1 00:00:00,460 --> 00:00:02,740 Something very special is happening 2 00:00:02,860 --> 00:00:06,020 in London's world-famous Natural History Museum. 3 00:00:09,100 --> 00:00:12,620 The halls of this national icon are usually deserted at night 4 00:00:12,740 --> 00:00:15,340 and eerily quiet. 5 00:00:15,460 --> 00:00:16,820 But for the next few weeks, 6 00:00:16,940 --> 00:00:20,620 they will be bustling with activity as David Attenborough leads 7 00:00:20,740 --> 00:00:26,020 a team of pioneering 3D film-makers on an exciting new project. 8 00:00:26,140 --> 00:00:27,580 It is just a dream of a set. 9 00:00:27,700 --> 00:00:30,620 It is certainly one of the reasons why I thought up the idea 10 00:00:30,740 --> 00:00:31,700 in the first place. 11 00:00:31,820 --> 00:00:35,260 Pretty amazing feeling to have this whole space to ourselves. 12 00:00:36,580 --> 00:00:39,060 The aim, to see some of the magnificent, 13 00:00:39,180 --> 00:00:43,460 extinct creatures that now rest in the halls of this museum 14 00:00:43,580 --> 00:00:45,540 as they were in life. 15 00:00:45,660 --> 00:00:47,860 The essence of this film is way beyond what a normal 16 00:00:47,980 --> 00:00:50,380 documentary is, it is much more towards a feature. 17 00:00:50,500 --> 00:00:52,060 A dramatic feature at that. 18 00:00:52,180 --> 00:00:55,700 CGI has reached a peak of perfection. 19 00:00:55,820 --> 00:00:58,340 It simply looks real. 20 00:00:58,460 --> 00:01:02,140 These are extinct animals that David is never going to get to see 21 00:01:02,260 --> 00:01:04,140 right here in one of his favourite places, 22 00:01:04,260 --> 00:01:05,980 the Natural History Museum in London. 23 00:01:06,100 --> 00:01:09,180 This project's drive for scientific accuracy 24 00:01:09,300 --> 00:01:11,900 will call on natural history experts from the museum 25 00:01:12,020 --> 00:01:15,100 and across the globe, helping the cutting-edge team 26 00:01:15,220 --> 00:01:18,180 allow David to fulfil a dream, to come 27 00:01:18,300 --> 00:01:22,340 face-to-face with extinct animals that he has always wanted to meet. 28 00:01:23,740 --> 00:01:26,020 It is quite extraordinary, the talent we have got here. 29 00:01:26,140 --> 00:01:31,180 'From cinematographers, special effects team and we're going' 30 00:01:31,300 --> 00:01:34,540 to need this talent to get this film to the level we want to make it. 31 00:01:34,660 --> 00:01:36,780 This project is pushing the boundaries of 3D, 32 00:01:36,900 --> 00:01:39,660 high-resolution film-making to the very edge... 33 00:01:39,780 --> 00:01:43,380 I'm just worried about what the hell is doing it. 34 00:01:43,500 --> 00:01:46,700 ..whilst pushing David into the unfamiliar territory 35 00:01:46,820 --> 00:01:49,460 of working with animals that aren't even there. 36 00:01:50,580 --> 00:01:52,460 881. 37 00:01:52,580 --> 00:01:55,060 It's a funny way to earn a living. 38 00:01:55,180 --> 00:01:58,180 It is a different Attenborough, one you actually haven't seen before, 39 00:01:58,300 --> 00:02:00,740 combined with the Attenborough we all know. 40 00:02:03,940 --> 00:02:06,500 With such an ambitious technical production, 41 00:02:06,620 --> 00:02:08,380 the stakes are higher than ever. 42 00:02:13,220 --> 00:02:15,220 Brilliant. Cut there. Thank you very much. 43 00:02:15,340 --> 00:02:17,660 We can't allow these kind of things to happen. 44 00:02:17,780 --> 00:02:19,620 GLASS SMASHES 45 00:02:19,780 --> 00:02:21,820 ANIMAL ROARS 46 00:02:29,460 --> 00:02:32,580 As evening falls, the crew prepares for the first night's 47 00:02:32,700 --> 00:02:36,300 filming of David Attenborough's Natural History Museum Alive. 48 00:02:38,020 --> 00:02:41,620 After months of planning, now is the moment of truth. 49 00:02:42,820 --> 00:02:45,660 Around 15 nights of filming are tightly scheduled in London's 50 00:02:45,780 --> 00:02:47,100 Natural History Museum. 51 00:02:48,540 --> 00:02:51,500 The crew is only able to spring into action 52 00:02:51,620 --> 00:02:54,820 once the visitors have left for the evening. 53 00:02:54,940 --> 00:02:56,980 And as David Attenborough arrives on location, 54 00:02:57,100 --> 00:03:00,980 the team are already hard at work, setting up for the first scene. 55 00:03:06,420 --> 00:03:08,540 For David, it's the sixth 3D film 56 00:03:08,660 --> 00:03:12,100 that he and the team have created together in the last four years. 57 00:03:19,220 --> 00:03:23,420 This latest project promises to be the most ambitious yet. 58 00:03:23,540 --> 00:03:28,540 We wanted to bring animals in the Natural History Museum to life. 59 00:03:28,660 --> 00:03:30,820 The notion is, of course, that there's 60 00:03:30,940 --> 00:03:33,860 only one person in the museum at night. 61 00:03:33,980 --> 00:03:37,820 So, if you're going to interact with anybody, it will have to be with me. 62 00:03:37,940 --> 00:03:40,220 But we will have to see whether it is convincing or not. 63 00:03:43,460 --> 00:03:46,780 The team's first test is to bring to life one of the most famous 64 00:03:46,900 --> 00:03:49,220 extinct animals of all - 65 00:03:49,340 --> 00:03:50,500 the dodo. 66 00:03:50,620 --> 00:03:54,140 Once you have got the idea that you are going to take 67 00:03:54,260 --> 00:03:57,380 advantage of 3D, the CGIs, then you say, 68 00:03:57,500 --> 00:04:01,780 "OK, which are going to be the interesting things to bring to life?" 69 00:04:01,900 --> 00:04:04,660 The ones that have a good story to them are the ones that, 70 00:04:04,780 --> 00:04:07,460 by and large, are where the museum got it wrong. 71 00:04:07,580 --> 00:04:11,020 And so one of the entertaining things to do is to bring these 72 00:04:11,140 --> 00:04:13,820 animals to life in the light of modern knowledge. 73 00:04:15,740 --> 00:04:18,660 To ensure that the dodo is represented as accurately 74 00:04:18,780 --> 00:04:21,860 as possible, David and the team are working in collaboration 75 00:04:21,980 --> 00:04:26,540 with museum expert Julian Hume a specialist in extinct birds. 76 00:04:26,660 --> 00:04:29,300 The key thing to say is that the position of this bone, 77 00:04:29,420 --> 00:04:32,380 this bone and this bone should have been more upright. 78 00:04:32,500 --> 00:04:35,620 I have spent probably the last 15 years trying to get 79 00:04:35,740 --> 00:04:39,220 across the fact that the dodo was not this waddling, dumb animal. 80 00:04:39,340 --> 00:04:43,060 Although it was fearless of humans, and could be killed quite easily. 81 00:04:43,180 --> 00:04:45,540 Its actual nature was one of pure aggression. 82 00:04:45,660 --> 00:04:48,100 In the one from Savery, it kind of drops down. 83 00:04:48,220 --> 00:04:51,660 It's hanging in an unnatural position here. 84 00:04:51,780 --> 00:04:56,460 The museum experts were there to validate what we said. 85 00:04:56,580 --> 00:04:59,780 If they didn't give it the OK, then it didn't go in. 86 00:05:04,620 --> 00:05:07,700 The main hall is down there. David's standing there. 