Dont Go Wild Without it.....
If you are prone to that urge for the great outdoors and the call of
nature, but haven't yet got around to actually filming it, this little
book makes an ideal companion.
Slim enough to slip into a side pocket of your rucksac, its 122 pages
are packed with information, making it as essential to the
success of your wildlife safari as your camcorder.
Piers
Warren is not only an experienced wildlife photographer himself, but
also edits Wild Life Film News and is the producer behind
wildlife-film.com and also trains wildlife filmmakers. There's no
substitute for experience so Piers Warren is ideally qualified to write
a wildlife film primer like this.
Set in a clear typeface, a well laid-out text written in plain
uncomplicated English is supported by lots of photographs, making Go
Wild With Your Camcorder eminently readable. It doesn't read like a
manual, nor does it read like a textbook, though that's what it is,
which is a tribute to the conversational style of discourse Warren
adopts. Like any good teacher (which he was in a former life) he holds
attention and keeps it, so his readers will apparently learn by default
through exposure to his ideas as they read through this text.
Content includes advice on selecting a camcorder and other equipment
useful for the job. Wildlife filmmakers often find themselves in some
pretty remote and inaccessible places, so there are lots of tips on
improvising, gleaned from hard experience. Low-budget guerrilla
filmmakers would benefit from reading this book. The section on post
production is clear and there are plenty of useful tips on wildlife
Foley, as wild subjects often fail to make the sounds they should be
making, or the filmmaker's microphone stubbornly refuses to pick them
up at a distance.
We are taken on a very informative safari through subjects for filming,
documentary themes and camera techniques, backed by the fieldcraft
that's essential to make sure you keep your subjects in camera range
and don't scare them off. Simple set-building is also covered, like a
black velvet cloth draped as a background to a small snake clinging on
a twig that was apparently an offshoot growing from a chair in a Kenya
hotel, to making tunnels and runs so wildlife can be filmed in those
places your camera can't fit into.
The posibilties for the end product are explored, whether DVD,
web-streaming or TV broadcast and there's also a section on ethics for
wildlife filmmakers, not only in relation to the subjects they are
filming, but concerning the habitat where you are filming them as well.
A directory for wildlife filmmakers completes the resources the book
provides.
If you are keen on capturing wild nature, whether red in tooth
and claw or just nibbling daintily at something, this is part of your
essential kit. Don't go wild without it.
Just £11.95 including post and packing. Order it here.
Wildlife Films Website
 |
Show/Hide comment form