Exciting view from the top

A new China Central Television nature documentary series shot from the air in high definition is getting an unprecedented response. Wang Kaihao reports.

Chinese TV viewers typically say that Chinese nature documentaries are not as good as their Western counterparts. But, a new China Central Television documentary series shot in high-definition is getting an unprecedented response.

Four episodes of Aerial China were screened by CCTV's Documentary Channel during the Lunar New Year festival, and the rating for the documentary series on Douban.com, the country's top TV and film fan website, is 9.4 points out of 10, putting it at the top of the documentary ratings list.

Commenting on the ratings, Yu Le, 36, director of the series, says: "When people recommend a documentary, they always say something like 'It's a production by the BBC', but not this time."

Mountains and prairies in Yili Kazak autonomous prefecture in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. Photos Provided to China Daily

Speaking about how the documentary series was made, he says: "Even the most familiar things look different from a height.

"We wanted to show how beautiful this familiar country is, and this was possible thanks to our time up in the air."

From Friday, the complete six-episode Season 1 of Aerial China is to be aired on the Documentary Channel at 8 pm (one episode a day), including two episodes with scenes shot around the Lantern Festival (Feb 11 this year).

Each episode is 50 minutes, and covers one province-level administrative region in China, showing its natural and cultural landscape.

The tropical islands in southern Hainan province; the historical relics in western Shaanxi province; the breathtaking lakes, mountains and prairies in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region; the ice and snow in the northeastern Heilongjiang province; old villages in the eastern Jiangxi province and the hustle and bustle of Shanghai are among the things featured in the first season of this documentary series.

"We are like tour guides ushering people to see these places with interesting stories, so we do not take a philosophical and pedagogical tone in the narration, which are sometimes used by similar works made overseas," Yu says.

Nevertheless, the preparing of the voice-overs needed a lot of interaction with scientists, historians and other scholars.

A long project

Liang Dong, the show's production manager, says the series is just the first step in a plan to cover all 34 province-level administrative regions in the country in the next five to six years.

Liang says that Aerial China's first season featured four filming crews organized by CCTV, with more than 300 personnel, 16 helicopters and 57 drones, flying over 150,000 kilometers.

Technology from the military to ensure drone stability during filming was also used.

Liang also says that the documentary makers were also helped by the fact that the military allowed the crews to film in many areas, which were earlier not accessible to the general public.

He adds that thanks to the diversity of China's landscape and culture, he is confident about being able to make a big impact by the time the project is complete, citing the example of Aerial America (2010-2016), a documentary made using a approach similar to that being used by Aerial China.

"In China, the differences between one province and another are even more obvious when seen from the air," says Liang.

"The audiences will never be bored."

The Aerial China project was launched in October 2015, and shooting began in March 2016.

Behind-the-scenes

Despite the accolades, both Yu and Liang feel that they could have done a better job if they had more time.

"If I had more time to cover the same places over different seasons, we would have been able to do an even better job," Yu says.

"Solid preparation is needed. Some scenes cannot be imagined while on land."

The crews gathered 220 hours of footages for the first season, he says.

Another problem the crews faced is China's fast pace of development.

"China is changing so fast. So, some of our preliminary research was based on pictures taken in 2014, but when crew arrived there last year, the landscape had already changed," says Yu.

Yu says he received demos in Beijing sent from the scene every night, and had to decide whether to keep looking for better scenes the next day.

He says he did not go home for four months, except for a few days during the Spring Festival.

"I had to make sure that we had got the right shots," he says.

Speaking about the most difficult part while filming the series, Yu says that capturing scenes involving wild animals were the most difficult.

"Many animals are extremely sensitive to noise, which was a problem with the drones," he says. "Nevertheless, the animals also gave us the biggest surprises".

In Shaanxi, the crew unexpectedly spotted takins, goat-antelopes that the local guide says had not been seen for 20 years.

And, in Heilongjiang, when a drone was being used to get a close-up of a Siberian tiger, the animal jumped up in a bid to grab the drone.

That scene is one of those that had a big impact, he says.

The original soundtrack of the documentary is also a highlight of the series.

However, Wang Bei, the musician who created the mesmerizing melody for the series had not seen any of the video clips before he composed the music.

"All I was told by the director was to express love for this great land," he says.

Contact the writer at wangkaihao@chinadaily.com.cn