87 00:05:07,820 --> 00:05:10,740 Every scene in the film is mapped out in advance 88 00:05:10,860 --> 00:05:14,380 with storyboards which are then roughly animated. 89 00:05:14,500 --> 00:05:16,620 The good thing about storyboards is that you can nail 90 00:05:16,740 --> 00:05:20,020 as much as you possibly can before you start shooting. 91 00:05:20,140 --> 00:05:22,620 Give me one from the side and one from the back. 92 00:05:22,740 --> 00:05:24,740 We are spending a lot of money on this. 93 00:05:24,860 --> 00:05:27,100 It is 3D and there is a lot of CGI involved 94 00:05:27,220 --> 00:05:29,740 so if we get it all planned out beforehand then we know 95 00:05:29,860 --> 00:05:33,420 exactly what we're doing on the day and we don't need to worry too much. 96 00:05:33,540 --> 00:05:36,100 During production, these animated storyboards 97 00:05:36,220 --> 00:05:38,700 are used as a blueprint for each scene. 98 00:05:40,940 --> 00:05:43,900 In this case, showing how a dodo will come to life 99 00:05:44,020 --> 00:05:46,380 and jump out from a painting in the museum. 100 00:05:51,220 --> 00:05:54,980 Back on set, it is time to shoot these storyboards for real. 101 00:05:55,100 --> 00:05:56,060 Take one. 102 00:05:56,180 --> 00:05:59,340 OK. Action. 103 00:05:59,460 --> 00:06:02,700 With over 60 years of experience in broadcasting, 104 00:06:02,820 --> 00:06:07,460 delivering pieces to camera is a skill which David has honed to a fine art. 105 00:06:07,580 --> 00:06:12,580 Its feathers come from a goose. Its feet were modelled on a turkey. 106 00:06:12,700 --> 00:06:17,020 It's beak, I suspect, is pasta. 107 00:06:17,140 --> 00:06:19,300 Excellent. Cut. 108 00:06:19,420 --> 00:06:24,060 While David has performed alongside a vast range of wild animals, 109 00:06:24,180 --> 00:06:26,140 tonight he faces a fresh challenge. 110 00:06:27,660 --> 00:06:33,300 He must act opposite an animal that is entirely invisible. 111 00:06:33,420 --> 00:06:36,180 The dodo. The dodo's round here so your eyes start there. 112 00:06:38,020 --> 00:06:42,980 Onset, David must react as if the dodo is right in front of him. 113 00:06:43,100 --> 00:06:44,220 Action. 114 00:06:44,340 --> 00:06:45,940 Ow! 115 00:06:46,060 --> 00:06:47,180 Hey. 116 00:06:47,300 --> 00:06:51,420 That's not very good, I'll do it again. 117 00:06:51,540 --> 00:06:52,460 Ow! 118 00:06:53,740 --> 00:06:56,260 In fact, he's staring into thin air. 119 00:06:56,380 --> 00:07:01,140 'Only later will the dodo be added with computer graphics.' 120 00:07:01,260 --> 00:07:04,980 I'm not an actor, it's not my skill. 121 00:07:05,100 --> 00:07:09,300 So you do feel a bit of a nana, really. 122 00:07:09,420 --> 00:07:12,340 When they say, "Look out, it's attacking you! Look, horror." 123 00:07:12,460 --> 00:07:14,580 Argh! Ow! 124 00:07:14,700 --> 00:07:16,060 I just hope it will work. 125 00:07:17,380 --> 00:07:20,460 In fact, it may well have been adapted to crushing stones. 126 00:07:20,580 --> 00:07:22,820 Not very good. 127 00:07:22,940 --> 00:07:24,220 It is incredibly tough. 128 00:07:24,340 --> 00:07:26,820 We are really lucky that David is able to react 129 00:07:26,940 --> 00:07:29,420 to something that is invisible. It is not really there. 130 00:07:29,540 --> 00:07:34,260 So no-one knows how big it was. After tonight, who knows? 131 00:07:34,380 --> 00:07:36,260 Cut, Brilliant. 132 00:07:36,380 --> 00:07:38,620 Once David's performance's in the can, 133 00:07:38,740 --> 00:07:42,700 it is up to the effects team to add the dodo to the scene. 134 00:07:42,820 --> 00:07:45,700 Lead visual effects supervisor, James Prosser, 135 00:07:45,820 --> 00:07:49,100 oversees all five animation studios and ensures 136 00:07:49,220 --> 00:07:53,060 the close collaboration with the scientific experts runs smoothly. 137 00:07:56,060 --> 00:08:00,220 It's anybody's guess what the true colours of the dodo were like. 138 00:08:00,340 --> 00:08:02,940 There are various paintings which are all contradictory. 139 00:08:03,060 --> 00:08:04,220 Some are light, some are dark. 140 00:08:04,340 --> 00:08:06,540 One of the best ones is by an artist called Mansur. 141 00:08:06,660 --> 00:08:08,620 And it has quite a blackish head 142 00:08:08,740 --> 00:08:11,940 and areas of the body were different colours. 143 00:08:12,060 --> 00:08:15,100 This could well be the best image we have of the dodo 144 00:08:15,220 --> 00:08:18,820 showing the mature male, "I'm incredibly aggressive, keep away." 145 00:08:21,100 --> 00:08:24,700 When the final graphics are added to footage of David's performance, 146 00:08:24,820 --> 00:08:26,980 the scene takes on a magical life. 147 00:08:29,380 --> 00:08:32,420 What do you make of that? 148 00:08:32,540 --> 00:08:35,060 DAVID LAUGHS 149 00:08:35,180 --> 00:08:36,540 Ow! 150 00:08:36,660 --> 00:08:38,780 That is a very powerful beak. 151 00:08:38,900 --> 00:08:42,940 In fact, it may well have been adapted for crushing shells 152 00:08:43,060 --> 00:08:45,540 and crustaceans, for the sake of the calcium. 153 00:08:54,500 --> 00:08:57,700 It's now the early hours of the morning deep in the museum. 154 00:08:59,140 --> 00:09:01,540 Making David's job even tougher 155 00:09:01,660 --> 00:09:04,900 is that he and the crew must shoot the entire film at night. 156 00:09:05,020 --> 00:09:06,380 It is like going to Australia. 157 00:09:06,500 --> 00:09:08,860 I mean, your clock is changed 158 00:09:08,980 --> 00:09:12,940 and for the first two or three days you have jet lag. 159 00:09:14,860 --> 00:09:17,580 The nocturnal lifestyle means that the team must adjust 160 00:09:17,700 --> 00:09:22,500 to bizarre new rhythms including sometimes eating lunch at 2AM. 161 00:09:25,100 --> 00:09:27,780 The trouble is you get very, very small helpings. 162 00:09:27,900 --> 00:09:29,780 They only give you a quarter of that. 163 00:09:30,980 --> 00:09:33,180 It is the first night of our shooting. 164 00:09:33,300 --> 00:09:36,140 We're supposed to think of it as our first day of the shooting 165 00:09:36,260 --> 00:09:37,860 because it is a night-time shoot. 166 00:09:37,980 --> 00:09:42,100 We have been at it since eight o'clock at night and it is now 167 00:09:42,220 --> 00:09:45,860 half past two. So we're about to have lunch. 168 00:09:48,500 --> 00:09:50,860 I just spoke to David and said, "Did you sleep well?" 169 00:09:50,980 --> 00:09:53,060 And he said he had written 30 letters today. 170 00:09:53,180 --> 00:09:55,900 He has had all sorts of letters from various people. 171 00:09:56,020 --> 00:09:57,820 He has just been at home writing. 172 00:09:57,940 --> 00:10:01,700 I don't know if he's actually slept. He's full of beans. A legend. 173 00:10:03,660 --> 00:10:08,180 David encounters extraordinary evidence of an extinct giant. 174 00:10:08,300 --> 00:10:10,900 It's a magical thing. It's a great privilege. 