SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Last updated July 2008

BODY STORY 2
Body Story 2 - six dramas, six incredible journeys into the most amazing organism on earth - the human body.  With a seamless blend of conventional drama and computer animation, each episode tells the story of a critical moment in a human life where a small event can trigger a cascade of critical reactions. The results are revelatory and visually stunning, 

8 x 24 minute programs
Produced by Dan Gluckman
©Wall to Wall Media

DVD Format (6 discs)  $495.00  BRD202
Data File Format with Digital Storage Licence  $990.00  BRL531

or DVDs available individually
 

Crash - Part 1
Crash explores the processes of damage and repair that the human body experiences in severe trauma.  Like all perfectly healthy people, David and Laura are only ever three minutes away from death - the time it takes for brain cells to die when starved of oxygen. As they experience the extreme forces unleashed in a head-on car crash, it looks like their days are numbered. David's most vital organ, his brain, slams into his own skull, knocking him unconscious and leaving him in a coma. Laura seems to get off more lightly. But the crash has left her with dangerous and hidden internal bleeding. 
Crash - Part 2
With David still in a coma, the doctors cannot begin to assess the full extent of the damage to his brain. When he finally does regain consciousness, he cannot use his right hand properly - but another, hidden and distressing piece of damage is waiting to be revealed. For Laura, the danger is increasing as the membrane around her spleen is filling with blood. Her own personal time bomb is ticking away. 
(2 x 24 minutes)
DVD Format  $132.00  BRD196
Data File Format with Digital Storage Licence  $297.00  BRL532
 

Teen Dreams - Part 1
Darren and Natalie are two young teenagers standing at the brink of puberty. Body Story joins them on a three-month rollercoaster ride fuelled by a cocktail of strange and powerful hormones. It is a rite of passage that will transform not just their bodies, but their minds as well. Changes which seem to be frustrating every move they make - making them spotty, moody, clumsy and sometimes even unable to talk to the opposite sex. It's all a day in the life of a teenager going through puberty. 
Teen Dreams - Part 2
Natalie and Darren, face their toughest tests as their bodies develop towards maturity. Their skeletons lengthen faster than at any time since they were babies, and their raging hormones bring new experiences: body odour, acne, increased aggression. But the end result is the sexual maturity of their bodies. 
(2 x 24 minutes)
DVD Format  $132.00  BRD197
Data File Format with Digital Storage Licence  $297.00  BRL533
 

Fat Attack
Losing weight is such a tough battle. George's body is stockpiling vast fat reserves beneath his belly. It is preparing for a famine it evolved to expect at any moment. But the famine never comes - so George just keeps growing. When the girl of his dreams deserts him, George decides to take on his own body chemistry through a campaign of diet and exercise. But as fat is liberated into his bloodstream, his body fights back, as it tries to hang on to its precious reserves.
(24 minutes)
DVD Format  $88.00  BRD198
Data File Format with Digital Storage Licence  $198.00  BRL534
 

Brave New World
Like all healthy babies, Robert has come kicking and screaming into the world with only half a brain. He's totally helpless - he can't even see or hear properly. Body Story joins Robert for the first four months of his life, using computer graphics to take us deep inside his head, where an army of brain cells are completing a massive construction project. If all goes to plan, they will give him control of his body and ultimately allow him to reach out into the world around him.
(24 minutes)
DVD Format  $88.00  BRD199
Data File Format with Digital Storage Licence  $198.00  BRL535
 

Bad Taste
Mike Small is in big trouble. Body Story reveals the inside story of food poisoning, as computer graphics allow us to witness the invasion of his gut by millions of tiny salmonella bacteria. They've only got one aim - to breed. Mike's body fights back - with cells that slither across his gut lining to take on the bacteria, and with cruder methods to flush the bacteria out - in either direction. As the battle gets increasingly ugly, Mike's latest assignment - taking the snaps for a frozen vegetable company calendar - looks like it might be flushed down the pan.
(24 minutes)
DVD Format  $88.00  BRD200
Data File Format with Digital Storage Licence  $198.00  BRL536
 

