Joanne Lumley and the Northern Lights

[mkcurtis]

Anybody else watch this on BBC HD? I thought some of the scenery looked amazing in HD, but this was mixed up with grainy shots in the darkness and the actual climax of seeing the Northern Lights all looked like a time lapse and a mixture of CGI! Everything had a false glow to it. Unless they really do look like that!

[Tarbat]

Yes, we enjoyed this as well. The scenes of the northern lights obvously used very long exposure times to capture enough light to show the lights, so giving a time lapse effect. If they'd been filmed at 25fps, I doubt whether you'd have seen anything.

For some examples of what the Northern Lights can look like in the UK using long exposures, goto http://www.dcs.lancs.ac.uk/iono/phot...ch_UK_Gallery/

[Bachstrad]

Not reference HD PQ material, but never the less, we enjoyed the program.

ATB

Max

[ijd]

aaaaaggghhhh missed it, anyone know when and if it will be repeated

[Deano70]

Missed it too please let it be repeated.

[Bachstrad]

Originally Posted by Deano70

Missed it too please let it be repeated.

It's on BBC HD .... It's bound to be repeated!

ATB

Max

[derek500]

Originally Posted by Deano70

Missed it too please let it be repeated.

17th and 25th of September. No doubt it will then be on every third Tuesday until 2011.

[square_eyes]

Yes, I hope we get some more of Ms Lumley's travels since she is a national treasure imho. In fact I would watch her - and listen to her - in just about anything. I'm sure she gets lots of job offers but she has been very selective. Just a bit more exposure would be well appreciated chez moi.

Simon

[Stephen Neal]

Originally Posted by mkcurtis

Anybody else watch this on BBC HD? I thought some of the scenery looked amazing in HD, but this was mixed up with grainy shots in the darkness and the actual climax of seeing the Northern Lights all looked like a time lapse and a mixture of CGI! Everything had a false glow to it. Unless they really do look like that!

Yep - watched it and REALLY enjoyed it. One of my favourite BBC HD documentaries so far.

Standard 25p/50i HD cameras wouldn't be able to capture the Northern Lights - as you saw they only just about gave slightly (though not that bad for the light level) grainy pictures of Joanna. If you had used image intensifier technology you'd have ended up with even noisier pictures - and possibly in B&W.

The shots of the Northern Lights looked to be much longer exposure stills (possibly captured over a second or so, rather than the 1/25th second exposure you'd need for 25p capture) with Joanna trying to stand as still as possible (you could see her wobbling a bit) - which ensured we got amazing quality (probably taken with a decent digital SLR that delivers very high res stills) in full colour. Didn't seem to be CGIed or heavily composited though - and it looked as if they were showing the stills for approx the same duration as they were exposed for - to give something approaching "real time" motion (albeit at a low frame rate) with mixes between the stills (as you saw Joanna moving very slowly)

Think it was the best solution - the photography of the lights was stunning - far better than many standard stills I've seen.

Much of the rest of the show was lovely HD - a really good watch. (Shooting snow is quite challenging in exposure and colour balance terms - the team did a really good job)

Thoroughly enjoyed the whole show. I love Scandinavia - and thought Joanna Lumley was brilliant. Witty, eloquent, warm and not at all precious. Definitely in the National Treasure category.

[Stephen Neal]

Originally Posted by square_eyes

Yes, I hope we get some more of Ms Lumley's travels since she is a national treasure imho. In fact I would watch her - and listen to her - in just about anything. I'm sure she gets lots of job offers but she has been very selective. Just a bit more exposure would be well appreciated chez moi.

Simon

I think the reason her Northern Lights, and Tropical Island show before it, worked so well is that she appeared genuinely engaged and interested. If she did lots more - maybe she wouldn't appear as sincere in her interest?

It also struck me that the people she was meeting and chatting to really liked meeting her and chatting to her. Probably because she wasn't precious and was very enthusiastic?

[square_eyes]

Originally Posted by Stephen Neal

It also struck me that the people she was meeting and chatting to really liked meeting her and chatting to her. Probably because she wasn't precious and was very enthusiastic?

...or possibly because they don't get many babes that far north!

Simon

[mkcurtis]

Having lived in Norway for 6 months this is how the Scandinavian people are. Despite extreme weather conditions most of the year they are generally a happy lot! Did you notice how clear the roads were too whilst on the side of the roads you had 8 foot drifts?

[Siamese Cat]

A friend of mine met Joanna Lumley a few years ago at a recording session.
When he came back he had this far away look in his eyes and was murmuring quietly under his breath, 'She's gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous' he said, 'she's funny, intelligent, warm.... just gorgeous'.

He was off his food for a fortnight if I remember rightly

[johnscarlet]

moved

[TaylorWJ]

Just finished watching. A very enjoyable programme.

One gripe: Why oh why do the continuity voice have to crash the end credits and music thereby destroying the created atmosphere