Interviewing

In order to practice interviewing people on camera, Paul arranged for us to watch a real doco crew set up and interview Lala Frazer, a founding member of the Yellow-Eyed Penguin Trust. We were all there and ready to go, but our professional interviewer didn't show up. So Paul looks around the room and goes, "Eeny - Meeny - Miney - Mo. Dwayne, you're running the interview, get everything set up." So with the help of the class and the crew, we set up the shot and I got to interview Lala. It was really cool. Here is a comic illustration of what went down (thanks again to kat for the pictures).

Aerial Filming and Creative Light

Disclaimer: Photos blatantly Stolen From Kat


This week we had another awesome field trip to learn the basics of filming from helicopters and airplanes. I tried to jump right in a learn as much as I could, since I hope to start filming my doco by the end of the month. Yikes.

Here I am harnessed into the chopper, getting a safety briefing

Paul explains shot size and direction while filming out of an open helicopter

Film Team Salute

Last week's lighting practical. This is what it takes for me to be well lit. That's why I prefer to be on the other side of the camera.

Music Video

True Films

If you want to see some great documentaries but don't know where to begin, check out this site: True Films.
Kevin Kelly has self-published a book on 100 great "documentaries, educational films, instructional how-to's, and what the British call factuals - a non-fiction visual account."
You can buy a pdf download of the book for $3, but I think all of the film write-ups in the book are on the website, you just have to click through the categories or check the monthly archives.

Lone Wolf

After meeting with the other 2 unpaired students, I've decided to stick to my guns (so to speak) and make my movie on my own. Am I crazy? Probably. Can I pull it off? Definitely. A three person film could have been great and probably would have meant a better distribution of labor, but could also have been too many influences.

It will mean a lot more work for myself: research, pitch and proposal, shooting script, schedules and budgets (not to mention all the regular coursework that isn't a part of the final film) . . .All on my own. But I love this stuff, so bring it on.

In other news, I finally figured out what my music video is going to be: Thom Yorke's "Analyse" over black and white footage from a metal casting foundry (which I happen to live next to. I'm not entirely sure what they make there, other than a lot of noise and strange smells . . .) I get to do that tomorrow morning. I'll try to put the video up on YouTube when I'm done.

Today's the Day [. . . Or Not]

UPDATE:Due to unforeseen circumstances there are now only 3 students including myself who have not committed to a partnership. So it comes downs to doing a 3-person film or having one pair and someone going alone.

By the end of class today we will all know who we are working with and what our final film topics will be.
Most of the class (as far as I know) have already found their film buddies. I think I'm one of the few who hasn't paired up with someone. I'll let you know how it all turns out. . .

Music Video Assignment

I wanted to write a phoney rap song about wildlife filmmaking, but I could only think of one good line:

Those animals are fast, whatcha gonna do?
That penguin's on the move like Mannequin 2

Pitch

Yesterday we had to pitch our film ideas to the class and our professors and a development executive from NHNZ. Pretty intimidating stuff, but it went well.

I've written about my idea before, so I don't need to go over it again here, but I did want to include a copy of the handout I made:

Photos were taken from Prohunt.co.nz.
Prohunt NZ Ltd is not associated with this project.
The images are used for visual reference only.

Just to prove that I'm not all about killing and guns, I've thrown in a couple pictures of the cutest little seal you ever did see. I took these in Kaikoura last week.

awwwwww

Steve Irwin

The man known around the world as The Crocodile Hunter died today. He was filming sequence with a Sting Ray for television.

It seems uncouth to write about it in a blog, but I was really struck and saddened by the news of his death. He always seemed like a good man, enthusiastic and entertaining. After seeing him in so many dangerous situations, it doesn't seem possible that he is gone.

He died doing what he loved, but he was only 44 and had a wife and kids.

Steve Irwin, you will be missed.

Getting My Goats

Thanks to Alastair's contacts at the Auckland Regional Council, I talked to the man who manages the Sentinel Goat Program at The Hunua Ranges Regional Park (Sentinel is the newer name for the Judas Goat Technique, being non-denominational and all). He seems really into the idea of a documentary on the program. Three times a year they close down the park and bring in the Sentinel Conservation Team. If everything works out the documentarians would be considered part of the team and given full access. I'm really stoked. There are other places in New Zealand that also do Sentinel Technique work that are closer to Dunedin (The Hunuas are up near Auckland on the North Island), but look how gorgeous this range is:

The Hunuas

But, even if the Hunuas program doesn't work out, there are other options yet to be explored and everywhere in New Zealand has fantastic scenery.

