One Strange Rock: Truly Strange

First, look at the trailer for 'One Strange Rock', the documentary that aired in 2018 on National Geographic.

https://vimeo.com/312949211

‘One Strange Rock’ takes the nature documentary to another level. As you already have seen in my previous blogposts, I like nature documentaries a lot. This production by National Geographic and Nutopia chose a very unusual host: Will Smith. Strangely enough, it works perfectly! ‘One Strange Rock’ succeeds to explain almost incomprehensible concepts in a very simple way. Nowadays, we all get how evolution works, but how did the first living organism appear? This documentary answers this question! Sometimes, Will Smith makes us wait a long time before explaining, but this is made up for by the astounding visuals. It takes us to the most extreme, uninhabitable places on Earth, and makes it look like we’re right there. And unlike the contemporary documentaries that try to film things closer and closer, ‘One Strange Rock’ adds a new level to that: they look at Earth from space.

Algae using photosynthesis to create microscopic small bubbles of air. From very, very close...

... to very, very far away. Lightning from outer space. On Earth, there are over 100 lightning strikes per second.

‘One Strange Rock visualizes the superlatives of scale. Wide shots of thunderstorms from outer space versus extreme detailed shots of microscopic bacteria. And they make a sport out of it to show us the most colorful places on Earth. One of the producers, Darren Aronofsky, is very fond of two concepts: spirals and symmetry. That’s why you will see a lot of aerial and drone shots, or full frame shots where the camera is spinning and turning. It symbolizes the view of astronauts in the International Space Station, for whom there is no up or down.

A very typical shot in ‘One Strange Rock’, where you don’t really know what is up or down.

Another typical feature of Aronofsky’s camera work: symmetry. This shot shows a cell duplicating itself.

Astronauts see Earth from a perspective that only a few hundreds of people ever have/will. Together with Will Smith, they tell the story of Earth – our Earth. Whenever an astronaut tells something, they are filmed in black and white, which creates a sense of suspension and wonder.

Black and white shots of the astronauts create a very different vibe and makes you listen very closely.

The black and white creates a great contrast with the colorful shots that make up most of the episodes. Even the most remote places on Earth are flourishing with life and color.

This scene looks straight out of ‘Breaking Bad’, but it shows researchers studying bacterial life in places where the air is too toxic to breathe.

‘One Strange Rock’ use very interesting stories to introduce things they want to talk about. A traditional Indian cremation to emphasize the importance of carbon on Earth, or an Indonesian ceremonial sacrifice by throwing food in a volcano, to introduce the history of super-volcanoes.

The thinking-out-of-the box camera work makes this place look truly otherworldly.

           

An interesting angle to shoot a geyser. The producers also show this shot for a very short time, giving us not enough time to really recognize what it is. It triggers our sense of wonder and encourages us to keep watching.