175 00:10:11,020 --> 00:10:15,580 Getting a 30 foot crane in through the front door proves a challenge. 176 00:10:15,700 --> 00:10:18,580 And the team battles unpredictable technology. 177 00:10:18,700 --> 00:10:19,780 What the hell is doing it? 178 00:10:33,140 --> 00:10:35,940 A team of film-makers led by David Attenborough, 179 00:10:36,060 --> 00:10:39,620 are shooting a groundbreaking new film in the Natural History Museum. 180 00:10:41,460 --> 00:10:45,500 This evening, the crew is setting up in the museum's grand Central Hall. 181 00:10:46,820 --> 00:10:52,460 For David, this breathtaking location is, itself, one of the stars of the film. 182 00:10:52,580 --> 00:10:56,340 The great thing about this is, in fact, it is modelled on the cathedral. 183 00:10:56,460 --> 00:11:01,900 Owen, its founder, he wanted this to be a cathedral to life and to creation. 184 00:11:03,660 --> 00:11:08,460 It did occur to me standing on the top floor of the museum of the Central Hall, 185 00:11:08,580 --> 00:11:14,340 you've got this enormous, great enclosed space which gives you the sense of distance. 186 00:11:14,460 --> 00:11:20,180 It's an ideal playground for computer-generated images to waltz around the place. 187 00:11:25,340 --> 00:11:29,380 The only thing we've got to get in here is shots of David walking. 188 00:11:29,500 --> 00:11:32,100 To show off the grandeur of this remarkable space, 189 00:11:32,220 --> 00:11:36,020 the team has devised a sequence centring on archaeopteryx - 190 00:11:36,140 --> 00:11:39,220 evidence of a link between the dinosaurs and the birds. 191 00:11:40,420 --> 00:11:46,900 It was an animal which was plainly a reptile, 192 00:11:47,020 --> 00:11:50,620 because it had a long, bony jaw with teeth in it, 193 00:11:50,740 --> 00:11:54,540 and birds don't have teeth, but this thing had feathers, 194 00:11:54,660 --> 00:11:58,980 so it was an intermediate between reptiles and birds. 195 00:12:05,980 --> 00:12:09,660 So as we see that skeleton start to assemble as it flies out of the slab, 196 00:12:09,780 --> 00:12:13,100 what we first notice is how dinosaur-like it really is, 197 00:12:13,220 --> 00:12:15,860 until the very last minute when the feathers appear. 198 00:12:15,980 --> 00:12:20,100 So it gives us a really nice idea of how we go from an animal that is essentially a small 199 00:12:20,220 --> 00:12:24,540 meat-eating dinosaur to a bird in one very visually nice segment. 200 00:12:24,660 --> 00:12:28,900 Once archaeopteryx has fully formed, viewers will finally see it 201 00:12:29,020 --> 00:12:32,260 jump from the gallery and take flight into the vast hall. 202 00:12:34,500 --> 00:12:37,540 The man charged with lighting these dramatic spaces 203 00:12:37,660 --> 00:12:39,900 is director of photography, Tim Cragg. 204 00:12:43,380 --> 00:12:46,220 Today we're shooting the opening piece to the film. 205 00:12:46,340 --> 00:12:50,740 As you can see behind me it's a remarkably, amazing architecture. 206 00:12:54,420 --> 00:12:57,820 I wanted to create a magical space - 207 00:12:57,940 --> 00:13:03,140 a place that, certainly as a child, you can imagine strange things happening in the shadows. 208 00:13:03,260 --> 00:13:07,780 Tonight's scene will present Tim with the biggest lighting 209 00:13:07,900 --> 00:13:11,980 I will also need another light, we can work in closer. 210 00:13:12,100 --> 00:13:14,660 As you can imagine, lighting a space like this is a huge number, 211 00:13:14,780 --> 00:13:17,620 so to the human eye it looks very light but we need to throw a lot of light 212 00:13:17,740 --> 00:13:19,500 for it to register and pick up. 213 00:13:19,620 --> 00:13:24,220 With so much equipment, including a giant crane arm being transported into the museum 214 00:13:24,340 --> 00:13:29,500 using a specially built ramp, even the smallest setback can spell potential disaster. 215 00:13:29,620 --> 00:13:33,700 This epic scene simply won't work without the crane. 216 00:13:33,820 --> 00:13:37,500 Shall we give ourselves a time limit? We've had a huge problem. 217 00:13:37,620 --> 00:13:39,340 The lift has been broken. 218 00:13:39,460 --> 00:13:43,660 So we are two hours late loading our equipment today. 219 00:13:43,780 --> 00:13:47,980 So I'm hoping in the next hour, suddenly the lights are up 220 00:13:48,100 --> 00:13:50,300 and I can start to make it look beautiful. 221 00:13:51,940 --> 00:13:56,580 Eamon, let's get that 12 powered up down there, please, on the lower stand. 222 00:13:58,460 --> 00:14:00,980 Tip it back, there you go. That's better, mate. 223 00:14:03,780 --> 00:14:05,780 Finally, the team is ready to shoot. 224 00:14:07,980 --> 00:14:12,100 Is everybody happy for a take? Yep. OK. Let's roll camera. 225 00:14:12,220 --> 00:14:14,300 Action, David. 226 00:14:14,420 --> 00:14:18,940 This, some people might say, is the most scientifically important 227 00:14:19,060 --> 00:14:23,940 and certainly the most valuable specimen in the whole of the museum. 228 00:14:24,060 --> 00:14:27,460 But what kind of creature was archaeopteryx when it was alive? 229 00:14:52,460 --> 00:14:57,260 When archaeopteryx is added to the team's sweeping shots of this epic interior, 230 00:14:57,380 --> 00:15:02,500 the result is a stunning celebration of one of the world's most spectacular buildings. 231 00:15:10,940 --> 00:15:13,900 DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYS 232 00:15:19,340 --> 00:15:21,500 It's an amazing building. 233 00:15:21,620 --> 00:15:26,340 In terms of getting three-dimensional pictures, it's just a dream of a set. 234 00:15:26,460 --> 00:15:29,860 And I hope we've exploited it as such. 235 00:15:29,980 --> 00:15:33,900 It was certainly one of the reasons why I thought up the idea in the first place. 236 00:15:36,500 --> 00:15:39,420 While the main crew continue shooting in the Central Hall, 237 00:15:39,540 --> 00:15:43,660 one member of the team finds himself in a more isolated location... 238 00:15:43,780 --> 00:15:45,700 all by himself. 239 00:15:45,820 --> 00:15:48,900 Second unit cameraman Rob Hollingworth 240 00:15:49,020 --> 00:15:52,220 is filming individual shots of the museum's exhibits. 241 00:15:52,340 --> 00:15:56,060 They're specialised time-lapse shots that can take hours. 242 00:15:56,180 --> 00:16:01,340 It's a role that gives him plenty of time to savour the museum's eerie atmosphere. 243 00:16:01,460 --> 00:16:04,860 There are amazing stories of the museum being haunted. 244 00:16:08,220 --> 00:16:12,540 We're in this completely blacked out room, with a little bit of haunted light. 245 00:16:14,900 --> 00:16:19,020 Suddenly out of nowhere you have these amazing sound effects of 246 00:16:19,140 --> 00:16:21,540 DINOSAUR SCREECHES 247 00:16:21,660 --> 00:16:23,060 It's quite something. 