I'm seeing the potential for this film grow and grow. It gets me energized and excited, and I think it will do the same for others.

Please leave me some comments on whether or not you think this story would make a good film. I think there is a lot of potential for a action-conservation movie with a sting operation aspect to it and hopefully great characters.

In It For The Wild Life

So by now, most of the other classmates have blogged about our trip to Victory Beach to film Sea Lions and Yellow-Eyed Penguins. It was a really good day, even though there was just 1 sea lion, 1 very ill leopard seal. But there were a bunch of penguins, which was really cool because I've never seen wild penguins before (as is often the case when you spend most of your life in the Northern Hemisphere).
Be sure to check out Kat and Sarah's blogs(Update: check Alastair's too), they have great pictures.

Blog and Ye Shall Receive

Initially, some members of this class were a bit apprehensive about sharing their doco ideas with the whole interweb. There was a fear that someone will steal our great ideas. Well, I threw my favorite idea out in my last post and the response has been great.

First, Alastair left a comment that not only informed me that the 'Judas Technique' is a New Zealand thing, he gave me a link to a website I hadn't come across in all my Google searches for combinations of "Judas" "Goat" "Technique" and "Helicopter."

Alastair, who is a filmmakers best friend - not only well informed and well connected, but generous with both - also gave me the hook up with a contact at the DOC office that covers Molesworth Station(where the technique has recently been used)and inquired with an acquaintance in Auckland to see if the technique is still being used there.

Next, in today's class Nick mentioned that an idea he is actively perusing has a possible Judas Technique tie in.

I've had the general idea for this documentary in the back of my mind since last October and it's really cool to see some of the pieces start to come together.

So, I say put your big ideas out there. You aren't gonna get any help if no one knows what you have going on, and you can't do it all yourself.

New Podcast Recommendation:

• Here's another one from my fave,KCRW: Politics of Culture. Especially check out the episode from Tuesday, 8 August : The Long Tail

Weekly Rundown: Zoo Drinks, Mike Rubbo, Editing

1. INT. ZOOLOGY TEA ROOM - FRIDAY, 4 AUGUST 2006. 4PM

The Natural History Filmmaking students host the monthly department happy hour. The theme: "Camo & Mo."

cleaning up, camo style

Our 'Zoo Drinks' went well. People seemed to get into the theme on camouflage and fake mustaches. A good time was had by all.


2. INT. NHNZ CONFERENCE ROOM - TUESDAY 8 AUGUST. 10:30AM

I had a meeting with documentary filmmaker Mike Rubbo to discuss film ideas. I'm still not totally inspired by any one topic, but he did like my 'Judas Pig' idea. Here's the basics:
There is a conservation technique for managing or eradicating feral herd animals known as the 'Judas technique' where some animals are captured and radio-tagged, then released. These animals rejoin their herd and people can track them from helicopters in order to cull them. It's kind of a harsh topic, but I think it's really interesting. I first heard about it from a friend who was studying ecology in Ecuador. Apparently they use the technique on goats in the Galapagos. Here is her wonderful description:

They get a goat, paint its horns bright orange (goats are color-blind, and wouldn't notice this), give it a radio collar, and release it on an island. Within about a week, the goat joins a herd. Then they track the goat down from a helicopter and open fire with a machine gun on the herd. This, while a bit brutal, is more effective [than hunting].

I've found a report from a study of the technique's effectiveness on pigs in an area in the central South Island here in New Zealand and I am trying to get in contact with the people to see if they are still using the technique.


3. INT. NHNZ EDITING SUITE - TUESDAY 8 AUGUST. 11:00AM

After meeting with Mike Rubbo, I got a chance to sit in with Warren at NHNZ while he is editing a pilot. I arranged the day before with Chris, the executive producer on the show to do this, since I was going to be going all the way to NHNZ for a half-hour meeting anyway.
It was really cool. The show looks like it's going to be great, plus watching Warren and talking to him about the way he edits was really informative. It makes me want to get back into editing.

I'm Back

Okay, my Internet connection has been on the fritz for the past couple weeks, so I apologize for not updating as often as I should. First things first, I promised the story of my flatmates and I going to Moeraki a couple weeks ago, and today I will deliver.

