Following their recent success with “Elephant: Life after Death”, Tigress Productions came to TX for another specialist remote camera system for use in Zambia, recording the life after death of a Hippo.
The challenge was to provide a system, recording 24/7 in high definition with IR lighting and sound, capturing what happens when a Hippo dies in the wild, and monitoring the life that feeds upon it, from large mammals to birds, reptiles and insects.
TX installed a system that included armoured fibre optic links that connected the remote HD PTZ cameras and sound equipment and also controlled the IR lighting. From the Hippo site, near the Luangwa River, the images and controls were relayed to the production camp where the crew are living and working.
Reliability of the system is essential once filming has started, as going out at night to solve technical problems is not an option with crocodiles, hyenas, lions and the vicious honey badger roaming around.
Hippo: The Wild Feast streamed live on Channel 4. Viewers watched as an entire ecological system devoured a hippo carcass. Mark Evans presented daily video highlights of the scavengers and predators that fed on the hippo in the previous 24 hours – Channel 4 at 19:55 from 21st October.
The final 90-minute programme, Hippo: The Wild Feast is scheduled to air on Channel 4 on 7 November at 9pm.