Diving into BBC’s Big Blue Live

Going Digital: Social Media and 360 Filming

We dived into the BBC Big Blue Live Masterclass in Bristol to learn about the secrets of their latest live wildlife-drama hit.

Laura Thorne, Paul Deane and Sam Hume took to the stage to reveal the digital highs and lows of this new immersive and multiplatform series celebrating the wildlife of our oceans co-produced by the BBC and PBS. “Bringing the world to Monterey Bay” created many logistical, technical and editorial challenges for the team. The boats out in Monterey had been rigged with live cameras but nobody knew which individual animals would be filmed! Back in the UK we’re used to seeing the similarly formatted “Springwatch” with a more regimented character appearance, but as experienced producer James Honeyborne said, “Nature is literally writing our script!”

However the adorable Southern Sea Otters at the Bay offered the crew a life line, allowing them to follow the story of a female mother, Bixby and her young pup. There’s nothing cuter than a literal ball of fluff- a single looping vine clip had over 4 million views on social media. Now that’s transoceanic!

The social campaign was hugely successful with experienced Digital Development Lead Paul Dean on board, where the stories, wealth of archive material (70% digital exclusives) and hot-off the platter video-bites were served up on the BBC Earth Unplugged social platforms to some of the largest audiences the broadcasters have seen online. In a world of increasing content, there is little time to grab an audience’s attention.

And so the wealth of GIFs, videos, Vines, stills and infographics kept both UK and American audiences entertained and enthralled by this little known oceanic part of the world.

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Even 360 got a test dive… a virtual interactive reality video where you can dive among the verdant and colossal kelp forests, or have a swim with seals and Steve Backshall in an equally engaging virtual world. The BBC were however careful to choose the right video clips to fit a particular platform, and were able to partner with PBS and Monterey Bay Aquarium to promote their content.

Influencer campaigns of people with ‘big accounts’ such as conservationists and presenters were also targeted to “re-tweet” material, with the Blue Whale’s last minute appearance stealing the headlines.

This indeed proved to be a crucial element in making Big Blue a splashing success worldwide. Co-branding the BBC and PBS worked surprisingly well for the team as well, despite traditional ways of publicising programmes. The team shared their top tips for getting your content out there:

• Know your audience
• Be patient
• Try out material
• Know your team
• Be multi-skilled
• Pre-release your best content
• Listen to you audience

But most of all, be HUMAN. Audiences want to be entertained on Digital Platforms as well on TV, with stories that are risky, humorous and inspiring. Big Blue Live was a truly ground-breaking and thrilling interactive experience. The Live Team are now looking for the next big series where the logistical issues of filming at different times of the day can be overcome, but not at the expense of finding amazing wildlife. We racked our brains for a few places we thought might fit the bill- let’s hope they have potential!

Meet the Grauer’s Gorillas: a virtual reality

Chimanuka– a 200kg male silverback Grauer’s Gorilla gently grooms his 3 year old sons back, carefully picking out the burs and ticks…meanwhile wildlife filmmaker Gordon Buchanan captures the most amazing sequences of these gentle giants in the Kahuzi-Biega National Park, one of the last retreats of these elusive Gorillas. Can you imagine watching this in 360… live? This might become a reality very soon…

If you’ve all been watching the superlative “Gorilla Family and Me” on BBC 2 over Christmas, I am certain you’ve fallen for the protective 30 year old male silverback of the 25 strong group of Eastern Lowland Gorillas (or Grauer’s) and his adorable son, Marhale. The bond between these two is emotively captured in this compelling new series by executive producer Ted Oakes, DOP David Johnson and cameraman Gordon Buchanan.

As a lead contributor to this beautiful, heartfelt piece of storytelling, Ian Redmond OBE– (wildlife filmmaker, conservationist and ambassador for the protection of wildlife) has developed a pioneering way in which to view these amazing apes from the comfort of your own home. Yep you heard me, ZERO risk of being sat on by a Grauer, bitten by parasite ridden mosquitoes or blown to bits in a potentially volatile conflict. vEcotourism (http://www.vecotourism.org/) is a virtual reality project that uses interactive on-line tours connects you at home with conservation projects and local communities in ecologically and culturally sensitive areas worldwide.

Founded in 2004 by director Mark Laxer, current vEcotours are primarily being produced in Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Indonesia to highlight the plight of the great apes in those countries, but as they grow they intend to tackle the challenge of conservation world wide. Ian films, presents and narrates all the content that is being brought to you on-screen on his travels and conservation work in these areas.

Ian giving us a talk about his brilliant new project. It was such an honor to meet him; as a huge follower of his work I am very excited to work with him.

It’s innovative and fresh– allowing you to interact and take control of the content you want to see and find out in certain hot spots. Together with a team of volunteers (including myself), we are using our skills as editors, scriptwriter and social media associates to help Ian to be able to host these virtual eco tours and spread the message about the plight of the great apes.

What we’re looking to do is have LIVE tours of these beautiful biodiversity hotspots of the world, where you can join Ian and a co-host via 2 virtual live streams and pan the virtual 360 world of the apes. With these panos (panoramas) you have the power to be able to zoom in/out during the tour, whilst having a team of wildlife experts guiding you. Interactive chat boxes allow you to ask questions with live feedback from Ian throughout the tour. You can take a look at some of the content (non-live tours) and where Chimanuka and his family live RIGHT NOW!

http://www.vecotourism.org/panos/prototours/kahuzi_stump/

Of course, there’s nothing that can beat a real-life encounter with these magnificent great apes, but such virtual reality tours are a fantastic way to learn about the fascinating behaviour and life of an incredibly threatened species…the hope is it will inspire you to help protect the environment in which they live, take up a career in research or simply share your love for these gentle giants.

Time is running out for the largest Gorillas Species, as civil unrest continues to take its toll in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In the last 50 years, its range has decreased from 8,100 square miles to 4,600 square miles today…and less than 9000 individuals remain. Please do what you can for this remarkable species and donate/share if you can:

https://secure.gorillas.org/save-me?platform=hootsuite

REMEMBER tonight on BBC Two (27th December at 9pm to 10pm) is the last episode of the beautiful “Gorilla Family and Me.” So much emotion and storytelling with the 25 strong family, led by the charismatic Chimanuka silverback male. Shout out to my roommate who was the assistant editor- Charis May!