Moeraki Boulder Day

"Dunedin is okay, you just don't want to get stuck in a rut here."
- Pip

The Cast:
A - Norwegian. Geology PhD Student
M- American. (Michigan) Political Science Masters Student
N - American. (Ohio, California) Energy Studies Masters Student
Dwayne - that's me
Falcor - Blue 1996 Ford Falcon Station Wagon

Part 1: Sunday Driving, Swimming with Boulders

Three of my flatmates and myself went on a drive up the coast on a cold, bright Sunday to Moeraki beach to look at the boulders. We hung out on the beach, played a little Frisbee, saw some round rocks - all in all, not bad. Then, in the beginning of a series of bad decisions, we jumped in the ocean - well, all but A. We brought swimming trunks and towels, but of course left them in the car and it was too far back to go get them. So we were cold and wet and changed into our dry swim trunks when we got back in the car for the ride home.

Part 2: An Intentional Detour

Back in the car and feeling more alive than ever from the cold ocean, we decided to keep the adventures going, with a trip through Moeraki Township and a detour loop on the way home. In M's atlas I spotted a road that turned off of the main highway, went through the Silver Peaks and turned back onto the highway just before we would get home. Everyone agreed this would be a nice way to extend the afternoon. No one thought twice about taking a rear-wheel drive wagon on "Steep Hill Road."
We Drive for a couple K's up Steep Hill and are having a great time. We reach a certain point where the road is gated and locked. Feeling a little dejected, N turns Falcor around to backtrack to the Highway and take the road more traveled.

Part 3: A River Runs Through It

On our way back, someone notices a road that forks off Steep Hill Road that we didn't notice before. There is a road sign ont he gate that says "Mountain Road." Aewsome, we can keep going. It looks like a much steeper and narrower road than even Steep Hill, but we decide it must be the way to go.
So, we go down and down and wind back and forth. After a while there is a particularly steep part, just before a turn, then back to narrow track. Once we get around that turn, we see the bottom of the hill. And a river is running across the road.
We can’t go forward and it’s too narrow to turn around a station wagon. We can't even back up, the tires just spin in the mud and loose stone.
A opens another gate, off to the side ahead of us and N is able to do a roughly 17-point turn to get us facing back up the hill.
At the steep point past the turn, we get stuck and just spin the tires. M, A, and I get out and try to push. Mud gets sprayed all over A’s pants.

Part 4: We Run Through a River

Tension is building at this point, so M and I take off down the road to see what we're facing. It turns out to be more of a stream, about 20ft (6m) across, ankle deep. . . and frikkin cold. We check out the road on the other side, it continues in a few directions. Past a run-down old farm building, M is startled by a creeping rooster.
We return to the car and convince N to turn it around and drive throught he water so we can keep going forward and follow Mountain Road back to the Highway. Falcor makes it across the water and up the bank on the other side.

Part 5: Hours Pass, Losing the Light

For the next couple hours we explore several unmarked roads that branch off our 'Mountain Road.' All are dead ends, or aimpassableble to Falcor. N and I have given up on our wagon, and have already begun talking about the flyer we would post to sell it.
A mentions that we only have about an hour of daylight left, and we are all still cold.
Back at the bottom, just past the river there is a small house. N and I get out to ask which way is Mountain Road. There are boots and coat out on the porch (and a set of antlers on the wall), but no one is home.

Part 6: Don't Get Stuck in a Rut

We go down our last road option, and of course we are all really happy about this one. ItÂ’s flat and straight, this must be the main road. We turn down it and drive for maybe a minute, and everyone in the car gets goes silent as we start to slide. But N drives out of it, and we keep going. Twenty seconds later, we drift closer and closer to the hill to our left and stop. Our left tires are in a small ditch and we are stuck in the mud. There is no getting out of this, and trying would only make it worse.
N has one bar of cell phone reception, which is one more than anyone else, so M uses it to call 111 - New Zealand emergency services. They transfer her to the police who call a tow truck and give him N’s number.
M describes our situation: We are stuck off Mountain Road. No, we donÂ’t have 4-wheel drive. Yes, we need a tow truck. Mountain Road, itÂ’s off Steep Hill Road, which is off Highway 1. Yes. ItÂ’s a ways down and you have to cross a small stream, and then its a hard right.
Something about calling a tow truck makes you feel like a failure at life, which of course we were at that moment.
A short while later, headlights come up the road toward us. It is an SUV, the kind of car that you would want on these roads. The driver is a forty-ish woman who tells us that we are, in fact, on private roads and that she probably could have pulled us out of the ditch, but since we already called the tow truck we should just wait for him.
Who knows how long later, Headlights come down the road. The driver stops and says, “you didn’t say it was a friggin goat path! I don’t know if I’ll be able to get out.” Confidence gone.
Part 7: Out of the Rut

We all get out of the car while this adventure tow-truck driver pulls our car back onto the road, goes forward, almost skids off the road himself, K-turns his truck around, moves our wagon and turns it around. “Okay, I’ll meet you at the top.”
A across a stream, up a hill, and NZ$150 later we are back on the main road. Tired, cold, and hungry we drive Falcor back home.