248 00:16:25,420 --> 00:16:29,300 Before long, Rob starts to wonder whether the museum's ghosts 249 00:16:29,420 --> 00:16:32,260 might not be interfering with his camera work. 250 00:16:32,380 --> 00:16:35,060 Things can go wrong, and things do go wrong. 251 00:16:37,540 --> 00:16:41,100 I'm just more worried about what the hell's doing it. 252 00:16:41,220 --> 00:16:44,500 The camera's running for, like, an hour and then you play back the shot, 253 00:16:44,620 --> 00:16:47,660 then look at it and you have these ghostly apparitions. 254 00:16:49,260 --> 00:16:51,620 God, it's happened again. 255 00:16:51,740 --> 00:16:55,700 Could it be Rob has fallen foul of the museum's ghostly residents? 256 00:16:57,100 --> 00:17:01,340 The lights change or the camera suddenly has a weird shape appearing in it. 257 00:17:01,460 --> 00:17:06,140 Like last night, I was looking at this for ages and thinking, "What on earth's gone wrong?" 258 00:17:08,500 --> 00:17:12,140 After careful examination of the final time-lapse images, 259 00:17:12,260 --> 00:17:16,020 Rob decides there might just be an all-too-human cause. 260 00:17:16,140 --> 00:17:18,780 You would have thought at three o'clock in the morning, 261 00:17:18,900 --> 00:17:20,540 in a museum that you've got control over, 262 00:17:20,660 --> 00:17:24,660 you wouldn't have people problems, but we've had people problems. 263 00:17:24,780 --> 00:17:29,540 In order to prevent any more crew members from accidentally interfering with his lighting, 264 00:17:29,660 --> 00:17:32,660 Rob decides to take matters into his own hands. 265 00:17:32,780 --> 00:17:36,420 We're instituting a guard outside the room to stop any of these 266 00:17:36,540 --> 00:17:39,180 ghostly apparitions appearing again in the picture. 267 00:17:39,300 --> 00:17:44,500 It's not exactly the most ripping of jobs, really, but, you know, needs must. 268 00:17:48,940 --> 00:17:52,260 While the crew sets up for the next shot, 269 00:17:52,380 --> 00:17:57,180 David takes a chance to explore some f the museum's hidden collection - 270 00:17:57,300 --> 00:18:01,620 specimens that are usually held back from public display. 271 00:18:01,740 --> 00:18:04,220 For David, it is a chance to see another side 272 00:18:04,340 --> 00:18:08,220 to a museum for which he's had a lifelong connection. 273 00:18:08,340 --> 00:18:11,300 I've been coming here since I was a boy of eight 274 00:18:11,420 --> 00:18:13,540 and it's one of the holy of holies. 275 00:18:13,660 --> 00:18:17,300 I mean, it's one of the great places for natural history. 276 00:18:17,420 --> 00:18:23,780 Each time was of astonishment because just looking at cases full of electric blue butterflies 277 00:18:23,900 --> 00:18:27,780 is enough to impress a child, or enough to impress me anyway. 278 00:18:27,900 --> 00:18:31,940 Just as David's tour is coming to a close, he's offered the chance 279 00:18:32,060 --> 00:18:35,740 to handle one of the museum's most treasured possessions of all. 280 00:18:35,860 --> 00:18:40,100 The claw of a moa, a giant extinct bird from New Zealand, 281 00:18:40,220 --> 00:18:42,820 something David's always wanted to see. 282 00:18:42,940 --> 00:18:47,780 This is an incredible, rare specimen at least 600 years old 283 00:18:47,900 --> 00:18:51,140 and it can be so affected by environmental conditions, 284 00:18:51,260 --> 00:18:54,260 bright lights, daylight, humidity, that it 285 00:18:54,380 --> 00:18:57,460 cannot possibly go out on display, not for any length of time 286 00:19:00,060 --> 00:19:04,500 Most of the extinct animals are bone, 287 00:19:04,620 --> 00:19:07,620 but in various particular circumstances 288 00:19:07,740 --> 00:19:11,780 you can get the actual tissues remain in 289 00:19:11,900 --> 00:19:16,140 a relatively unchanged way except that they are freeze-dried, as it were. 290 00:19:16,260 --> 00:19:21,060 There was the real thing. The actual foot of the animal. 291 00:19:21,180 --> 00:19:24,660 In a cave environment, this thing has dried out very slowly over time. 292 00:19:24,780 --> 00:19:27,820 It's a wonderful case of desiccation that's left the flesh. 293 00:19:27,940 --> 00:19:31,740 David is given the opportunity to hold this extraordinary 294 00:19:31,860 --> 00:19:34,060 object with his own hands. 295 00:19:44,660 --> 00:19:50,620 I've never seen the foot of a moa before. Never had that. 296 00:19:50,740 --> 00:19:55,700 But it's a magical thing. And such great privilege. 297 00:19:55,820 --> 00:19:57,540 Wonderful. 298 00:19:57,660 --> 00:20:00,580 With the claw once more behind lock and key, 299 00:20:00,700 --> 00:20:05,460 David is ready to meet a complete specimen of this extraordinary bird. 300 00:20:05,580 --> 00:20:07,540 And this will involve a major stunt. 301 00:20:09,820 --> 00:20:12,500 The team must make some difficult decisions. 302 00:20:12,620 --> 00:20:14,220 We've got a moment of tension. 303 00:20:14,340 --> 00:20:17,500 And David meets what might just be a modern-day monster. 304 00:20:17,620 --> 00:20:18,940 I'll get out of the way. 305 00:20:32,440 --> 00:20:35,600 In the Natural History Museum, David Attenborough and the crew 306 00:20:35,720 --> 00:20:39,800 are preparing to film a sequence about the moa, a giant extinct bird. 307 00:20:41,880 --> 00:20:45,960 The Maoris had sufficient knowledge to have legends about these 308 00:20:46,080 --> 00:20:47,360 giant birds. 309 00:20:47,480 --> 00:20:51,200 And moa was like an ostrich but it was probably the tallest bird 310 00:20:51,320 --> 00:20:54,920 that ever existed, if it in fact walked upright. 311 00:20:55,040 --> 00:20:58,760 The key point with moas is that the skeletons you see mounted everywhere 312 00:20:58,880 --> 00:21:01,280 want to make them the tallest bird in the world, 313 00:21:01,400 --> 00:21:04,680 so they purposely put them as high as they can, which wasn't the case. 314 00:21:04,800 --> 00:21:08,200 In fact moas...the plane of the body was horizontal with the neck, 315 00:21:08,320 --> 00:21:11,320 dropping down, so it actually walked along on a horizontal plane. 316 00:21:14,040 --> 00:21:17,400 Before restoring the animal to its true posture, however, 317 00:21:17,520 --> 00:21:21,000 the team must first bring the moa to life. 318 00:21:22,440 --> 00:21:24,880 To show the creature escaping from its cabinet, 319 00:21:25,000 --> 00:21:27,880 the team have come up with a dramatic solution. 320 00:21:28,000 --> 00:21:30,000 It will peck its way out. 321 00:21:31,440 --> 00:21:34,320 To create the most realistic effect possible, 322 00:21:34,440 --> 00:21:36,560 glass made with computer graphics 323 00:21:36,680 --> 00:21:40,280 will be combined with real shots of shattering sugar glass. 324 00:21:44,680 --> 00:21:46,640 To film the glass hitting the floor, 325 00:21:46,680 --> 00:21:49,920 the art department have built an ingenious piece of equipment. 326 00:21:50,040 --> 00:21:52,720 This is designed to sort of spring-release the glass. 