Allergy
Discover how our bodies turn against us to give us allergies and even threaten our lives. A simple wasp sting triggers cells throughout Phoebe's skin to make her fatally allergic to wasps. When she's stung again, on a Florida beach holiday, Phoebe's body mounts one of its most primitive and powerful chemical defences, one that could kill her in minutes. As she goes into anaphylactic shock, she starts to swell up, her airways shut down and her heart falters. Her only hope is urgent hospital treatment - if she can get there in time.
(24 minutes)
DVD Format  $88.00  BRD201
Data File Format with Digital Storage Licence  $198.00  BRL537

Our 21st century weapons, buildings, superstructures and vehicles have evolved in the face of often impossible odds. This fast paced series looks at the endless quest to build the ultimate and demonstrates how human ingenuity and modern technology have shaped the development of objects we use, fight with, live and travel in. The challenges and successes of the designers are illustrated using a combination of CGI techniques, archive and actual footage.

14 x 24 minute programs
Executive Producer Liz McLeod
© 2003, 2004, Granada Media

Building the Ultimate Series
Set of 7 DVDs  $484.00  BRD176

or DVDs available individually, $88.00 each volume.
 

Building The Ultimate Volume 1 
Submarine
Speed, strength, stealth, and power - the submarine is a mean machine.  It goes where man cannot.  The ocean is its domain.  How does a submarine withstand the huge forces of sea pressure?  Dramatic tests show how a submarine's hull can be crushed like a cigarette packet.  During the Cold War, a submarine's main defence was avoiding detection, so sound, the need to be quiet, plays a key role in trying to make a submarine indestructible. Hear from the sonar operators who would go on "sneakies", creeping up on their Russian opponents and listening in to their every move.
Helicopter
Agile and athletic, the helicopter is the only machine designed to take off vertically and hover. It is the only vehicle to have saved more lives than it has killed. With wind tunnel and chicken gun tests, this program shows the helicopter being pushed to its limit.  A test pilot demonstrates how scientific pioneers have made the helicopter slicker and faster.
DVD Format  $88.00  BRD161
 

Building The Ultimate Volume 2
Suspension Bridge
Graceful and slender, the suspension bridge is the only man-made structure than can span more than 1 mile.  With new computer technology, find out what really happened at the infamous Tacoma Narrows collapse of 1940.  Interviews with designers of the Humber and the Millennium Bridge explain the enemies bridge engineers must face as they seek to build the Indestructible.
Spacecraft
A Space Shuttle has 2.5 million parts and travels at over 7000 metres per second. With armour that is designed to break and heat shields that are designed to burn, Spacecraft technology is literally 'out of this world'.  Using 3D computer images, high speed cameras and microscopic analysis, experts from NASA and the Russian Space Agency explain what is 'rocket science'.
DVD Format  $88.00  BRD162
 

Building The Ultimate Volume 3
Tank
A war machine built to intimidate. A unique combination of firepower, protection, and mobility, the tank dominates the battlefield. Its design has been driven by the enemy's desire to destroy it. Explosive ballistic tests show how tanks have evolved to withstand the weapons pitted against them. Track technology is highlighted with tensile strength tests showing a single track link withstanding a massive 40 tons of weight. Unique archive film of highly secret tests in the Israeli desert show how a new kind of super-armour was invented, one used in virtually every tank today.
Passenger Jet
At any one time over 350,000 people are flying in a passenger jet, yet 50 years ago they didn't exist. To fly at over 500 miles an hour a jet has hollow fan blades in its engine, and in its wings are fuel tanks that are designed to bend. Experts from engineering to ornithology reveal the secret of the jet engine, which flies at 35,000 feet, where there is no air to breathe and the temperature is minus 40 degrees celsius.
DVD Format  $88.00  BRD163
 

Building The Ultimate Volume 4
Skyscraper
Since ancient times man has always desired to reach for the sky. Skyscraper architecture has always received plaudits but the real genius behind our tallest buildings lies in the efforts of the unheralded structural engineers. Designing a 100 storey building is one thing, ensuring it can carry its own massive weight, resist earthquakes or hurricane force winds quite another. Tests show how skyscraper building materials have to withstand extreme forces. And post 9/11 how can these buildings resist a fire on the 87th floor. A revealing insight into the turning points of skyscraper evolution, from the tallest apartment in the world in New York City to revolutionary new buildings like Mexico City's Torre Mayor, arguably the world's most earthquake proof structure.
Bullet Proof Car
Discreet, yet as safe as a tank. The bullet proof car is constantly changing. While Hitler and Al Capone drove in heavy armoured cars, today they are light, fast and almost impenetrable. But how are new threats changing the bullet proof car today?  Filmed on location in the United Kingdom, the United States and Mexico, this program gives an insight into this hidden world and features interviews with the designers and with survivors of bullet proof car attacks.
DVD Format  $88.00  BRD164
 

