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.
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