“Our Planet on the Move is a four part blue chip, natural history series focussing on the global movement of animals.

The series looks at the how, why and when of migration and movement - and, through intimate animal stories, shows the huge challenges these animals face on their journeys.

Over the four episodes, Our Planet on the Move follows the annual journey of the Earth around the Sun since it is this, and our Planet’s tilt - which gives us our seasons – that drives almost all animal movement.”

We propose showing migration routes with evolving light trails that traverse the planet.

Each trail represents a single animal and the multitude are represented by a swirling mass of light and lines.

To illustrate the stories behind the migration we'll fly from the planetary scale down into the geography of continents and countries as they're crossed. We'll draw ever closer as the detail in the narrative unfolds until we see the head of every trail as an animated representation of the heroes of our story.

This will enable us to maintain the viewer's emotional link to the animal while continuing to tell the story of migration.

We can of course build seamless transitions into live-action footage but showing an animation of the migrating animal will give us the opportunity to enhance the drama and craft subtleties with cinematic framing and impossible camera moves.

For example, we can fly around the Himalayas to catch up with the Demoiselle cranes on their epic journey over the world's highest peaks, follow the monarch butterfly over a continent, or travel from space to a small atoll in the pacific ocean.

Butterfly migration - Mexico to Canada

Tiger shark migration - Pacific

Animation style frames

Migration trail style reference

Primary VFX’s migrations will feel organic, alive and engaging. A constant flow of life represented by layers of complexity and dynamism. When seen from above it will seem that the planet itself is alive.

Incorporating this graphic style into the title sequence and typography, we aim to produce something truly unique in wildlife storytelling, creating breath-taking beauty and expression to what are so often technical and dry elements.

Below are some style references.

Our approach to the monthly interstitial planet shots will be to portray Earth on its own journey around the orbit of the Sun.

This will illustrate another migration we all make but only perceive through the passing from day to night and season to season. Showing our planet in its own environment parallels the size of the Earth's journey around the Sun, alongside Earth's animals and the distances they travel.

Throughout all 12 shots, we will illustrate the duration of the Earth's journey with a faint trail that will grow as the Earth progresses around the Sun's orbit. In the final animation for December, we'll rest on a wide shot showing the Earth's completed yearly journey.

Interstitial Earth shot inspration