327 00:21:52,840 --> 00:21:54,960 We're loading it all up now 328 00:21:55,080 --> 00:21:59,320 and what it's signifying is the moa breaking out of its glass cage. 329 00:22:00,920 --> 00:22:02,200 Action. 330 00:22:08,200 --> 00:22:10,000 When the shots are cut together, 331 00:22:10,120 --> 00:22:15,560 the result is one of the film's most electrifying moments. 332 00:22:15,680 --> 00:22:17,880 GLASS SMASHES 333 00:22:18,000 --> 00:22:20,600 MOA CRIES 334 00:22:29,240 --> 00:22:34,160 Getting the moa out of its case is only the first test of the evening. 335 00:22:34,280 --> 00:22:36,320 MOA CRIES 336 00:22:39,120 --> 00:22:42,360 To film David's face-to-face encounter with the bird, the team 337 00:22:42,480 --> 00:22:46,160 must draw on the unique talents of art department member Boz. 338 00:22:49,560 --> 00:22:53,000 I'm about to be a moa interacting with David Attenborough. 339 00:22:53,120 --> 00:22:55,760 It's mainly to give him something to interact with. 340 00:22:55,880 --> 00:22:59,400 Obviously it won't be me on the day, it will be a gigantic bird. 341 00:22:59,520 --> 00:23:02,880 It's to give him a good eye-line to sort of know the movements. 342 00:23:04,240 --> 00:23:06,200 It's quite a surreal part of the job, 343 00:23:06,320 --> 00:23:08,960 waving your hand in David Attenborough's face. 344 00:23:10,160 --> 00:23:12,200 I hope I'm up to the challenge. 345 00:23:12,320 --> 00:23:14,600 Mark that, please. 280, take one. 346 00:23:21,160 --> 00:23:24,480 Yeah, me and David have got to know each other in a professional way 347 00:23:24,600 --> 00:23:26,880 but I don't think I've said much more than hello, 348 00:23:27,000 --> 00:23:29,760 so I think I really should introduce myself at some point! 349 00:23:29,880 --> 00:23:32,760 In the finished cut, Boz is painted out of the film 350 00:23:32,880 --> 00:23:34,880 and replaced with the moa. 351 00:23:36,360 --> 00:23:37,800 Cut. Brilliant. 352 00:23:37,920 --> 00:23:40,880 Nonetheless his work on set is a vital aid to David 353 00:23:41,000 --> 00:23:44,400 in delivering yet another pitch-perfect performance. 354 00:23:44,520 --> 00:23:50,600 So, was the giant moa the biggest bird that has ever existed? 355 00:23:50,720 --> 00:23:55,760 Well, if it craned up its neck it was almost certainly the tallest. 356 00:23:59,440 --> 00:24:02,240 DAVID CHUCKLES, MOA GOBBLES 357 00:24:04,840 --> 00:24:07,480 MOA CRIES 358 00:24:12,120 --> 00:24:15,760 The Natural History Museum contains a huge variety of specimens, 359 00:24:15,880 --> 00:24:21,520 from extraordinary land animals to dazzling airborne species. 360 00:24:23,520 --> 00:24:25,600 But when it comes to bringing to life 361 00:24:25,720 --> 00:24:28,480 an ancient marine animal like the ichthyosaur 362 00:24:28,600 --> 00:24:31,000 the team faces a major problem. 363 00:24:31,120 --> 00:24:33,680 How to show it swimming. 364 00:24:33,800 --> 00:24:37,360 Well, the ichthyosaurs, we very much wanted to get them in, I did, 365 00:24:37,480 --> 00:24:40,280 because they're such dramatic British fossils. 366 00:24:40,400 --> 00:24:43,800 And so important in the history of palaeontology. 367 00:24:43,920 --> 00:24:46,360 But of course they're seagoing animals. 368 00:24:46,480 --> 00:24:49,800 Now, that makes a problem - how do you get the sea in here? 369 00:24:49,920 --> 00:24:52,720 Representing this challenging animal, however, 370 00:24:52,840 --> 00:24:56,000 is crucial for David's desire to explore an astonishing 371 00:24:56,120 --> 00:25:00,760 scientific phenomenon - convergent evolution. 372 00:25:00,880 --> 00:25:04,000 It's a nice fun sequence watching the ichthyosaur and dolphin 373 00:25:04,120 --> 00:25:05,720 racing around the central hall. 374 00:25:05,840 --> 00:25:08,840 You can see, superficially, that they're very similar in terms of 375 00:25:08,960 --> 00:25:12,200 their overall proportions but if we look more closely we'll see 376 00:25:12,320 --> 00:25:15,120 those differences that betray their very different ancestries. 377 00:25:15,240 --> 00:25:16,720 Dolphins from mammals, 378 00:25:16,840 --> 00:25:20,200 who tend to flex their back up and down when they run, 379 00:25:20,320 --> 00:25:23,680 ichthyosaurs from reptiles, that tend to wiggle from side to side. 380 00:25:26,880 --> 00:25:29,520 Determined to bring David's vision to life, 381 00:25:29,640 --> 00:25:32,960 the team experiments with some outlandish concept art. 382 00:25:33,080 --> 00:25:36,960 We thought about the business of actually filling the hall with water. 383 00:25:38,640 --> 00:25:42,120 But that seemed sort of slightly dotty, really. 384 00:25:42,240 --> 00:25:45,160 Now, should we leave the museum 385 00:25:45,280 --> 00:25:48,200 and find a device which would take us out into the sea? 386 00:25:49,800 --> 00:25:52,760 But the general feeling of the team was that there was 387 00:25:52,880 --> 00:25:57,240 a kind of unity to all these things happening in this one space. 388 00:25:57,360 --> 00:26:01,840 After months of discussion, the team finally pushes for a bold solution. 389 00:26:01,960 --> 00:26:05,080 What we're about to film here is a sequence that actually 390 00:26:05,200 --> 00:26:06,960 we've gone back and forwards on. 391 00:26:07,080 --> 00:26:09,720 We've now got rather a nice way of doing it, which is 392 00:26:09,840 --> 00:26:13,000 to take the idea of, there is a sort of concept of the water there 393 00:26:13,120 --> 00:26:14,520 without real water being there. 394 00:26:14,640 --> 00:26:18,160 I think it is going to work, the CGI team think it's going to work. 395 00:26:18,280 --> 00:26:22,160 David's certainly looking over the shoulder, saying, well, I'm not sure it's going to work. 396 00:26:22,280 --> 00:26:24,840 We've got a moment of tension. 397 00:26:25,000 --> 00:26:28,200 Showing the animals swimming through pure air 398 00:26:28,320 --> 00:26:30,680 is a potentially risky decision. 399 00:26:30,800 --> 00:26:32,960 At this stage not even David can be certain 400 00:26:33,080 --> 00:26:36,560 whether this ambitious visual concept will work. 401 00:26:36,680 --> 00:26:39,360 For example, I was asking about the surface of the water. 402 00:26:39,480 --> 00:26:41,440 What are we going to do about the surface? 403 00:26:41,560 --> 00:26:44,480 The texture, yeah. If it's going to leap, how is it going to splash? 404 00:26:44,600 --> 00:26:47,400 If you haven't got the surface, how will you splash? 405 00:26:47,520 --> 00:26:49,800 This is one of those scenes which is suck it and see. 406 00:26:49,920 --> 00:26:52,400 We're going to see when we do it whether we think it's going to work 407 00:26:52,520 --> 00:26:54,440 and if we don't we'll find another way of doing it. 408 00:26:54,560 --> 00:26:57,720 But those things you've got to go for because if you get them right 409 00:26:57,840 --> 00:26:59,800 that's where the magic really happens. 