The Moral of the Story: I've never been one for morality tales, but I think what I take from this story was best said by fellow blogger The Last Angry Young Man at the end of his fantastic series The Monkey Chow Diaries:

If you only ever act on your good ideas, you probably won't do much at all.
I'm going to have a good idea one day, and I'm going to be ready for it.

So there it is. I tried to keep it brief, but it was an epic day.

The Market

I'm still revising an account of my borderline-fiasco trip to Moeraki and back on Sunday, stay tuned for that.

But for now, I'd like to talk about a couple of people my class got to meet from NHNZ (that is pronounced N-H-N-Zed, for all my American readers). First, on Thursday we got to speak with an Executive Producer named Phil Boag. He is an American who recently joined NHNZ coming from Discovery Times, a digital cable channel co-pro between Discovery Television and The New York Times (The Times is no longer a partner in the channel, but Discovery still runs it under the same name). He is currently working on a series for Animal Planet called 'Up Close & Dangerous.' We saw a couple episodes at a screening on Friday and it was really cool. TiVo it.

He talked about moving to Hollywood and being a PA and doing runs all over LA, which I can relate to, having been an Intern and a PA at a Music Video and TV Commercial production company in LA my senior year of college ('college' in US English = 'Uni', for all my Kiwi readers).

Next, on Monday, we got to talk to Craig Meade who is Head of Development at NHNZ. He is also originally from America as well, but has been in New Zealand for much longer than Phil or myself. It was really great to be able to hear from these two guys. They both had really good insights and advice in the industry, and both were very open with real invitations to take meetings and talk one-on-one. Craig even said to come to him with pitch ideas first, so he can tell us his perspective as someone who gets treatments all the time. At the very least he can tell us how many people have tried to develop that idea before. Having studied Film and Television and having met a fair amount of people in 'The Business' in LA, I can say that is a huge offer and an opportunity which I plan to take advantage of (or is it '...of which I plan to take advantage?')

[note to readers: please let me know if I sound like an ass for trying to come across as being all hollywood. I promise it is not my intent.]

Anyway, both Phil and Craig stressed the importance of the American Marketplace for the productions of their shows. NHNZ does not make content solely for the local market. America is where the money is, and knowing what trends are going on in the industry is important. Being the only American on the course this year, I've gotten some good-natured ribbing, and heard some pot-shots being taken at America. And that's fine, I'm not offended. Almost all complaints people have are about America controlling the market for what is produced, be it TV, Film, or Books. People in the media here feel hampered because of the stipulations of using American English and Imperial Measurements and not being able to make things that they care about if the US audience doesn't. I sympathize with them, not that I can do anything about it.

I am part of the American market. I'm in a key demo. But being on a lonely island in the South Pacific, it's kind of hard to keep track of what's happening in the Industry. And this is what this whole post was supposed to be about. So, I have a few suggestions for people who want to try and follow current trends in entertainment:

• KCRW's The Business - a radio show out of a great public broadcaster in Santa Monica, California. Download the podcast.
  
• KCRW's Martini Shot - A TV writer's take. Great because it's only about 5 minutes long. Again with the podcasting.
• The Hollywood Reporter - The definitive Trade Magazine. You can read the first paragraph of stories, and some features in whole, for free. (check out Variety too, you can get a 2-week free trial with each email address you have. Get a new Yahoo address every two week and never pay a subscription fee!)
  
• Desperate Networks - A book chronicling the last 10 or so years in American Network Television. Not really great for producers of nature and wildlife programs, since they are mainly on cable. But it does cover the rise of reality TV, which is, at times, non-fiction. (This book was recommended to me by a former professor and television producer who wrote one of my recommendations for this course. It is good stuff.)

That's all that comes to mind right now (it's past midnight, probably not a good time to blog. . .) but if you can think of any more, please add a comment or e-mail them to me. I'd also love to know about Natural History-specific Industry news.

Hopefully I'll be blogging more often in the future, and therefore may be able to keep the posts a little shorter. Thanks for reading it through to the end.

Intro

Hello all,

My name is Dwayne, and I am a student in the Postgraduate Diploma in Natural History Filmmaking and Communication at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand.

This Blog is will follow my year in the course and document the development of my final film. Enjoy and please leave lots of comments.

-Dwayne