After Life: The Strange Science of Decay

Ever wondered what would happen in your own home if you were taken away, and everything inside was left to rot? The answer is revealed in this fascinating programme, which explores the strange and surprising science of decay.

For two months in summer 2011, a glass box containing a typical kitchen and garden was left to rot in full public view within Edinburgh Zoo. In this resulting documentary, presenter Dr George McGavin and his team use time-lapse cameras and specialist photography to capture the extraordinary way in which moulds, microbes and insects are able to break down our everyday things and allow new life to emerge from old.

Decay is something that many of us are repulsed by. But as the programme shows, it’s a process that’s vital in nature. And seen in close up, it has an unexpected and sometimes mesmerising beauty.

Glowfrog was commissioned early in preproduction to help previsualise the concept. Working with the director Jeremy Turner and DOP Matt Broad, we designed the Box and placed both digital lights and camera’s in to a 3D model to allow production to assess the positions of motion controlled cameras and lighting. Consideration of sight lines for the viewing public as well as the presenter and cameraman filming in the Box needed to be planned for.

Produced by BBC Scotland/ BBC4
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00mdk3b