410 00:26:59,920 --> 00:27:02,200 410, take one. 411 00:27:02,320 --> 00:27:03,560 Action, David. 412 00:27:05,080 --> 00:27:08,120 In the finished scene it's the use of subtle effects 413 00:27:08,240 --> 00:27:12,400 and sound that provide an ingenious solution to David's concerns. 414 00:27:15,440 --> 00:27:19,800 They put a splash in here and there and then they put the sound, too, 415 00:27:19,920 --> 00:27:23,440 of the water, so I think it's going to work. 416 00:27:30,160 --> 00:27:33,520 When it comes to the final competition, the bold simplicity 417 00:27:33,640 --> 00:27:37,720 of this technique lends the scene a magical air of pure enchantment. 418 00:27:44,280 --> 00:27:47,920 All the animals that David meets on his journey are extinct. 419 00:27:49,120 --> 00:27:53,840 There's one, however, where matters might not be so black and white. 420 00:27:53,960 --> 00:27:57,640 Tonight we're doing gigantopithecus, which is a giant ape. 421 00:27:57,760 --> 00:28:00,600 Some people even think it could have been the Abominable Snowman. 422 00:28:02,120 --> 00:28:05,200 And I think... David's always been interested in the whole myth 423 00:28:05,320 --> 00:28:08,760 and so it's one that he really did want to do. 424 00:28:08,880 --> 00:28:11,880 When it comes to working out what this animal might have 425 00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:14,360 looked like, the team doesn't have much to go on. 426 00:28:14,480 --> 00:28:16,960 Let's do the introduction to the molar tooth. 427 00:28:17,080 --> 00:28:19,120 'There's a molar tooth,' 428 00:28:19,240 --> 00:28:22,960 but it is clearly a very human-like molar tooth, 429 00:28:23,080 --> 00:28:26,320 and if you scale up from that molar tooth to what the animal 430 00:28:26,440 --> 00:28:32,000 was like, it was a huge, apelike, probably even hominid-like, creature 431 00:28:32,120 --> 00:28:36,000 that probably stood about eight or nine feet tall. 432 00:28:36,120 --> 00:28:37,720 332, take one. 433 00:28:37,840 --> 00:28:39,480 Action, David. 434 00:28:39,600 --> 00:28:44,200 If this animal had a skull in the same proportion size 435 00:28:44,320 --> 00:28:48,280 as a gorilla's, it would have been this big. 436 00:28:48,400 --> 00:28:51,600 This was a true monster. 437 00:28:51,720 --> 00:28:54,880 Intriguingly, research indicates that this monster 438 00:28:55,000 --> 00:28:56,560 may have stood on two legs. 439 00:28:58,280 --> 00:28:59,680 Animators on this project 440 00:28:59,800 --> 00:29:02,640 draw much of their inspiration from modern animals 441 00:29:02,760 --> 00:29:05,760 and when gigantopithecus animator Dave Bennett 442 00:29:05,880 --> 00:29:08,360 learns about the behaviour of one particular gorilla 443 00:29:08,480 --> 00:29:10,800 he sets off on a vital research trip. 444 00:29:12,480 --> 00:29:17,920 We've come to the Port Lympne Animal Park today to research the gorillas. 445 00:29:18,040 --> 00:29:21,840 Mainly Ambam, who is a gorilla that can stand upright. 446 00:29:24,120 --> 00:29:27,360 Ambam emerges from his den, 447 00:29:27,480 --> 00:29:30,360 but for now remains firmly on all fours. 448 00:29:30,480 --> 00:29:35,320 Well, Ambam is one of a few gorillas that can walk very upright. 449 00:29:35,440 --> 00:29:37,840 Unfortunately he doesn't do it all the time, 450 00:29:37,960 --> 00:29:39,680 because he is a normal gorilla. 451 00:29:39,800 --> 00:29:42,040 It's something he does as and when he wants 452 00:29:42,160 --> 00:29:45,560 and if he doesn't feel like doing it he won't. 453 00:29:45,680 --> 00:29:47,960 All Dave can do is wait. 454 00:29:53,360 --> 00:29:55,440 It's a bit of a waiting game, 455 00:29:55,560 --> 00:29:58,240 because I'm not sure whether Ambam is actually going to come out 456 00:29:58,360 --> 00:30:01,080 and perform for us, but... yeah, we'll see. 457 00:30:04,320 --> 00:30:07,400 It seems the animator's trip may be in vain. 458 00:30:13,480 --> 00:30:17,160 Finally, however, Dave's patience is rewarded. 459 00:30:17,280 --> 00:30:19,960 Oh, wow, that's amazing. 460 00:30:20,080 --> 00:30:23,040 It almost looks like a man in a suit. 461 00:30:26,360 --> 00:30:28,320 Brilliant. 462 00:30:29,960 --> 00:30:31,720 That's exactly what we need. 463 00:30:31,840 --> 00:30:35,160 He obviously feels quite comfortable in that position. 464 00:30:35,280 --> 00:30:38,840 So, yeah, brilliant. A good experience, for sure. 465 00:30:42,000 --> 00:30:43,440 Back at the studio, 466 00:30:43,560 --> 00:30:47,680 Dave animates his model to include features of Ambam's movements. 467 00:30:49,080 --> 00:30:52,040 I think you'll probably see a little bit of Ambam 468 00:30:52,160 --> 00:30:53,680 in the gigantopithecus, 469 00:30:53,800 --> 00:30:58,960 just in the way he transfers the weight from one leg to another. 470 00:30:59,080 --> 00:31:03,760 He's got a lot of body mass that he has to carry around on those legs, 471 00:31:03,880 --> 00:31:07,840 so it's inevitable that he's going to sway onto each leg 472 00:31:07,960 --> 00:31:10,360 more so than a lightweight animal. 473 00:31:10,480 --> 00:31:14,840 So, yeah, that's definitely reflected on the gigantopithecus 474 00:31:14,960 --> 00:31:16,400 and the design of it. 475 00:31:19,960 --> 00:31:24,640 So the likelihood is that his arms were quite short 476 00:31:24,760 --> 00:31:27,960 and he walked upright, he was bipedal. 477 00:31:30,960 --> 00:31:32,760 I'm going to get out of the way. 478 00:31:37,840 --> 00:31:40,920 GIGANTOPITHECUS GRUNTS 479 00:31:41,040 --> 00:31:44,480 As the nights roll on, they begin to take their toll on the crew. 480 00:31:45,600 --> 00:31:48,320 I'm feeling tired, confused, broken... 481 00:31:48,440 --> 00:31:50,680 And the team faces its biggest challenge yet, 482 00:31:50,800 --> 00:31:53,600 with a last-minute change to the film's epic finale. 483 00:31:53,720 --> 00:31:55,640 The problem is we're running out of time. 484 00:32:07,120 --> 00:32:09,760 David is filming in the Natural History Museum, 485 00:32:09,880 --> 00:32:12,960 where extinct animals are coming to life. 486 00:32:13,080 --> 00:32:16,200 Not all the animals he meets on his journey are friendly. 487 00:32:17,280 --> 00:32:20,920 One of the most sinister creatures he encounters is gigantophis, 488 00:32:21,040 --> 00:32:23,400 a giant prehistoric snake. 489 00:32:23,520 --> 00:32:27,320 While planning the scene, David's clear that there's one particular 490 00:32:27,440 --> 00:32:31,400 element of the animal's behaviour that he wants to highlight. 491 00:32:31,520 --> 00:32:33,560 How it killed its prey. 492 00:32:33,680 --> 00:32:34,960 One of the key things 493 00:32:35,080 --> 00:32:37,680 is whether they think it's a constrictor or whether it's a poi... 494 00:32:37,800 --> 00:32:40,120 And I think it's a constrictor. It's a constrictor, yeah. 495 00:32:40,240 --> 00:32:42,080 So we should be saying python or something. 