| Environmental filmmakers share tips, experiences by Linda McHugh The standing-room-only crowd in the Weschler Theatre last Tuesday heard valuable career tips from four prominent marine scientists and filmmakers. Greg Marshall, executive producer and director of remote imaging at National Geographic, invented the Critter-Cam in 1986. His inspiration swam by while he was on a dive in Belize—a shark with a fish attached to it’s belly—causing Marshall to muse, “What a great shark’s eye view of the world that fish is having.” In the tight-knit world of environmental filmmaking Marshall says success requires a dream, inspiration, patience, and a sense of fun. You’ll also have to “pitch your passion” and keep your idea or product evolving. Lew Ehrhart, a professor at the University of Central Florida, spent 30 years as an activist on behalf of the loggerhead and green turtles in their prime nesting ground along the Indian River coast of Florida. Ehrhart called the sea turtle the “ambassador for marine mammals,” because unlike other marine mammals, the turtles are not dangerous and do not live primarily in water. Armed with knowledge gained from students’ daily efforts monitoring nests eight months a year, Ehrart began in the mid-1980s working with local residents and governments to raise funds to purchase $140 million of waterfront land, which became the Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge. There loggerhead and green turtle populations continue to thrive and provide unmatched opportunity for both research and civic pride. Underwater cinematographer Larry Curtis, principal of Bluevoice. org, recounted how by building respect for his work in raising public awareness of marine mammals’ struggle for survival, he was invited to dive in the Death Valley aquifer, a spot where few divers have been permitted, to film the elusive, tiny pupfish. Trevor Spradlin, Office of Protective Resources, NOAA, closed the evening with advice solicited from other NOAA scientists. The scientists, he said, most value accuracy, honesty, integrity, a team-like approach in a filmmaker, and unobtrusiveness on a shoot. The event was sponsored by SOC’s Center for Environmental Filmmaking, which is sponsoring the Environmental Film Festival at AU, March 16–22. |
