The Greatest Storyteller On Planet Earth

I've been looking forward to this one since you teased it earlier this year. Masterfully done.

Wonderful. As always. If you have time, would be great to hear your top picks from Sir Attenborough. (I caught some in the vid, but if you had to rank your top 3/4...?) : )

The "deeper values" ❤️ 💙 💜

Wonderful topic and we'll executed storytelling. Loved the boom mic bit. Perhaps it has already been done and I missed it, but I would love to learn more about how you found your "voice". Your patient cadence and tone is what distinguishes you and others like CinemaStix and LikeStoriesofOld from everyone else. As an aspiring storyteller who has struggled with this particular aspect, I hope you consider sharing more about how you developed this skill in a future video.

I can't say for certain, but I'd assume that the animals sounds are always as accurate as possible, and not left entirely up to the sound designer. So yeah, must be an interesting process. Probably a "science review" in addition to the other review stages.

I'm glad you mentioned the animals' noises and how they are usually put in later on, due to technical limitations of filming. Since you have a background in this field, do you know if they consult with animal behaviorists familiar with those particular animals to be certain the sounds are the right ones? Are they at least sourced from noises by the correct animal, and not entirely created by Foley artists? I've long enjoyed watching fiction that has "wolves" (usually wolf/dog crosses, example: Wheel of Time) be aggressive *per the story* and see their tails wagging enthusiastically -- those "wolf" actors are usually having a FABULOUS time barking up a storm, or whatever. They know they'll be getting the Really Good Treats very soon, as well. So for nature documentaries, I'm wondering if we're seeing the equivalent of a Regency Ball overlaid with the soundscape of a Formula One racing event. We'd never know.

You unlocked a memory. A while ago I was watching a documentary about whales with the kids. A baby whale was killed by a group of orcas, and my kids were horrified. They were completely empathetic toward the poor creature, unable to see that its sad fate meant the chance for so many creatures to survive and prosper. I can't blame them, at their age I used to wonder how the cameraman could refrain themself from getting in the way of the predator and its pray. "Oh nature, thy art is a heartless b***h!" [cit.]

Hi Andrew, totally random question, but just wondering if you're familiar with Lloyd Alexander's The Chronicles of Prydain, a five-book children's fantasy series from the 60s. They're inspired by Welsh mythology, and owe an obvious debt to Tolkien, but Alexander was American, so their spirit is closer to OT Star Wars. They're also gently didactic in a very humane way, with storytelling and the meanings of narratives being major recurring themes. Alas, the books are best known in the broader culture as the source for Disney's botched adaptation The Black Cauldron. (Years ago, there was rumblings of a remake on Disney+, but no news since.) I do think a streaming series would be the ideal fit for an adaptation, as they're not quite epic or fast-paced enough for big-budget movies. While they are written for children, they have a timeless, fable-like quality I think you'd appreciate. That said, without any imagery to speak of outside of the movie, they may not make an ideal YT video subject. :P

another great video. hopefully someone sends this to Sir David, surely he will appreciate it. would love to hear your thoughts on Steve Irwin if there is enough to say / is not too redundant to this one

Have recently binged on "Cunk on Earth" (available on Netflix), it was fascinating to see that it was a bit like Cunk being an entirely inept but scary lion vis-a-vis the utterly perplexed (but highly scientifically trained) interview partners being presented as gazelles ;) This brings also to mind a recent "town hall" event for a documentary / biography film a team wants to make about the life of Rob Henderson. One of the first things the filmmakers said during the meeting was: "You have to build up some real stakes for the main character of a story, otherwise, why even bother engaging with it." It's somewhat adjacent to the Hero's Journey, but is maybe even more general: we want to attend to things that "matter" (that are "life or death" rather than trivial). It applies to how social media outrage propagates as much as to Attenborough. And I am wondering... How much did his use of this kind of storytelling "push" the entire landscape of media towards that kind of approach (it would have happened anyway, probably, because humans are incentive creatures, but by being such a "benevolent" figure, maybe he accelerated the trend above and beyond what someone else could have done...).