Building the Ultimate Volume 5 
Racing Car
The Formula 1 car has become the chariot of fire for all those who lust after awesome performance and ultimate power. Engines that cost as much as a house yet wouldn't get you from London to Edinburgh. Cars that are so aerodynamic they could drive upside down on the roof of a tunnel. Driver safety cells that withstand multiple impacts at 250 km per hour. The ultimate racing car would blow up as it crossed the finishing line. And as long as it was the first car over the line, the man who built it would have a smile on his face.
Fighter Jet
Today's fighter jets are technological wonders. But it's taken 70 years of evolution to reach a point of near performance perfection. In that time the engine, the shape of the aircraft, and the cockpit design have been completely revolutionised. Sheer speed was once the engineer's obsession, now agility and control are the new mantras. The 21st century pilot is no longer the dogfighting buccaneer of yesteryear. He's now operating a highly sophisticated airborne weapons system platform.
DVD Format  $88.00  BRD172
 

Building the Ultimate Volume 6
Roller Coaster
Also known as 'The Incredible Scream Machines', these real life monsters are designed both to excite and to terrify anyone who dares set foot on them. Interviews with eminent coaster designers, historians and enthusiastic riders tell the story of these remarkable feats of engineering from their humble origins in 17th century Russia to the 13 metre monsters that dominate today's skylines.  Speeds of over 140 km per hour are made safe by designers understanding and mastering the physics of roller coasters, using G-Forces, Kinetic Energy and Centrifugal Forces as their Weapons of Mass Exhilaration.
Stadium
Referred to by many as modern day Cathedrals, these huge structures are becoming icons for the cities they inhabit. The film looks how stadiums have been transformed from lumbering wooden and steel stands that herded spectators in to modern, comfortable and multi-purpose state of the art structures. Interviews with stadium designers, engineers, historians, sports players and fans will trace the history of the stadium from the archetypal Roman Colosseum to the stadiums of the future including what will surely be the most famous stadium in the world - the new Wembley Stadium.
DVD Format  $88.00  BRD173
 

Building the Ultimate Volume 7
Aircraft Carrier
Originally developed during the First World War, by 1943 the aircraft carrier had replaced the battleship as the supreme embodiment of naval power. A floating airfield and a small city at sea, at times in its history the carrier has been the largest mobile structure built by man. It took brave men and men of vision to keep the carrier concept feasible as aircraft became heavier and faster with the introduction of the jet engine. Watch in awe as Royal Naval Sea Harrier pilots of 800 Squadron launch at night from the ski jump that makes fixed wing operations possible on the current fleet of British carriers.
Artillery Gun
For nearly a thousand years artillery has been evolving. With explosive, impressive demonstrations and expert interviews, this documentary traces the evolution of propellants, barrels and ammunition to show how the unpredictable, short-range wooden-barrelled medieval cannon evolved into today’s ultimate artillery gun.
DVD Format  $88.00  BRD174
 

In this series we leave the bustling streets far below and are taken on a guided tour, rediscovering some of the boldest and most ambitious examples of architecture in the world; from the ancient and historic to the recent and risky.

When first built these glittering monoliths and historic constructions were gasped at and applauded, but from ground level much of the intricate engineering and design flare is lost to the skies. We rediscover these incredible works of architectural art – old and new – at close range.

In each episode, meet the people who have been involved in the design or construction of the building and get an inside glimpse of the engineering and dedication to detail that makes the buildings outstanding.

Duration: 10 x 26 minute programs
Presented by Charlie Luxton and Keith Keaveney
Directed by Bosie Vincent
An Electric Sky Production
©2007 Gallery HD Company

DVD Format (Set of 5 DVDs)  $440.00  LTD112
or DVDs available individually, $99.00 each.

