Blog: On location with Joanna Lumley

Helena Braun

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Producer Helena Braun reflects on making BBC1 doc Joanna Lumley in the Land of the Northern Lights.

Rarely does an idea arrive as easily as this one. It all began on a leisurely Sunday morning with the familiar tune of Desert Island Discs. Joanna Lumley chose Sibelius and confided her lifelong ambition to see the Northern Lights. Only the week before I had read the BBC One development priorities, then appealing for 'Presenter Led Quests.' Bingo.

Before we set off for the Arctic, the one thing our BBC exec Alison Kirkham really wanted to know was "Will You See the Lights?" Although they were the very centre of our pitch, we simply couldn't guarantee that we would. 

Northern Norway is one of the best places to see the Aurora, and we made sure we were there at the optimum time of year – but even then we had to hope for a happy combination of unpredictable natural phenomena: clear skies, low moonlight, and high solar activity affecting the earth's magnetic field. Our cameraman Richard Ranken had tried to film the lights a decade earlier for a science series, and had come home without seeing them at all.

In case of similar disappointment, we had to make sure the film wasn't only about the lights and had busy filming schedules each day on our journey ever Northwards… whilst all the while nervously keeping our eyes peeled at night.

Early on in the trip, Joanna got a tantalisingly brief glimpse of the aurora, just after we'd wrapped one evening. By the time we'd rushed back outside with the gear, the pale green streak across the sky had vanished completely. An anxious watch half the night led to nothing more.

The only thing to do is sit outside in the dark and wait… not easy when the temperatures approach minus twenty. But one night, dressed from top to toe in multiple layers of thermals, fleeces and survival suits, we finally got supremely lucky with the fantastic display we'd been longing for.

But even when they do appear, capturing the lights on camera isn't straightforward. We were shooting the film on HD, but the aurora is simply not bright enough to be seen with any video camera, so we made a time-lapse animation from digital stills, shot at intervals allowing each photograph a very long exposure. The immense speed at which the lights move occasionally blurs on screen – but the overall effect is strikingly true to reality. The continuous animation of Joanna's point of view is intercut in the film with her reactions filmed in the normal way.

We were really keen to show the lights looking as close as possible to how they appear to the naked eye, avoiding intensifying the colours in any way during the grade; photographs in tourist brochures tend to intensify the greens, so viewers may be surprised by the more muted palette in our film.

But they don't need jazzing up. The Northern Lights are truly one of the wonders of the world, a sight never to be forgotten. And for Joanna – who had dreamt of seeing them since she was a child – it was an altogether emotional experience. Lying on our backs in the snow, looking up at the heavens, I thought my job doesn't get much better than this.

Joanna Lumley in the Land of the Northern Lights was a Takeaway Media production for BBC1.

My tricks of the trade:
On the very first shoot I ever worked on the cameraman told me that I should remember that the most important thing was making sure he had enough to eat, as 'a well fed crew is a happy crew'. It's a lesson I've remembered countless times since. I took twenty large bars of Green & Blacks chocolate with me to the Arctic, and made sure that there was always some about my person – for moments when the team's stomachs or morale were flagging. Treats work a treat.

The other thing I always bring filming is a supply of spare plastic bags. Whether it's for holding the rushes or keeping things waterproof, it's amazing how often you start a day needing only one bag but come home needing several.