Dolby Creator Talks

95 - Telling the Emotional Story of Sir David Attenborough's "Life on Our Planet" Through Sound and Editing


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As we continue our coverage of the 2021 Emmy Awards, we recently sat down with the Emmy-nominated editor and sound team for the fantastic nature program / retrospective biography / urgent and dire warning for humanity, "David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet." The film pulled material from over 50 years of Sir David's career to create what many believed to be his final big documentary. And working on the film was an understandably emotional experience.

"The way David likes to do his narration records is — we'll do a complete run through. So that first run through is like watching the film, sometimes. And I have to say, there were several points — and I'm sitting there just recording it, pressing record and sort of watching it through — that I was really choked up, as it's David telling his story. And it was lovely.  Afterwards, I came out into the room and he just said, 'thank you.' You know he was obviously moved and touched by the film and just basically said, thank you for making such a great film, which told what he wanted to say, so eloquently. And he was obviously moved by it as, as we all were."

— Graham Wild, Dubbing Mixer, "David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet"

We're very pleased to share with you this interview with Editor Martin Elsbury, Supervising Sound Editor (and previous Emmy winner) Tim Owens, and Dubbing Mixer Graham Wild about their process of pulling together such a marvelous film using so much original and archival footage, and making such a moving portrait of a career and a planet on the brink, all in a running time of just under 2 hours. The film has 5 Emmy nominations, including Outstanding Cinematography, Outstanding Picture Editing, Outstanding Sound Editing, Outstanding Sound Mixing, and Outstanding Music Composition.


Be sure to check out "David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet" on Netflix.


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