cubed. Everywhere the rig is moved, you see 2 or 3 people handling it.

And they did not play safe with it either, even suspending it from ropes high up in the tree canopy to get the shots.

And just to add to the complexity, they had a powerful octocopter that could carry a somewhat stripped down version, still with the Mysterium cameras, up for aerial shots. Mind you, with that sort of payload they only got 2.5 minutes of flying time out of the batteries.

And it also featured an amazing high speed camera capable of near 2,000 fps in HD!

Highly recommended if you get a chance to watch it.

Comments

PeterDuke wrote on 2/26/2015, 4:29 AM
"And they did not play safe with it either, even suspending it from ropes high up in the tree canopy to get the shots"

Along with David the Great (aged 88) too!

I was a little dubious though about their tricks to create 3D shots of some birds in action that were too far away to get impressive 3D.

Chienworks wrote on 2/26/2015, 10:05 AM
All you have to do to maintain impressive 3D on distant objects is to move the lenses farther apart.
GeeBax wrote on 2/26/2015, 5:09 PM
Yes, David seems to be remarkably compliant to their requests, I hope I am able to be the things he can when I reach that age.

The most impressive shot as far as I am concerned was the swan flying alongside the RHIB with its wings brushing his face, that was simply amazing.