MUMBAI: Following the kick-off party at South by Southwest (SXSW) for the upcoming miniseries event The ?80s: The Decade That Made Us, US infotainment broadcaster the National Geographic Channel (NGC) has announced that Emmy-nominated actor Rob Lowe will narrate the six-part cultural programming event that offers an unprecedented look at the moments, trends, inventions, and culture that have shaped our world today.

In addition, the network also announced that the six-part series will roll out over three nights in the US, from 14 April, and globally on the National Geographic Channel this year in 171 countries and 38 languages.

The broadcaster adds that ?The ?80s: The Decade That Made Us? isn?t about nostalgia; it?s about the history of our modern world that spawned political, technological, cultural and social revolutions that began in the United States and went on to dominate the world. This cultural programming event is the defining biography of a generation. It?s about a decade of people, decisions and inventions that changed our future, told from the perspective of the unknowing history makers who lived these iconic moments.

We worked out, worked harder, played harder and consumed more - because the 1980s was the decade when we went forward to the future. The first launch of the Space Shuttle triggered a technological explosion in global communications that gave birth to our modern love affair with smartphones; Madonna rolled around on stage in a wedding dress, sending shock waves through a celebrity-hungry world that can?t get enough of Lady Gaga and Katy Perry today. These and other incredible stories reveal surprising, unexpected details and twists and turns from a decade you only thought you knew.

Lowe said, "National Geographic Channel is a leader in creating engaging and relevant programs that viewers can trust. This series is a unique and provocative look back at one of the most exciting and revolutionary periods in American history."

NGC executive VP programming Michael Cascio said, "Rob Lowe is one of today?s most enduring actors, and his films from the 1980s were among the most popular of the decade, with the ?Brat Pack? films setting a new standard for the teen movie genre. He is the perfect narrator for this series and his voice brings to life the triumphs, challenges, and effervescent spirit of this bright and important time."

MUMBAI: Infotainment broadcaster National Geographic Channel (NGC) will bring back the show, ?Supercars?, for a second installment with actress Esha Gupta as host.

NGC Network India, Fox International Channels VP, marketing and communication Debarpita Bannerjee says that ?Supercars? is different from the other automobile shows in that it goes into the making of cars from the factories and looks at the engineering, blueprint and how the cars race.

"From the roar behind Lamborghinis racing bull to unusual blend of luxury and performance of the Maserati, the show reveals the science, technology and behind the scenes manufacturing stories of the most sought after international icons - the Lamborghini Murci?lago, the Porsche GT3, the Audi R8, the Rolls-Royce Phantom and many more super cars These are entertaining documentaries."

In the first season, NGC had got Rajeev Khandelwal. "This year we have got Esha Gupta who is also a car enthusiast. She is able to be a woman of substance and a supermodel.as the host."

NGC will also get back the ?Mission? property for another season. "We are looking at other local concepts as well," says Bannerjee.

MUMBAI: Travel books may tell you what to do on a trip but National geographic channel?s show, ?Banged Up Abroad?, aims to offer a guide on what not to do when travelling abroad.

The new season of the show kicks off on 20 August at 10 pm.

So what are these ?don?t dos?? These include falling, in love with a married woman in Philippines, revealing sexual preferences in Saudi Arabia and offering to help business men in Argentina transfer Gold.

The infotainment broadcaster will showcase first- hand accounts of survivors who escape their self inflicted doom in a foreign land.

Banged up Abroad will tell tales from countries around the world like Saudi Arabia, Spain, Argentina, Tokyo, Iraq and Columbia.

Viewers can watch how an innocent Iraqi soldier is forced to switch lives with the evil son of Saddam Hussain. Practically aping his identity, he escapes several assassination attempts until he finds himself in a situation where he has to choose between death and escape.

In another scandalous scenario, a student nurse and crack addict makes a daring escape by hitchhiking and swimming across an international border only to turn herself over to authorities in England.

?Banged Up Abroad? sheds light on the spirit of survival when caught in situations caused by an error in judgment.
 

MUMBAI: Prime Focus Technologies (PFT) has further extended its content localisation offering with a raft of language dubbing services.

This new language dubbing service complements PFT?s existing subtitling-captioning service offering that is already captioning over 10,500 hours of TV and film content every year. 

Founder and CEO of Prime Focus Technologies Ramki Sankaranarayanan said, "With rapid globalisation, international content is in increasing demand by a geographically dispersed, digitally interactive consumer base. Leveraging our global digital pipeline, language dubbing is an important addition to our growing suite of powerful Clear-led content operation services for global clients. We are very pleased to see our clients already embracing this offering which clearly presents enhanced revenue growth opportunities."

With a roster of 300 voiceover artists and 50 scriptwriters, PFT can provide dubbing services in over 20 international languages and all Indian languages. PFT?s services include scriptwriting; cultural and language disaster checks; dialogue adaptation; voice casting and audition; dialogue recording and editing; M&E track creation; audio mixing; video editing; and Dolby mastering.

The new service is managed by a client servicing team with many years of content localisation experience and leverages Clear, PFT?s award-winning hybrid cloud content operations platform, to handle assets, automated QC, approvals, workflows, delivery and archiving of the content.

PFT is already providing over 250 hours of dubbing services every month to its clients like National Geographic Channel, Reliance Big, Star TV and Zee TV. 

MUMBAI: National Geographic Channel (NGC) announced today it will premiere a half-hour special, James Cameron: Voyage to the Bottom of the Earth, chronicling the Oscar winning filmmaker?s one-man dive last month to the Mariana Trench?s Challenger Deep, the ocean?s deepest point.

The special airs on 2 June at 8 pm.

The Mariana Trench is perhaps the most isolated place on the planet.

Cameron describes his journey to this ocean?s depth right here on Earth in an interview saying, "I was watching the numbers going deeper. The sub slows down as you get to the target depth. There is a long moment of getting to think about it. Then you have to get busy. You have less than a thousand feet from the bottom, you fine-tune the ballast, adjust the camera, turn up the spotlight. As the altimeter counted, I saw the glow of the bottom!"

In March, the filmmaker and National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence descended 6.8 miles to the spot known as the Challenger Deep in the Pacific Ocean?s Mariana Trench, an area deeper than Mt. Everest is tall. The record-breaking trip that made headlines around the world was part of Deepsea Challenge, a joint scientific expedition by
Cameron, National Geographic and Rolex to conduct deep-ocean research and exploration.

Cameron is the only individual ever to complete the dive in a solo vehicle and the first person since 1960 to reach the very bottom of the world in a manned submersible.

James Cameron: Voyage to the Bottom of the Earth features Cameron?s interview on the journey. Culled from more than two hours of his firsthand accounts of the project, it details everything from more than seven years of development to the actual moment he touched the bottom of the Earth. The project is also his first expedition as a National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence.