Imagine the start to an epic Blue Chip documentary , the music builds on to drop then come back with the title sequence art the end.
We view the bitter frozen wastelands ahead of us, icy, bleak but still beautiful, represented by Vicki Swan's nyckelharpa playing., then we fade to the aurora borealis accompanied by Christine Hals vocals.
Next shot see's some penguins bumbling about in the snow.
We end with close ups of ice crystals and snow flakes showing the beauty of the frozen north.
The Fascinating Place_ My Otter Diary
2:53
This track opens the film to stunning shots of the Cauvery river moving very slowly and early morning mist rising from the river.
Peering through the long grass into the Indian jungle we start to see tiger cubs who jump around and play, then mum turns up, it's feeding time then nap time.
We start underwater where the penguins are effortlessly zooming through the water, we are then topside watching a mother keeping a little chick warm with the cello solo, we then cut to a city scene where the penguins are waddling their way through town.
Scar is dead - My Otter Diary
4:15
Slowly working their way up river Sugandhi and Shivu discover the the dead body of the Male otter Scar who was Shiva's favourite otter..
a contemporary approach to scoring natural history with aggressive drums, synths and sound effects.
Imagine walking through a beautiful ancient oak forest, stopping along the way to view the saplings poking through the grass as well as the strong healthy trees and some that didn't make it through the storms.
String Quartet played by Brookespeare Music.
Meet Shivu - My otter Diary
3:06
Shivu is a fisherman who initially hates the otters for stealing the fish out of his net but through his friendship with Sugandhi slowly learns to love the otters, especially scar.
We gently float looking down at the reef just below the surface then we take a dive and are amongst the myriad types of life living on the reek, all different , all beautiful, all busy living their lives.
String quartet played by Brookespeare Music.
I wanted to write an African piece but not do the obvious, marimba/Lion king. This coupled with the need to reach a younger audience meant I decided to go Hip Hip style. There is a choir in Cardiff called the oasis choir made up of Asylum Seekers and refugees. So Laura who runs the choir picked out Paul from Uganda, Faith from Kenya and Lle Lle from South Africa. We spent an afternoon translating some lyrics I'd written into their languages then we workshopped different parts and ideas. If you listen to this track with your 'blue chip' hat on you'll hate it. If you think about modern film making involving a younger audience trying to inspire the future generations of filmmakers and conservationists then we're on the same page. Anyhow, I hope you get up and dance. xx
Battle of the Flowers
2:07
The camera slowly pans down through the undergrowth to a bare patch of ground,
The Timelapse starts and we see fronds spread over the bare earth towards the centre of the the pace
Then a moment of Calm
They the second wave picks up as different plants try and dominate the space pushing each other down and entwining themselves around each other in a shivery shaky battle.
The camera pulls pack to see the landscape covered in beautiful flowers.
We are deep below the surface in the coldest, Blackest, Sea, this isn't one of those cues that points out the cute animals glowing with bioluminescence dancing by, it's more the marvel at how deep we are .
String Quartet played by Brookespeare Music.
City of the Army Ants
2:13
When a creature has six legs, eyes on stalks and can squirt acid from its bum why use a flute? I've tried to create the dark mysterious world of the ant. We need to attract younger audiences to our content and I find this just as much fun as writing for orchestra.
