Attenborough filming in the Arctic Circle
By Rosie Thomas, Producer
the largest forest on Earth
In February 2020, just weeks before the world went into lockdown, the crew set out to film the snow covered trees of the boreal forest – the largest forest on Earth. But getting Sir David Attenborough, snow, trees and sun all in the same place at the same time wasn’t quite as easy as it sounded! We headed to Finland with our fingers firmly crossed….
we headed out to Finland in search of snow covered trees!
After months of meticulous planning, one week before the shoot we got a call to say a lot of the snow had melted. The season had been uncharacteristically warm, and even though they had had the most snow the region had seem for many years, there was very little left. After many conversations we headed out to Finland in search of snow covered trees!
we had another problem to contend with….. the weather.
After travelling across a huge portion of the country and scouting out numerous different locations, we finally found some. But unfortunately we had another problem to contend with….. the weather.
Sir David arrived, and as always, brought all the good luck with him!
But the following day, Sir David arrived, and as always, brought all the good luck with him! All the rest of the kit arrived, but most importantly, he brought with him the sun!
It was -18Β°C
Temperatures in Finland in February are by no means warm, even with the sun. It was -18°C. Batteries were losing charge extraordinarily quickly, our drones were struggling and no one could stay warm for long. Thankfully the crew were able to stay relatively warm in a tiny hut at the top of the mountain.
We managed to complete the shoot just before the sun disappeared for several more days.
