MPB Meets: BAFTA-nominated Wildlife Cinematographer Alex Vail

BAFTA award-winning wildlife cinematographer Alex Vail has worked on some of the most iconic wildlife documentaries in the world, including Frozen Planet II, Blue Planet II, and Seven Worlds, One Planet. His latest project with Doug Anderson, Tiny World, has also been nominated for a BAFTA for their stunning cinematography. We caught up with Alex to find out more about the shoot, his kitbag and advice. Over to you Alex.

MPB: Congratulations on receiving a BAFTA nomination for your work on Tiny World. Could you tell us your role on the shoot and how it feels to be recognised for your work?

AV: Thanks very much, we were certainly very happy to be nominated! I was one of the two primary cinematographers on Tiny World: Reef. The other was our extremely talented DOP, Doug Anderson. He is one of the most generous people I know with his knowledge, and I feel very privileged to have been able to work alongside him. 

As for how it feels to be nominated for cinematography with Doug, I’m a little lost for words. I was fortunate enough to win a BAFTA as part of the Blue Planet II camera team, but this is my first named nomination. Our job is wonderful and I wouldn’t want to do anything else. But, like many others, we give it just about everything. So, to be recognised for your art is very special.

MPB: What was your kit setup for the shoot?

AV: We often say that the smaller the animal, the more kit you need to film it. And we were filming some quite small critters! We wanted to bring the audience into the worlds of these small creatures, and this was made especially difficult by our subjects being underwater. Not only does this limit the time you can spend filming—we used rebreathers to extend this time—but much of this kit didn’t exist for underwater filming. Or we had to find ways to modify kit for this extremely challenging environment. 

We used the Laowa 24mm f/14 2x Macro Probe Nikon Z quite extensively to bring depth into our macro shots. To keep these shots moving, we’d often employ a bespoke underwater slider and motorised pan/tilt head for precise moves. For one of the sequences I filmed, the octopus grouper cooperative hunting interaction, I needed to be really mobile as these predators move pretty quick, but also shoot it from the small reef creature’s perspective, so getting right in among the reef using the probe. Although we often shoot handheld underwater with a large, neutrally-weighted housing, such as the Gates Deep Weapon, the Laowa necessitates you getting so close to your subject that you see every little wobble times ten. So, it needed more stability. Doug came up with a great solution, which was adding something we called the blimp to the top of the housing. Basically, it was a big piece of non-compressible syntactic foam with enough weight underneath it to make it completely neutral. Although it was bulky to push around, this—attached to our already pretty substantial housings—gave me the stability needed for these shots.

Otherwise, I used fairly standard stills lenses,  mostly Nikon DSLR lenses. I use the Nikon 70-180mm f/4.5-5.6D Micro quite extensively, both handheld and on an underwater tripod. For behaviour, you need to film from a distance. I also do quite a bit of long lensing above the water on the Canon 50-1000mm for other productions and pulling focus on this and the 70-180mm are fairly similar skills. Your subjects are just much closer underwater.

For the scenic wides, I’d use the Sigma 12-24mm f/4 DG HSM super wide as it can really make visibility sparkle. For these dives, I’d use an open circuit rather than a rebreather, as you want to be centimetres away from the coral without running into and damaging it. So the extra buoyancy control you get from a little breath in or out on open circuit scuba is very useful.

We mostly used RED cameras, and the DSMC2 Gemini 5K S35 was particularly useful for the light-hungry Laowa probe. We did use the Sony A7S II for some shots where we needed a smaller housing attached to the laowa. For the night shots, Orca lights were extremely useful to light up a large area.

MPB: Does that differ from your standard kit setup? What can we usually expect to find in your kit bag?

AV: I think it might be best described as a kit pallet! We tend to need quite a lot of kit for natural history sequences. Although cameras have certainly gotten smaller, the expectation of cinematic aspects such as moving shots—which I’m certainly a fan of—have increased. This necessitates bringing along ‘toys’ such as big gimbals, handheld gimbals, cable cams, sliders, drones, motion control systems and others. 

