Apple recently released a new documentary among its Apple TV+ premieres. A documentary that, unlike those that can be recorded simply by moving to different locations, required considerable effort. So that? To make the dinosaurs that feature her appear.
A work of which John Hammond himself would be proud
Told by the famous Sir David Attenborough, in Prehistoric Planet, Apple takes us in the world millions of years ago. And it does it with a level of realism we’ve never seen in film or TV. The series required the cooperation of the BBC Studios Natural History Unit, the group behind award-winning nature documentaries such as Planet Earth, with the visual effects team of the Moving Picture Company, who worked on 3D animated films like The Lion King. (released by Walt Disney Pictures in 2019).
It was the necessary equipment for “Prehistoric Planet” to be the closest thing to a nature documentary of non-extinct animals. As collected in Live Science, the production work was also only part of the story. The scientific research needed to avoid inaccuracies in the depiction of these great beings was more than comprehensive, and that was just the tip of the iceberg.
“It all starts with the fossil record,” showrunner Tim Walker told Live Science during a behind-the-scenes press tour. The team studied ancient landscapes and vegetation to find modern habitats that could fit in during the Cretaceous period so they could film in real locations. “It’s amazing that now, 66 million years later, there are a lot of things that look very much like they did then,” Walker said.
“Just because there aren’t animals to film doesn’t mean you won’t have a hard time,” Walker said. The crew encountered deadly poisonous snakes and lion tracks in their Cretaceous scenes. They were so committed to authenticity that before the team decided where to place their cameras, they thought about how living dinosaurs might react to human observers.
“You could never ask the cameraman to stand in front of a T. rex because he would eat them!” said executive producer Mike Gunton during the press tour. “Then you have to back off.”
Thanks to this level of detail, we can take advantage of what would be a documentary on dinosaurs if they still ran on earth. A truly impressive work whose episodes are already available on Apple TV+. Something John Hammond himself would be proud of.
