Studio Silverback Forges Free Natural History Content Platform

Max Goldbart
·2 min read
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EXCLUSIVE: Studio Silverback, the environmental label of David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet producer Silverback Films, has forged an open source footage library featuring hundreds of hours of natural history content for free. A primer can be watched below.

Studio Silverback has unveiled Open Planet as the UN General Assembly on climate change takes place in New York, marking New York Climate Week.

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Launching early next year, Open Planet will feature free-to-use footage for educational, environmental and impact shows. Studio Silverback said it wants to support “changemakers, educators, content creators, organisations and decision-makers to tell stories that will drive the changes needed in the next decade.”

The library, which will continue to grow, has just gone live and features footage and data-led visuals produced exclusively for Open Planet as well as natural history footage from down the years. It kicks off with 3,300 clips available for use, with plans to add hundreds of new ones each week and a long-term pipeline spanning specially-shot footage and contributions from other production companies and broadcasters.

All3Media-backed Silverback has partnered with Carnegie Mellon University’s Create Lab on the project.

Studio Silverback Executive Director Colin Butfield said: “As filmmakers, we know stories can be powerful agents of change, and with the window for action rapidly closing to address the planetary emergency, there’s never been a greater need for compelling, authentic storytelling. Open Planet will not only present the causes and impacts of climate change and nature loss, but also the incredible ingenuity of those driving innovation to keep crucial sustainability targets within reach.”

Studio Silverback launched three years ago to focus on projects that tackle the world’s most pressing environmental challenges. Silverback Films is a major player in the natural history space and has made the likes of Netflix’s David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet and the BBC’s Wild Isles. The outfit has worked with Attenborough extensively down the years and was bought by All3 in late 2020.

Political leaders are gathering in New York this week to assess the halfway point for implementing the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

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