As I do both topside and underwater filming, my kit tends to vary greatly from shoot to shoot. If it’s a topside shoot, it would be rare to go without a Canon 50-1000mm T5.0-8.9 EF lens as it’s a staple of wildlife filming. It’s small enough to lug it, and a tripod, around on your shoulder. But it has enough reach that you can get those big close-ups of often skittish and sensitive animals. The big zoom range is fantastic, as it allows you to quickly build a sequence with different shot sizes of behaviour and or/light conditions that may only last a very short time. 

Underwater, the Gates Deep Weapon housing is quite a staple. Nauticam housings are also great but are smaller, which makes them more suited to open ocean shoots with wider lenses—or attached to grip—rather than pulling focus handheld on a Nikon 70-180mm f/2.8, the only long zoom lens we tend to use underwater. 

As far as cameras, RED are definitely the go-to. And for most wildlife productions, this is what the majority of the footage is shot on. For a number of reasons: Their large dynamic range allows you to keep shadows and highlights in the backlit shots we like so much—topside, that is. Shooting in RAW is particularly helpful underwater, where white balance and tint change quickly. I personally try to dial it in roughly in-camera, so when we watch the rushes in the evening it doesn’t look too blue or green. But the RAW file allows a highly-skilled grader to get the most out of the images in post. 

The Helium can be useful for its higher resolution. Although we usually deliver in 4k, having the ability to crop into 7k on specific shots can be useful. For example, if you have a once-in-a-shoot chance at a predation shot, and you’re not sure if the predator is going to break cover on the right or left side of the prey, being able to cover both sides and crop later is quite nice! The Gemini is nice in low-light environments, such as tropical forests, or underwater using the Laowa probe, which is very light-hungry. So, along with their large choice of frame rates and modular build, REDs are often the choice for natural history acquisition.

MPB: Having PhD in animal behaviour isn’t a typical way of getting into the world of photography and videography. How did you find your way into the discipline? 

AV: Yes, I had a bit of a roundabout way into the wildlife cinematography industry. I learnt more about biological statistics and writing a scientific paper than I use in my current career, but I’m very happy with how it’s all panned out. 

Although it would have been nice to be where I am a few years earlier, I’m very grateful for the background and understanding my training in animal behaviour has given me. I think it helps me in looking at a complex behavioural sequence, seeing why the animal is doing what it’s doing, and belonging, to tell their story in the most logical way. 

I think it helps me with predicting animal behaviour quickly, in what can be quite high-pressure situations. If you have a solid understanding of behaviour, it can give you a hint of what an animal may do next in a certain situation, as well as quickly learn little tell-tale behaviours that indicate your subject might be about to do the behaviour you’re after. 

This is not to say you necessarily need a formal education in animal behaviour to do this job. Many exceptional wildlife cinematographers do just fine without this. But I would say that one thing most have in common is that they are excellent naturalists and animal behaviour readers, no matter how they acquired this knowledge.

Regarding my transition from science to cinematography, I guess I’d always had a keen interest in wildlife stills photography. I had done this as a hobby for some time, with a couple of articles in magazines in later years. Then, it was a process of me trying to teach myself as much about camerawork as I could. This involved watching a lot of documentaries, such as Planet Earth, and dissecting how they put a sequence together. For example, how did they use different shot sizes and angles, and how do they use focus pulls and movement to add that cinematic flare to their work and connect the audience to the animal’s story. Then it was practise, practise, practise, with the best camera I could afford—a Canon EOS 7D, at that time. 

I did a number of smaller local projects to pay the bills and keep on learning. Then I was given a golden opportunity to work on Blue Planet II, due to my knowledge of fish behaviour and the amount of time I’d spent with them underwater. But the fact I’d put the hours into learning as much as could about cinematography let me make the most of this, and shoot parts of early sequences on the series. I must have done a good enough job as they gave me more to film, which led to whole sequences by the end of the production. Work sort of snowballed from there, which is helped by the natural history industry being exceptionally busy at the moment.

MPB: When did you realise you had made it as a wildlife cinematographer? Was there a particular project you were working on?

AV: I don’t know if I’ve ever felt like I’ve made it to exactly where I’d like to be with my cinematography. I’m certainly very happy and grateful for the projects I’ve been able to work on, but I guess I always want to challenge myself to master new skills and ways of portraying nature. I started my career underwater and was fortunate to develop a lot in this through Blue Planet II. However, I’d always had a real drive to film topside, and spent as much of my own time as I could developing this set of skills. 