496 00:32:42,200 --> 00:32:45,440 I mean, those of us watching, kids or anybody else, will think, 497 00:32:45,560 --> 00:32:48,480 are we supposed to be worrying about it suddenly going to wallop us 498 00:32:48,600 --> 00:32:51,520 with a lethal injection of poison or if it's going to strangle us. 499 00:32:51,640 --> 00:32:53,440 That's the sort of thing we want to know. 500 00:32:53,560 --> 00:32:57,880 Gigantophis is going to be slowly slithering over this balcony up here. 501 00:32:58,000 --> 00:33:00,720 To bring alive this creature's predatory powers, 502 00:33:00,840 --> 00:33:03,840 the team devises a sequence in which the snake will attack 503 00:33:03,960 --> 00:33:07,000 the model of an animal that's in the museum. 504 00:33:07,120 --> 00:33:10,320 Camera, set and...action. 505 00:33:11,680 --> 00:33:15,400 To create the impression of a snake winding round its victim, 506 00:33:15,520 --> 00:33:18,440 the art department must slowly rotate the model. 507 00:33:18,560 --> 00:33:22,120 'There were a couple of things in that sequence that were challenging. 508 00:33:22,240 --> 00:33:25,600 'The museum were a little bit unsure about us doing anything.' 509 00:33:25,720 --> 00:33:27,800 You know, it was a tricky one to get right. 510 00:33:27,920 --> 00:33:30,880 They were practising for sort of 45 minutes beforehand 511 00:33:31,000 --> 00:33:34,440 to get that rotation sort of believable. 512 00:33:34,560 --> 00:33:39,080 The finished scene brings alive the formidable power of an animal 513 00:33:39,200 --> 00:33:41,760 that in its time would have been a true monster. 514 00:33:57,560 --> 00:34:03,080 I wonder if he realises that his dinner tonight is a fibreglass model. 515 00:34:05,400 --> 00:34:08,840 Until now, David has been performing alone with the crew, 516 00:34:08,960 --> 00:34:12,120 reacting to creatures that aren't really there. 517 00:34:12,240 --> 00:34:15,600 But tonight is the busiest night of the shoot. 518 00:34:15,720 --> 00:34:19,400 In the film he gains access to the museum by hiding from the guard 519 00:34:19,520 --> 00:34:22,960 while visitors make their way out at closing time. 520 00:34:23,080 --> 00:34:26,640 As this is the opening of the film, and sets up the whole premise 521 00:34:26,760 --> 00:34:30,040 of David's magical night, it's important to get it right. 522 00:34:30,160 --> 00:34:32,320 We're filming the scenes where members of the public 523 00:34:32,440 --> 00:34:35,160 are first leaving the museum at the end of the day as David comes in, 524 00:34:35,280 --> 00:34:38,640 and we're also shooting the scenes where the members of the public 525 00:34:38,760 --> 00:34:41,880 are coming back in in the morning and David's sneaking away. 526 00:34:42,000 --> 00:34:44,120 So it's both ends of the film. 527 00:34:44,240 --> 00:34:47,560 Working with extras is always difficult in terms of coordination. 528 00:34:47,680 --> 00:34:50,640 We have a first and second AD and lots of runners to try and wrangle 529 00:34:50,800 --> 00:34:54,840 everybody to make the museum feel as full and as natural as possible. 530 00:34:59,080 --> 00:35:01,120 My wife and four-year-old daughter 531 00:35:01,240 --> 00:35:05,920 and baby son have come along tonight to help fill out the scenes. 532 00:35:10,120 --> 00:35:13,080 And really nice also for them to appear in the film 533 00:35:13,200 --> 00:35:15,320 and to see what I do during the night. 534 00:35:15,440 --> 00:35:19,280 It's been an exhausting evening working with a full museum. 535 00:35:19,400 --> 00:35:24,080 After weeks of filming nights, the crew are finally feeling the strain. 536 00:35:24,200 --> 00:35:27,120 There is a worry that there are difficult scenes ahead. 537 00:35:27,240 --> 00:35:29,720 Can they keep the energy up for the final push? 538 00:35:30,960 --> 00:35:34,280 Getting used to these nights is taking its toll. 539 00:35:34,400 --> 00:35:37,080 The hours are fine, you just work your daylight hours but at night, 540 00:35:37,200 --> 00:35:39,960 but it means you're sleeping during the day, 541 00:35:40,080 --> 00:35:43,240 which means you never see the sun, so you just don't see daylight. 542 00:35:43,360 --> 00:35:49,120 I'm feeling tired, confused, broken...er...optimistic. 543 00:35:50,520 --> 00:35:53,000 Erm...confused... 544 00:35:54,160 --> 00:35:58,040 Don't know what time it is, don't know what day of the week it is, 545 00:35:58,160 --> 00:36:00,040 don't know what shoot day it is. 546 00:36:00,160 --> 00:36:04,040 I think we need a whip, someone just to...wake people up. 547 00:36:07,880 --> 00:36:10,320 We sometimes forget, I think, as we're all 548 00:36:10,440 --> 00:36:13,840 trying to do these very complicated sequences with everybody, 549 00:36:13,960 --> 00:36:16,960 how tiring it is for David. 550 00:36:17,080 --> 00:36:21,960 I'll be off to home in about another couple of hours, I dare say. 551 00:36:22,080 --> 00:36:24,720 I mean, I just have to sort of plod on. 552 00:36:24,840 --> 00:36:27,440 Work all night and sleep all day, at least some of it. 553 00:36:27,560 --> 00:36:31,280 But everyone, especially David, must be fully rested for tomorrow, 554 00:36:31,400 --> 00:36:35,680 as they will be tackling the most complicated sequence of the whole film. 555 00:36:41,680 --> 00:36:44,120 It's the final night of the shoot. 556 00:36:44,240 --> 00:36:47,080 Tonight the team must bring to life the largest of all 557 00:36:47,200 --> 00:36:50,240 the animals in the film - Dippy. 558 00:36:50,360 --> 00:36:52,400 The cast of a diplodocus, 559 00:36:52,520 --> 00:36:56,080 a giant dinosaur skeleton in the Central Hall. 560 00:36:56,200 --> 00:37:00,280 When I came down here as a kid, I wanted to see a dinosaur. 561 00:37:00,400 --> 00:37:04,360 There it was, and then I read on the label that it was actually plaster, 562 00:37:04,480 --> 00:37:06,360 it wasn't a real dinosaur at all. 563 00:37:06,480 --> 00:37:09,520 But it's still the biggest dinosaur that's ever been dug up 564 00:37:09,640 --> 00:37:13,960 and it's very famous, so it makes it fair enough for a climax, really. 565 00:37:16,120 --> 00:37:20,040 At the climax of the scene, David wants to feed Dippy plant leaves. 566 00:37:21,280 --> 00:37:23,920 Not just that, he wants to show off one of Dippy's 567 00:37:24,040 --> 00:37:25,480 most remarkable talents. 568 00:37:26,880 --> 00:37:29,920 The ability to reach the highest branches by not just 569 00:37:30,040 --> 00:37:33,320 stretching up her neck but standing up on her hind legs. 570 00:37:37,720 --> 00:37:40,880 Any time we have any interaction with a CG animal, it's difficult, 571 00:37:41,000 --> 00:37:44,640 because you've got to imagine the animal, you've got to get the pulling of the fern. 572 00:37:44,760 --> 00:37:49,000 We haven't done it yet, but that's going to be difficult. It's always time-consuming. 