Wildlife Film Academy - Part III

Welcome to the final part (I promise!) of my trip to Botswana to attend the Wildlife Film Academy.

At the end of the second part I left the story at the point where the action was about to start.
After our 9 days of lectures with many hours spent honing our camera skills we were off to the Khwai River Reserve that was interestingly run by a development trust rather than the government.

Before we left we were warned about how 'wild' the area was and that there were no fences and boy were they right. As we arrived at our camping area during the last few hours of the day it was love at first sight for me. We were in the middle of nowhere with nothing but our tents, vehicles and a bush fire to keep the lions and hyenas away, it was truly brilliant.

The wake up time for the next 5 days was 5.30am so that we were all up and ready to go for sunrise and ready I most certainly was.
Over the next few days we all worked together in the two safari vehicles to tick off the shots on our shot lists. I loved every minute of the filming but I must admit that my first morning of filming did not go to plan as I had a nature overload, meaning all of my shots were too short, shakey and just all over the place. I was not happy at the end of my first day, pretty gutted actually, but I became more focused and it remined myself that I was there to learn. It was a pivitol moment for me as it made me understand what needs to be done to film wildlife and to get those shots that portray nature as we all see it.
The film that I was making was all about the people that work with wildlife and the reason why they have chosen this career. I wanted to give an insight into people that do not seek the limelight but who work tirelessly to protect what they love, which in the end effects us all. This meant gave me the first experience of directing interviews and also getting myself infront of the camera! Which I actually really enjoyed, I love talking and communicating to other people about the natural world.
With the subject of my film I was especially looking for shots that portrayed emotion and honesty, those close up shots that would get a reaction from the viewer but in the end it all came down to the wildlife, my film was really in their hands.
The wildlife did not disappoint with hippos cruising in the water, lions stalking at dusk, vultures stripping carcasses, african wild dog resting in the shade and the most amazing experience of following a Leopard at night whilst she hunted. We really did see everything.
My most memorable experience was the first one that made me and the rest of the group speechless as the 4 of us watched and filmed 6 male elephants cross the river and straight past our vehicle, each one stopping and looking at us as the strolled by. It was an experience of power, strength and real beauty.

At the end of the 5 days I was sad to be saying goodbye to Kwai but promised myself that I would return.We now headed back to Maun to start the final stage, editing.
For the next 9 days we were situated at Colin's farm (our safari guide) to edit our 5 minute films. All of the group worked tirelessly during this time to get our films ready and I was determined to learn as much as I could from our lovely editing teaching Caroline. I had never edited anything before but I took to it like a duck to water and became quite ruthless in ditching shots and editing others, I loved putting all my shots together and contributed to the feeling that this was the career path for me (editing tent is below).

Each editing day consisted of breakfast at 8am, lunch at 1pm and dinner at 7pm with all of our other time taken up on Final Cut Pro in the tent above. I also managed a few Euro 2012 matches at Jurgens house, which I was very grateful for and meant more valuable time for me to absorb extra bits of advice.
All good things must come to an end though and on the final day we all put the final pieces together for our films, which also involved me narrating another film, and then put them to DVD, ready for the screening evening.
That evening one by one all of the films were shown with the general consensus being that these were the best films ever produced by the Film Acdemy. Everyone in the group made the film that they wanted to, each as different as the person who made them, each special in their own right.

I am very proud of the film that I made and I am determined that it will not be the last that I make. I have posted my film on Vimeo, which can be found here:

http://vimeo.com/naturafilms

The Wildlife Film Academy exceeded all my expectations and has shown me that I have the eye and creativity for the film-making industry. The next step for me is to get my ideas together, practice my skills and work towards the one opportunity that I need to get into the industry. I feel like all I need is for someone to give me a chance, a single chance to show what I can do, and then I will be away and nothing will stop me creating a career for myself.
I love the camera work, the editing, the film ideas but my heart is set on presenting/narrating and creating my own wildlife films. Watch this space...


Stephen

The Wildlife Film Academy - Part II

So... the time has now come to write the second and final part of my film academy trip blog. Once again life has caught up with me with 4 weeks passing since my last entry with work and the farm keeping me busy.

Here we go...

...The first night in my tent was an absolute dream and I could not have slept better and as I awoke bright eyed at dawn i still smiled at the sheer size of my tent and the fact that I was sleeping on something that resembled a matress.
It was around 6.30am and had received a lovely wake up call from a lovely local woman who worked for the safari company that was part of the experience. For the next 3 weeks she acted as our housekeeper, something I did not expect. She was an amazing lady, kind, caring and with a large bright smile that was always there.
As I stepped out of my tent I quickly adjusted to my surroundings and had a look around, the main hub of the camp I could just see through the trees where a fire was burning away and breakfast was being prepared buy our lovely hopes. I was a happy man and keen to learn everything I could and get underneath the skin of Africa once again.

The next 9 days followed the same schedule with an early wake up call followed by breakfast around the fire, lectures in the morning, lunch, and then lectures in the afternoon. Once this was finished we had a couple of hours to spare before dinner and then time spent around the fire, which was known as the african television (every night it is a different channel!).


During these 9 days me and the other course participants were put through our paces in areas such as scriptwriting, shot selection, story development, pre-production and how to use a camera and to most importantly treat it like it was your girlfriend (Jurgen's term, not mine!). We were told to sleep with our cameras and to get to know them inside out, but to not get emotional with them. We were here to get the shots and make the best films we could. The pictures to the right and below give you an insight as to what the camp was like.


Some of the highlights of the first camp included analysing previous films, learning about how to get ideas commissioned (a massive plus for me) and having the constant battle with the local troop of monkeys so that we kept our lunch. The two that really stand out however were going for a canoe trip along the hippo channels in the delta and getting to know our teacher Jurgen who was honest, straightforward and pasisonate through and through. If I ever make it on television then it will be partly due to the man whose picture is below (who also looks a bit like Gerald Durrell).

Now i was going to explain the 5 days of filming and 9 days of editing but due to the fact that we basically filmed everything we could have dreamed of (Leopard, Wild Dog, Elephant, Lion, Lioness hunting), plus I almost got charged by an elephant whilst filming. So I am going to extend this part of my blog to a 3rd and final part. Apologies, but I feel like I need to do the filming and editing part justice, especially as my learning curve went through the roof.