One of the first big topside sequences I had the opportunity to shoot—for Perfect Planet—was blacktip reef sharks beaching themselves. It’s still one of the most adrenaline-pumping behaviours I’ve been lucky enough to see. Since then, I’ve been able to long-lense and gimbal-operate on a number of other blue-chip series that are soon to air. 

In the upcoming Frozen Planet II, there is a long-lens sequence, which I was fortunate enough to be the principal op for. It’s hoped to be the opening sequence for the series, so I guess this was a pretty big moment for me. Throughout my career, I’ve been so fortunate to have several people in production who have backed me. Without their belief and support, I wouldn’t be where I am today. I’m eternally grateful to them!

MPB: You have travelled the world and seen some of the most spectacular wildlife. Do any shoots or moments stick out in your mind as favourites?

AV: I’ve been so fortunate to see some of our planet's more incredible wild places. This has been predominantly in the polar regions in the last few years. It’s often the hardest shoots that stick out most in my mind, and I love the challenge these beautiful but often inhospitable environments present. One is a shoot I did with the legendary Barry Briton in Arctic Canada to film a bird sequence in the dead of winter. Barry described it as the most brutal shoot he’d ever done, and I’d have to second that! But it was just magical in those moments when everything came together and we got to see things very few people can. I think the facial frostbite and numb fingers make those moments all the more special. I also think I’m also a sucker for ‘type 2’ fun (fun in retrospect).

My two favourite shoots would be the gentoo penguin and leopard seal sequence for Seven Worlds, down on the Antarctic Peninsula in a magic place called Cieva Cove. Alongside this was my recent shoot for Frozen Planet II in Antarctica, going out on skidoos each day to shoot long lenses on the sea ice. We stayed at research bases for both of these, and I love these environments. I grew up in a small marine research station, so I think that—weirdly—these places feel a lot like home to me. However, my childhood home was much warmer!

MPB: What would be your top tips for capturing such stunning wildlife images and videos?

AV: The best thing anyone can do to improve their photography and videography is to get out there and practise. It doesn’t have to be like a polar bear leaping on a seal, just any animal you can access. Insects, small lizards, or birds in a garden, can make perfect subjects. Then, work on telling a story with your images. This not only improves your sequence-building cinematography but forces you to look closely at what the animal is doing—and communicate this clearly to the audience through your shots. Watching good wildlife documentaries is a great way to help learn how to do this. 

This advice is probably more geared towards cinematography than photography, but the idea is similar for both. You learn most about light and composition by experimenting with what works best. You ideally want to develop your eye for composition through practice, so that when an amazing moment happens you intuitively frame it in a way that looks nice.

MPB: How important is photography and videography’s role in raising awareness of wildlife and its potential threats to them?

AV: I like to hope that it’s very important. For many people, wildlife documentaries are one of the only ways they will see these incredible creatures and places. The saying is that ‘people will only protect what they love’. Although it’s become a bit of a cliché, I think there is a lot of truth to it. 

Beyond showing amazing images of nature, wildlife documentaries are more overtly exploring conservation issues, such as coral bleaching and deforestation. These types of documentaries—that integrate humans and wildlife—are picking up momentum, which I think is fantastic. We are at a tipping point where we need as many people as possible to know what a dire situation our planet is in and what they can do to help. One of the very biggest issues is, of course, climate change. Encouraging as many people as possible to support renewable energy is one key outcome I hope wildlife documentaries can have. Even if documentaries just make people sit back and consider all the other life we share this wonderful planet with, that would be a win. Hopefully, climate action will follow from there.

MPB: What’s next for you? Are there any projects you’d like to share?

AV: The next shoot is for the BBC’s Planet Earth III, which I’m excited about. And I’m working as one of the core cinematographers on a landmark Netflix wildlife series that has been fun to be part of the team on. I’ve been fortunate to spend quite a large amount of time in the Arctic for this, which I’ve loved.

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This article is part of the MPB Guide to Wildlife Photography and Videography, our comprehensive look at how to create wildlife imagery, with camera recommendations, advice, and interviews with experts.