David Attenborough’s Conquest of the Skies

Learn how insects, reptiles and birds unshackled themselves from the grips of gravity and took to the skies, with natural history legend, David Attenborough, as your guide.

Platform : Meta Quest

Runtime : 3 x 7mins

Release : November 2022

Today, over 100 billions creatures fly through the air: from nectar-drinking hummingbirds to bizarre, winged lizards. Human beings have always been fascinated by the act of flight, and it is only now in the 21st century that we can truly observe the cumulation of over 300 millions years of evolution. Thanks to cutting-edge image capture methods, scientists are able to document and study the aerodynamics and engineering of wings and feathers in unprecedented detail. And Alchemy Immersive’s mission is to share these findings in the most innovative ways with the widest audience possible.

Following on from their previous Emmy-nominated titles – Micro Monsters, First Life, and Kingdom Of Plants – Alchemy Immersive and Meta Quest have launched their most ambitious co-production yet with David Attenborough’s Conquest of the Skies. In this three-part Immersive series, join David Attenborough to explore the astonishing 300-million-year dynasty of flight in exceptional 3D 8k 180 Virtual Reality at 60fps with ambisonic audio.

Alchemy Immersive believe that VR is revolutionising the ways in which viewers can experience the natural world. Each of these three episodes was developed from the ground up, to utilise immersive tech to its fullest potential. The combination of technology and storytelling creates an experience that is incomparable to anything seen prior; an opportunity for viewers to explore the evolution of flight from a brand new perspective. But fundamentally, it’s an immersive journey designed not only to stimulate the senses but to educate, inform and enlighten.

​In continuation of Atlantic Production’s landmark 3D TV series,this Immersive series was nine months in-the-making, with the ambition of showcasing nature’s habit of innovating in the evolutionary development of flight.

After examining hours and hours of the archived stereoscopic material captured in the cloud forests of Ecuador and the rainforests of Borneo, key creatures and stories which best encapsulated the most significant moments in the progression of natural aviation were story-boarded.

Each and every single shot was selected with an immersive presentation in mind, only making the final cut when we were certain it could be enhanced and presented in a fashion that would do the immersive format justice.

This cinematic 3D stereoscopic footage showcases the remarkable first feats of natural wing engineering in astounding detail, revealing how insects, the ancient pioneers of the skies, are still prevalent and crucial members of our ecosystems today.

In addition to this archive material, the team built brand new CGI scenes that would put viewers right into the heart of the prehistoric forest and canyons where dinosaurs soared. Bringing these flying dinosaurs to life in epic detail was only possible thanks to the collaboration of in-house Animation & VFX team: ZOOVFX

We also revisited some of the original locations in order to capture 3D 180 stereoscopic video that allowed the team to place CG creatures in real-world environments.

Credits

Narrator

David Attenborough

Director

Lewis Ball

Executive Producer

Anthony Geffen

Producer

Lou Doye

Executive Producer (Meta Quest)

Eric Cheng

Producer (Meta Quest)

Jonathan Gleit

Editors

Richard Lester
Stephen Stephenson

Head of Production

Char Arthurs

VFX Supervisor

Bhaumik Patel

Colourist

Stephen Stephenson

Development Creative Producer

Iona McEwan

Production Assistants

Anna Taylor
Tom White

Retoucher

Vahakn Vorperian

Stitcher & Video Compositor

Patrick Dawid

VFX Producer

Ceri Passmore

VFX Artist

Patrick Dawid

VFX Creative Direction

Kam Bhogal

VFX Compositor

Tim Baier
Ephraim Mwakandu
Ergin Sanal

3D Lead Artist

Matthew Baker-Jones

Creature Development

Vladimir Venkov

Groom TD

Yuriy Dulwich

3D Generalist

John Hasted

3D Animator

Antoine Bourruel

3D Rigger & Animator

Ben Mars

3D Junior Artist

Paris Lucke

2D Graphic Designer

Gavin Payne

Managing Director (Atlantic Productions)

Claudia Perkins

Business & Legal (Atlantic Productions)

Mimi Gilligan

Production Accountant (Atlantic Productions)

Vince Pretorious

Head of Facilities (Atlantic Productions)

Conor Moss

Head of IT (Atlantic Productions)

Steve Cullen

Marketing

Charlotte Fletcher
Char Arthurs

180 VR Production

UAV CAMERA: Upixmedia, Stefan Venter, Simon Adams
Extreme Facilities Lead Rigger: Andrew Schaale
Specialist Time-lapse Photography & Moco Development: Chad Gordon Higgins

Wildlife Unit

Wildlife Cinematographer: Simon de Glanville
Assistant Stereographer: Jason Lord-Castle
Bird Specialists: Lloyd Buck, Rose Buck, Jemima Parry-Jones

Audio Post Production

1.618 Digital

3D Sound Supervisor & Re-recording Mixer

Oliver Kadel

Technical Consultant – Sound

Dr Hyunkook Lee (APL, UOH)

Music Composition

Joel Douek
Graham Hadfield
Paul Moessl

META SPECIAL THANKS

Brittney Black
Sarah Malkin
Connie Chu
Monica Ares
Leticia Jauregui
Jessie Van ARman
Nicole Staubli
Katalin Larocque-Tassi
Ben Marazzi
Martha Tian
Valeria Lucchesi
Ryan Nugent

Archive

Nature Footage
FilmJungle
Pond 5
BBC Motion Gallery
Getty Images Framepool
Artbeats

Atlantic Productions is one of the world’s leading factual production companies whose TV and theatrical films have been seen in over 150 countries.

Emmy-award winning Zoo are leaders in 4k VFX production and have a wealth of experience in stereoscopic production.

The multi award-winning Colossus Productions produce high-end 3D films for an international audience.