Wetland Documentary

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crotalushorridus
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Joined: December 12th, 2013, 12:06 pm
Location: Bethesda, Maryland

Wetland Documentary

Post by crotalushorridus »

Hey guys this is my first post so let me introduce myself. My names Ari, I'm a Sophomore in high school, and from Maryland. Alike "many" 16 year olds out there, I'm a aspiring herpetologist and a field herper. This year, I'm making a documentary for a local wetland one mile from a major road in my area. It's amazed me how so much amphibian life can exist so close to human development which seems to be creeping up on the wetland. The point of my documentary is of course conservation through education, but also instead of sending the S.O.S. message of "save the wetlands", I want to show everyone what goes on in a wetland in one year. I've been filming and editing since September 2013 and will be done in June 2014 (coming up!). Last night I released the trailer to give people a little taste of what to expect from the whole 45 minute film coming June. I've shot everything with my Nikon D3100, tripod, and microphone. Its just been me, no help at all. I've attached the YouTube link to watch the trailer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSB5l3Ep9gQ

Cheers, Ari
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TravisK
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Re: Wetland Documentary

Post by TravisK »

Pretty nice. The camera work was a bit shaky but it looks like you have a pretty good piece of work for a High Schooler. :thumb:
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crotalushorridus
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Location: Bethesda, Maryland

Re: Wetland Documentary

Post by crotalushorridus »

Thank you Travis, without a GlideCam or camera rig, getting moving shots is tough.
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muskiemagnet
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Re: Wetland Documentary

Post by muskiemagnet »

nice documentary.

nice avatar photo as well. :roll: :roll: :roll:

-ben
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crotalushorridus
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Re: Wetland Documentary

Post by crotalushorridus »

Fair enough Ben!
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muskiemagnet
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Re: Wetland Documentary

Post by muskiemagnet »

no worries.

welcome.

-ben
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Mike VanValen
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Re: Wetland Documentary

Post by Mike VanValen »

Nice work on the trailer.

A couple of pointers : You want to present the wildlife as pristine and untouched as possible. The garter dangling from a stick detracts from that.

Some amphibian shots/calls would have been nice for the trailer.
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crotalushorridus
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Re: Wetland Documentary

Post by crotalushorridus »

Thanks Mike. Since I started shooting in late September, there was a substantial absence of frogs calls. Springs here and there will be more then enough calls to go around! I agree with your point of showing the pristine-ness, that is one thing I am trying to work on in my cinematography.
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Mike VanValen
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Re: Wetland Documentary

Post by Mike VanValen »

Good to hear. There's nothing quite as effective than for people to see what wild animals are living in their community. I wish you luck with the completion of your project.
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Noah M
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Re: Wetland Documentary

Post by Noah M »

I took a peek, it looks nice. I agree about the snake on a stick thing, try and avoid that.

Filmography is not easy. I think the typical ratio I've heard is that for most nature documentaries, they keep about 1% of what they shoot. So if you want a 45 minute video, you'll need about 4500 minutes of footage, or 75 hours. That doesn't seem to far off for me. I'll spend 10 minutes filming something and end up with about 60 seconds I think is worth keeping. It is probably different if you cut in interviews, but no matter how you cut it, this is an ambitious project. I applaud your willingness and efforts!
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crotalushorridus
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Re: Wetland Documentary

Post by crotalushorridus »

Thank you for your comments, they are appreciated. The editing process is quite the tedious process especially when dealing with hours on hours of film. I feel as if every time I go to film, I advance my filmography more and more.
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