British documentary filmmaker and naturalist Sir David Attenborough is celebrating his hundredth birthday on May 8th. As a director and screenwriter, he has been behind hundreds of nature programmes and projects, which he began creating as early as the 1950s. He collaborated primarily with the BBC. For his scientific and popularisation work, he received numerous awards and accolades, and in 1985 he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II, receiving the title of Sir. Field biologist and ecologist Kateřina Sam from the Faculty of Science of the University of South Bohemia and the Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences also established a collaboration with this phenomenal naturalist and filmmaker. On the occasion of Sir Attenborough's 100th birthday, she reflected on that period:
"I was in my third year of doctoral studies. I had about a year and a half of fieldwork in Papua New Guinea behind me and was attending lectures again during the winter semester. At the same time, I was organising a larger expedition for colleagues who were to replace me in the field, which is why unknown foreign numbers called me frequently.
So I was not surprised when one such number rang while I was on my way to a lecture. I only briefly paused at the dialling code, which I mentally associated with the French botanists we were supposed to collaborate with. All the more shocking was it when, while walking through the foyer of Building B, I heard on the phone the voice of the manager of David Attenborough's team. I barely registered the first few sentences, and only after asking for them to be repeated and taking a breath did it dawn on me who I was actually speaking to — and that they wanted to discuss with me(!) the preparations for a future film about birds-of-paradise.
It soon became clear that the scientific and filmmaking worlds operate somewhat differently. While I was able to confirm where a given bird species lives and that it would be possible to guide the camera operators to the location, the BBC team immediately asked whether the bird would be present at a specific time and whether four days of filming would be sufficient to obtain the footage. After several phone calls, we therefore agreed it would be better to meet in person 'halfway' — at the Café Slavia in Prague.
Two camera operators and a producer of the upcoming film flew to meet me for a joint brunch, which eventually extended into an afternoon coffee, and we planned individual scenes in great detail. I was surprised by their deep knowledge of biology and the precision of their requirements. My task was to ensure that our local assistants from the Binatang Research Centre would be able to find the specific species of bird-of-paradise at the right time, in its natural habitat and without disturbance — and ideally allow for a shot from a precisely defined angle.
Until then, for instance, I had not known that some species of birds-of-paradise work with a marked dilation of their pupils and specific head movements during courtship. Suddenly, it was necessary to ensure that the camera operator captured precisely this moment — with the additional requirement that he would like to do so from an angle of approximately 40° from the ground. To this day, I find it fascinating that we ultimately managed to secure such footage more or less according to the plan drawn up at that table in the Slavia.
Unfortunately, I did not meet Sir Attenborough in person during the actual filming, unlike our assistants, but we spoke on the phone several times. We discussed my real findings from the field versus the theoretical ideas and concepts of the production. Although it was a professional collaboration, this experience remains for me above all a fond and somewhat unexpected memory of the connection between the worlds of science and filmmaking, and of the particular wisdom of this great man. The actual footage appeared in Planet Earth II, and thanks to this initial collaboration with the BBC team of David Attenborough, I later became involved in the filming of Dancing with the Birds for Netflix — though this time with Silverback Productions and without Mr. Attenborough."
PHOTO: BBC
