David B.

About

I’m good humoured, unflappable, multi award winning DoP/self-shooting Director with a track record in delivering the very best creative material from the remotest and most challenging locations. I've worked both as a DoP and Director/DoP/Editor/Writer in over 100 countries, picking up a collection of camera team Baftas, Emmys and individual RTS awards and Bafta nominations on the way.

I work across a range of genres including current affairs, drama and commercials as well as blue chip natural history. If I have a philosophy of filming it is to bring the cinematic disciplines of drama to factual programmes.

I hold Hostile Environments, Marine Personal Survival, Helicopter Underwater Escape, & Remote Area First Aid certificates. Plus I hold a US I Visa, work permits for Australia and China, and an Enhanced DBS certificate.

 If required I can provide my own Arri camera rig, Zeiss lenses, an Arri SRH360 stabilised remote gimbal, MoCo unit, sliders, lights, sound kit, a Mavic 3 Cine drone and a portable coffee maker.

 My documentary and drama directing work has mainly been through my own production company, Wildcat Films (www.wildcatfilms.com). 

These days I work mainly as a cinematographer, but I still enjoy the editorial creativity of writing and directing if required. My shooting specialisations include aerial, stabilised and wildlife filming, and my location experience includes remote areas, polar regions and frontline conflict zones. I help pioneer stabilised aerial filming in the Antarctic for the original Planet Earth and Frozen Planet series, and have recently developed new techniques for stabilised natural history filming from boats.

 A few years ago I was privileged to be awarded the Northern Centre Award from the Royal Television Society; the citation read:

“Tonight’s recipient has an extraordinary track record, but also an unassuming and modest manner which belies an immense talent and contribution to the broadcasting industry. Having won a phenomenal number of awards regionally, nationally and internationally, our winner actually stopped entering our regional awards having won 13 times throughout the years - more than anyone else in the history of our awards. He is a remarkable role model, having demonstrated that choosing to live in our region doesn’t prevent a TV practitioner from achieving world-class standards and pursuing personal projects and programmes with great success. No one else in this region has achieved so much in such a broad range of work, from documentaries in war zones, filming under cover, to shooting at the coldest place on earth, from directing, photographing and editing drama to creating jobs and developing technology."
 I'm also an occasional contributor to BBC Radio 4's "From Our Own Correspondent". My after dinner speaking engagements have included the Friends of the Scott Polar Research Institute and The James Caird Society. Previous careers include having been a teacher, social worker, artist, environmental campaigner, mountaineering instructor, travel writer, and war correspondent.

Top Services

Field Producer

Documentary DP

Non-Fiction Film Director