Vertical City Volume 1
The Eureka Tower, Melbourne
Vertical City goes to Melbourne and to the tallest residential building in the world – the 300m Eureka Tower, the most exclusive address in the Southern Hemisphere. But is living the high life destroying our traditional city communities? Are these Vertical Villages changing the way we live forever?  Architects: Karl Fender and Nondo Katsalidis 
Torre Mayor, Mexico City
The strongest building on Earth, Torre Mayor is constructed to withstand earthquakes that would obliterate the average skyscraper. Built in the wake of Mexico City’s most devastating earthquake in 1985, this monument to engineering has become a haven of safety in one of the world’s most active seismic zones. But can the ever growing height of skyscrapers compete with typhoons and earthquakes? Can man’s high rise addiction really conquer nature?  Architects: Zeidler Roberts Partnership
DVD Format (2 x 26 minutes)  $99.00  LTD113

Vertical City Volume 2
7 World Trade Centre, New York
Skyscrapers have transformed cities across the globe – most notably the famous skyline of Manhattan. But on 11 September 2001, this historic cityscape became forever linked with one event that forced architects to rethink. 7 World Trade Centre, the first building to be constructed on Ground Zero, has taken skyscraper safety to new levels – but overlooking a plot of land that symbolises the risk of building tall, do those who work in it really feel safe?  Architect: David Childs
Cologne Cathedral
Even before the modern skyscraper, the super tall building has been a source of innovation and fierce competition – and no time was the fight for height fiercer than in the late 18th century when cathedrals across Europe competed to make their spires the tallest. Cologne was the tallest building in the world for 10 years – but where did the money for these religious super spires come from? And just how fierce, and dirty, did the fight become?
DVD Format (2 x 26 minutes)  $99.00  LTD114

Vertical City Volume 3
The Turning Torso, Sweden
Every major city has a symbolic piece of architecture that projects its image to the world. But what happens when a city loses not only its trademark industry but its trademark icon? This is exactly the problem that faced the city of Malmo in Sweden – but it came up with the perfect way to reinvent itself. It went and built a radical skyscraper. But daring design always courts controversy – and the whole project nearly ended in disaster.  Architect: Santiago Calatrava
Commerzbank, Frankfurt
The skyscraper is a symbol of aspiration and power – and an environmentally unsound energy guzzling monster. But in 1997 British superarchitect Norman Foster created a contradiction in terms – the world’s first ecological tower and in doing so, The Commerzbank in Frankfurt has changed the construction of office buildings forever. But was going green the result of the corporate world being responsible – or just a big fat PR exercise?  Architects: Foster and Partners
DVD Format (2 x 26 minutes)  $99.00  LTD115

Vertical City Volume 4
Q1, Gold Coast
Surfer's Paradise has come a long way from a small town with great waves and long beaches. Surfer's has a growing reputation as the resort of choice for the rich and famous and family getaways, but the skyline is growing too with the massive Q1 Tower dominating the landscape. But how has this skyscraper affected the paradise that is Surfer's? Is it the jewel in the crown of one of Australia's most popular resorts - or the nail in the coffin of the chilled vibe and community spirit that makes the Gold Coast unique?  Architects: The Sunland Group
One Canada Square, London
In 1991, One Canada Square, the UK's tallest skyscraper, changed the London skyline. But the icon wasn't in the heart of the capital. Instead the developers had taken a billion dollar gamble on creating an international financial centre, symbolised by this obelisk-shaped tower, in the desolate docklands of the City's East End. But when the world property market collapsed just after the complex was completed, the developers went bankrupt and a large part of the tower lay in darkness.  Architects: Cesar Pelli and Associates
DVD Format (2 x 26 minutes)  $99.00  LTD116

Vertical City Volume 5
The Sears Tower, Chicago
Still the tallest tower in the US – as well as the tallest building in the world for 25 years – the $175million Sears Tower broke boundaries in not only height but design and construction when it was completed in 1973. But building the tallest building in the world brings its own logistical headaches, and the crippling cost of funding an iconic tower can take its toll.  Architect: Bruce Graham
Cira Centre, Philadelphia
You’re a new developer, you want to build a tower in a bleak part of town and you’ve got to fill half the building before you get planning permission. What do you do? Get in a Superstar Architect to ensure your skyscraper gets noticed and gets headlines. Cira Centre in Philadelphia stands apart from any other high rise in the area, but are celebrity architects over paid and over hyped? Does their huge pay cheque pay back?  Architects: Cesar Pelli and Associates
DVD Format (2 x 26 minutes)  $99.00  LTD117