Best Popular Science Film, Banff Television Festival
Cable Ace Award for Best Informational Special
Royal Television Society Award
Selected for INPUT 1992
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1 x 50 for Channel4
Originally broadcast
1991, Channel 4
Producer/Director
Ian Duncan
Executive Producer
David Dugan
Film Editor
Simon Rose
Editor
Michael Attwell
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Equinox: The Elements
The
chemical elements personified by the poet Roger McGough. Using
specially composed poetry and state of the art editing techniques, the
poet changes his persona to reflect the unique properties of each
element.
From solid to liquid, base metal to gold, alchemy to Priestley. McGough
embarks on an extraordinary journey to a world inspired by Mendeleyev,
Primo Levi and ‘stinks’ from the school chemistry lab.
Beginning with the original four Greek elements – fire, water and
earth, and ending with how the periodic table was constructed, the film
charts the evolution of chemistry. When Tom Lehrer wrote his
‘Element Song’ (which runs as a thread through the
programme) in 1959, there were 102 elements. There are now known to be
109 and they’re still counting!
The Elements is a visual extravaganza using pyrotechnics, innovative
special effects (such as the monastery scene, filmed through a heat
haze on Super 8), the most complex motion control camera in Europe and
state-of-the-art digital editing.
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“You
don’t need to know the first thing about chemistry, or to
appreciate the niceties of super 8 or digital editing to enjoy this
dazzling, imaginative flight of fantasy celebrating the properties and
powers of the chemical elements. It brings the periodic table to life
through quicksilver images and the pungent poetry of Roger
McGough.”
The Guardian
“If science
at school had been the fascinating subject poet Roger McGough makes of
it in Equinox: The Elements, I might have managed more than my usual 30
per cent exam mark…The programme itself is pure au –
that’s gold.”
The Mail on Sunday
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