573 00:37:49,120 --> 00:37:52,320 What we're doing here as much as possible is cheating to see 574 00:37:52,440 --> 00:37:55,880 if we can get the tug of a dinosaur's jaw. 575 00:37:56,000 --> 00:37:59,040 Once again it falls to art department's Boz to play 576 00:37:59,160 --> 00:38:01,200 the role of the star animal. 577 00:38:01,320 --> 00:38:04,360 So, Harry, can you hold that out and tight, please? 578 00:38:04,480 --> 00:38:06,360 I'm being a makeshift diplodocus. 579 00:38:06,480 --> 00:38:09,520 All I'm doing is just creating a little tug 580 00:38:09,640 --> 00:38:12,840 so that then CGI can add some extra fern leaves 581 00:38:12,960 --> 00:38:16,720 and it will simulate the diplodocus eating from his hand. 582 00:38:18,960 --> 00:38:22,200 After hours of setup, the team is finally ready to shoot. 583 00:38:22,320 --> 00:38:23,920 Action, David! 584 00:38:24,040 --> 00:38:29,280 It seems quite possible that Dippy was able to rear up on her hind legs. 585 00:38:29,400 --> 00:38:32,920 Come on, Dippy. Breakfast. Cut. 586 00:38:33,040 --> 00:38:34,600 That was brilliant. 587 00:38:34,720 --> 00:38:38,280 If we could get a little bit more looking all around the place. Thanks. 588 00:38:38,400 --> 00:38:40,640 227, take one. 589 00:38:40,760 --> 00:38:41,920 Action, David. 590 00:38:42,040 --> 00:38:44,560 To rear up on her hind legs and... 591 00:38:45,960 --> 00:38:48,680 Sorry, I'm going to do this again. 592 00:38:48,800 --> 00:38:52,120 Keep your eyes down this sort of area, because Dippy will be here. 593 00:38:52,240 --> 00:38:53,920 Yes. 594 00:38:54,040 --> 00:38:56,040 224, take two. 595 00:38:56,160 --> 00:39:00,240 By rearing on her hind legs. Let's see if I can tempt her. 596 00:39:00,360 --> 00:39:01,760 Come on, Dippy. 597 00:39:01,880 --> 00:39:04,520 Cut. If you look at that, that should be about right. 598 00:39:04,640 --> 00:39:07,880 Well, I'm just listening, or... She trumpets, and it's a..."Huuhh!" 599 00:39:08,000 --> 00:39:13,080 Having seen some big animals in time, I mean, rhinoceroses and giraffes 600 00:39:13,200 --> 00:39:16,720 and one thing and another, I can imagine, I hope, what they were like. 601 00:39:16,840 --> 00:39:18,880 Action, David! 602 00:39:19,000 --> 00:39:21,360 Come on, Dippy. Breakfast. 603 00:39:23,440 --> 00:39:25,440 Enough? 604 00:39:25,560 --> 00:39:27,320 That's it. 605 00:39:27,440 --> 00:39:28,800 Cut. Brilliant. 606 00:39:28,920 --> 00:39:30,760 The scene is in the bag. 607 00:39:30,880 --> 00:39:33,320 But with only a few hours of filming to go 608 00:39:33,440 --> 00:39:37,160 David suddenly sees the opportunity for a more spectacular ending. 609 00:39:37,280 --> 00:39:41,440 Dippy being fed by David from the very top of the museum. 610 00:39:43,160 --> 00:39:46,880 All the dimensions worked out and we saw that actually, 611 00:39:47,000 --> 00:39:49,560 just close to the bridge, which is at the far end, 612 00:39:49,680 --> 00:39:54,000 if I stood there, Dippy would just reach up and... 613 00:39:54,120 --> 00:39:57,520 Just rear up on its hind legs and just be able to get it. 614 00:39:57,640 --> 00:40:01,440 It seems that Dippy could reach that high if pushed to the limit. 615 00:40:01,560 --> 00:40:04,840 The CGI team finds the best way to make it work. 616 00:40:06,960 --> 00:40:09,440 Reshooting this feeding scene from this high point 617 00:40:09,560 --> 00:40:12,680 will certainly make for an impressive climax for the film. 618 00:40:12,800 --> 00:40:16,160 The problem, however, is that the sun is already beginning to rise, 619 00:40:16,280 --> 00:40:18,240 which will flood the museum with light. 620 00:40:18,360 --> 00:40:20,760 The diplodocus sequence is probably the most important 621 00:40:20,880 --> 00:40:24,560 sequence of the film. I know David's very keen on redoing it. 622 00:40:24,680 --> 00:40:28,480 Our problem is we're running out of time, really, in our schedule. 623 00:40:28,600 --> 00:40:31,040 But we'll do it, and I think it will be fantastic, 624 00:40:31,160 --> 00:40:33,440 but we are very tight on time. 625 00:40:33,560 --> 00:40:35,000 Action, David. 626 00:40:36,120 --> 00:40:38,040 As daylight eventually creeps in, 627 00:40:38,160 --> 00:40:41,840 the team finally get the shots they need to create what will be 628 00:40:41,960 --> 00:40:44,880 a truly magical sequence and fitting end to the film. 629 00:40:46,960 --> 00:40:48,360 Come on, Dippy. 630 00:40:48,480 --> 00:40:50,320 Breakfast. Come on. 631 00:41:05,720 --> 00:41:08,200 Cut. Brilliant. Excellent. 632 00:41:08,320 --> 00:41:09,800 The team has done it. 633 00:41:09,920 --> 00:41:13,720 Thanks very much, that's the day's wrap on David Attenborough! 634 00:41:15,920 --> 00:41:18,280 Thank you, gentlemen, thanks, one and all. 635 00:41:18,400 --> 00:41:21,520 After weeks of gruelling nights they finally have the shots 636 00:41:21,640 --> 00:41:24,360 they need to complete the film. 637 00:41:24,480 --> 00:41:26,760 It's been a successful shoot. 638 00:41:26,880 --> 00:41:28,520 For the team, however, 639 00:41:28,640 --> 00:41:31,600 there's still a sense of anticipation as to what comes next. 640 00:41:31,720 --> 00:41:33,880 Right now it feels like a huge sense of achievement 641 00:41:34,000 --> 00:41:36,560 but it is just the tip of the iceberg, as it were. 642 00:41:36,680 --> 00:41:38,480 This is just the beginning, 643 00:41:38,600 --> 00:41:42,280 in the sense that we have a lot of CGI creatures to build, 644 00:41:42,400 --> 00:41:44,960 a lot of plates to composite them into. 645 00:41:45,080 --> 00:41:48,040 There's a lot of work to do in the remaining few months. 646 00:41:49,460 --> 00:41:52,260 Painstaking attention to detail is required 647 00:41:52,380 --> 00:41:54,340 to recreate such photorealism. 648 00:41:55,740 --> 00:41:59,540 And three months later David visits the studios to get his first 649 00:41:59,660 --> 00:42:01,900 glimpse of these computer graphics. 650 00:42:04,040 --> 00:42:07,040 For him and the team, it's an anxious moment. 651 00:42:07,160 --> 00:42:08,680 It's time to discover 652 00:42:08,800 --> 00:42:13,920 whether they've finally succeeded in bringing David's vision to life. 653 00:42:14,040 --> 00:42:16,720 DAVID LAUGHS 654 00:42:16,840 --> 00:42:21,360 I know exactly how he feels. Oh, that's terrific. 655 00:42:21,480 --> 00:42:24,200 Oh, I like that, the movement of the hand. 656 00:42:26,240 --> 00:42:31,440 It is so immaculate and so completely believable. 657 00:42:35,280 --> 00:42:38,120 God, I just... I mean, it's amazing. 658 00:42:48,120 --> 00:42:50,120 Oh, that's great. 659 00:42:50,240 --> 00:42:53,320 CGI has reached a peak of perfection. 660 00:42:53,440 --> 00:42:56,680 And some of the people responsible for reaching that peak, 661 00:42:56,800 --> 00:42:59,680 they are involved in this project. 662 00:42:59,800 --> 00:43:04,200 It doesn't look Disney-ish, I mean, it doesn't look like a cartoon. 663 00:43:04,320 --> 00:43:06,320 It simply looks real.