BBC Post Production scoop two wildlife film festival awards

BBC Post Production has picked up two awards for work on its wildlife programmes at The Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival.
The annual award ceremony held recently in Wyoming, USA recognises the very best in wildlife programme making.
BBC Post Production’s design team in Bristol won the prestigious International Award for Best CGI/Animation for 'Monsters We Met' Episode 1 entitled 'The Eternal Frontier'.
The design team were involved in the project from its conception through to final delivery, providing expert advice and practical input, ranging from storyboard development to sequence animation and digital effects. The team worked on approximately 300 individual shots, 250 of which involved the creation CGI animals. The series also picked up the coveted Best Limited Series award.
The award-winning programme, set in North America, features a herd of woolly mammoths, a short faced bear, giant sloth, sabretooth tiger, plus mastadons and scimitar cats. The series attempted to move away from static shots of CGI creatures to dynamic drama sequences in which humans and animals interact. The biggest challenge was marrying together actors and CGI into shots that were filmed with a hand held camera, but recent developments in tracking software allowed the team to do this to dramatic effect.
BBC Post Production in Bristol also received an award for Best Achievement in Sound for BBC/Discovery co-production, ‘Shark Battlefield’, which has transmitted in the US and is due to air in the UK on BBC TWO in early 2004.
Andy Byatt, Series Producer for Monsters We Met says: “We tried hard to develop a more integrated way of working – so that the whole design, animation and compositing team became a part of the production itself.
“As a result we were able to create a gritty, fast paced feel to the animation sequences. It proves that an integrated approach is the way to go, because director, editor and design team need to share the same vision.”
Phil Mead, BBC Post Production, added: “We are absolutely thrilled to have won such prestigious awards for both visuals and sound over stiff competition. It is a testament to the creative skills and dedication of our teams in Bristol that their input has been recognised on the international stage.”
(GB)