What’s the Buzz? More Hot Trends / 13 Clips from Science & Factual Producers’ Congress, 2/3

We continue our highlights from the ‘What’s the Buzz?‘ at the World Congress of Science & Factual Producers.

The big themes covered in this post:

• Weird Sects
• Blending Genres
• Toys
• Monsters
• Plus bonus picks from the moderator, NHNZ‘s Phil Fairclough.

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5. WEIRD SECTS

• Nat Geo captures the vibe with its call for pitches that update its traditional ‘Yellow Border’ ethnographic mission by covering weird American communities ‘in a Reality TV style’.

Duck Dynasty

• About the show
• About A&E

Moonshiners

• About the show
• About Discovery

Amish: Out of Order

• About the show
• Nat Geo Channel

American Colony: Meet the Hutterites

• About the show

Call of the Wildman

• About the show
• Animal Planet

BLENDING GENRES

• ‘Weird and wonderful’ hybrids is a trend.
• The examples were terrific. A favorite for which I don’t have a clip: A Japanese game show built around medical diagnosis.
• And Dumb, Drunk & Racist was a smash hit for ABC Australia. Check out the engaging clip!  

Dumb, Drunk & Racist

• About the show
• About ABC Australia

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Jk3GuS-eFk

Dr. CAC

• About the show
• About France 5

TOYS

• Advances in kit give us new access and new ways of seeing.
• Super slo-mo, miniaturized kit, CGI that’s better-than-ever.

Guts: The Strange and Mysterious World of the Human Stomach

• About BBC4

Strip The City

• About the show
• About Discovery Canada
• The producer: Windfall Films

MONSTERS

• Bigger is better.
• That means bigger creatures…
• …and huge, multi-million dollar programming events like Plane Crash.

War of the Whales — Orcas Attack

• About the show
• About NHK Japan

James Cameron: Voyage to the Bottom of the Earth

• About the show
• Nat Geo Channel

The Plane Crash

• About the show, a Discovery Curiosity / Channel 4 copro
• Channel 4 UK

Titanoboa: Monster Snake

• About the show
• Smithsonian Channel
• http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/site/sn/show.do?show=140671

MODERATOR PHIL FAIRCLOUGH’s PICKS

• Two amazing shows. Wanted the clips to go on and on!
• How about a Natural History special on butterflies that was shot on an iPhone and that looks like Planet Earth?  That was a game-changer!

Miracle Body (Usain Bolt)

• About the show
• About NHK Japan’s Science unit and our Cosmic Shore Case Study

Butterflies

• The producer: Earthtouch

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Coming Soon

• DocumentaryTelevision.com‘s Big Takeaways for 2012.