April 2020 Newsletter
Dear friends,
We hope you are well and finding ways to adapt to these times without too much hardship. COVID-19 has affected all of us in so many ways. If there are any silver linings, it is having more time to connect with family and friends, try new activities, rediscover the kitchen, take long walks. In this newsletter, we share stories from some of our students and how they found ways to cope. And we are sharing some tips on how to make films while sheltering in place. Please send us your ideas and we’ll include them in our next newsletter! Together, we can create community and find ways to deal with the challenges ahead.
For more information, contact Maggie Burnette Stogner at stogner@american.edu.
Visit our website, www.environmentalfilm.org.
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Filmmaking When You're Sheltered in Place
Filmmakers worldwide are adapting to the new normal of sheltering in place, working from home, and taking life one day at a time. The main question now is, how do you continue making films when you’re sheltering in place? Check out our tips on how to make films and content in new ways.
Making Films From Archive Collections
Traditionally, archival footage is used to supplement a story and provide background on a certain subject. Over the past ten years, a tremendous amount of images and film/video clips have been digitized. There are many, many resources now available. With field-producing so severely limited, now might be the time to explore making archive-based films. CEF Director Maggie Stogner has made many films on ancient civilizations that combine archive and interviews, sometimes re-creations, sometimes other media elements such as motion graphics, animation, atmospherics. "My secret joy is discovering new images of faces and everyday scenes that connect us to civilizations from thousands of years ago," Maggie said.
Here are four basic steps:
1) Develop a great story or series idea, and script it.
2) Find the best, most relevant visuals at the resolution you need (4K, HD).
3) Determine the copyright, licensing and cost.
4) Figure out how and where to distribute (this will impact your licensing and costs).
To get you started, check out public domain sources that are copyright-free, such as government (.gov) and Wiki Public Domain (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Public_domain_image_resources). A living document of both public domain and copyrighted archival sources has been compiled by Irene Lusztig at UCSC Film, and began in January 2020. The list has been opened for access as a crowd-sourced, collaborative, ongoing list of US and international sources of accessible/online digital moving image material. You can find the list here.
For copyright and Fair Use information, Pat Aufderheide, founder of American University’s Center for Media and Social Impact, provided these resources:
Doc Filmmakers Statement of Best Practices in Fair Use
Code of Best PRactices in Fair Use for Online Video
Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for the Visual ARts (section three)
Making Films with ZOOM
We are compiling best technical approaches and equipment for filming interviews with ZOOM and will share in our next newsletter. If you have some successful tips, send them our way so we can share!
Meanwhile, here is an inspiring article that applies to fiction and nonfiction filmmakers about making films with ZOOM, by Washington Post movie critic Ann Hornaday.
Explore Your Backyard
The time for social distancing provides an excellent opportunity to stock-pile footage of backyard critters or practice time lapse set-ups. Many parks, trails, and forests are still open for use as long as you maintain six feet of distance between yourself and other visitors. If you need more guidance on ways to get outside and social distance, check out REI’s article here.
While you’re out, you can use iNaturalist, an App to help catalog flora and fauna around the world for E.O. Wilson’s Half-Earth Project. It’s a great way to learn more about the biodiversity in your area and contribute to a global science project.
To spend even more time outside, consider setting up some time lapses, which can be a beautiful addition to a film, capturing sunrises, flowers blooming, or other large passages of time. Check out photographer Michael Shainblum’s tips on how to capture your best time lapses here.
On the Air
Podcasting has exploded over the past decade as a new form of entertainment, source of news, and engagement. There are podcasts about filmmaking, conservation, and environmental justice that can all be sources of inspiration.
You can create your own podcast as well, and guidance to start can be found in American University Journalism professor Jill Olmstead’s book Tools for Podcasting.
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DIY Project
If you find yourself with extra time on your hands, think about projects you can do to stay active and engaged in filmmaking. CEF graduate student Grace Eggleston has been building her own camera trap and has some tips for how you can do the same.
 Grace is based in Michigan and is building her first DSLR camera trap to set up in the woods near her home. She has put together a list of tips and tricks so you can join her in creating your very own camera trap!
There are three main components to a camera trap: weatherproof housing, a motion sensor, and an external flash.
“For weatherproof housing, I used a hole saw to drill a window into a pelican case and carefully glued a lens filter into the hole,” Grace said. She also drilled other holes into the sides of the case for wires. She followed this tutorial.
The motion sensor was something she purchased for the box. “Some people can build their own, but to simplify things I bought one. It has barn doors on it so you can limit the range of motion it detects,” Grace said. This triggers the camera only when the subject is accurately in the camera’s frame. She chose a motion sensor that works wirelessly with her camera to trigger the shutter.
External flashes are essential, as the camera is inside the weatherproof housing. “You need at least two flashes for nighttime  photography set up on tripods next to the housing,” Grace said. This adds as much light as possible to compensate for the fast shutter speed (we don’t want any blurry animals!) and a closed-down aperture (so the entirety of the frame is in focus). “I also recommend manual focus, you never know where exactly the animal will be!”
Grace is still in the process of getting the camera trap up and running; her next step is to bolt a tripod plate into the bottom of the camera housing so the camera can be set at eye level to capture tall animals like deer. Stay tuned for more updates and show us what you capture with your camera setup! Have other DIY projects for filmmakers? Send them our way at environmentalfilmmaking@gmail.com.
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A Day in the Life from CEF
Our team at CEF has been scattered across the US as the pandemic has continued, giving us the opportunity to practice creative resilience. Projects-in-progress have been altered and here are some of our graduate students' experiences during this era of COVID-19.
Pulled Home: When Production Halts
 Nick Tucker was filming an experimental documentary in Japan as the gravity of the pandemic became evident. “Three hours before I was meant to leave for my flight to Hokkaido, they declared a state of emergency, delaying my departure for four days,” Nick said. “[Once there], the reality on the ground was not very scary, we spent two weeks traveling rural Hokkaido, exploring country roads and mountain trails - all the while practicing safe travel protocol.” But Nick’s shoot had to end early as the virus spread. “We had to condense 12 days of filming into two, which was a challenge but we got what we needed and returned home safely,” Nick said. Nick self-quarantined and passed the 14-day isolation period without showing symptoms of COVID-19. He is hopeful the team captured the footage necessary to finish the documentary.
Amelia Tyson was in Fiji, on location researching her thesis when the pandemic struck and caused chaos. While waiting in the airport for a flight back, she received this notification on her phone: “Fiji Airways Suspends 95% of International Flights in Response to COVID-19 Impact, 20 March 2020.” Amelia kept a running blog on her Facebook page to keep relatives and friends updated, and also to document the process of returning home. “People didn’t know what was happening around the world in travel. It was chaotic,” Amelia said. It took her several days to return home amidst multiple canceled flights. Her thesis will tell the story of villages that are sinking into the ocean. One of the villages she saw had a graveyard that was disappearing as the shoreline receded. “Now I just have to wait and do some research, it’s all a big question, a big unknown,” Amelia said. She knows with all the strain and stress, now is a good time to take a step back, continue to develop the story of the film, and apply for more grants.
Put on Pause: Uncertainty and Adaptability
Jess Wiegandt had been preparing to film research conservationists in Panamá for her thesis project. “This has thrown an entirely new and unexpected wrench into production plans,” Jess said. “Research work can briefly be put on pause but life (and nature) goes on. The animals out there aren’t just going to quit migrating because we’re sheltered here. It’s time to get creative and spin this story to capture the historic moment we’re living in currently while also staying true to the original story and its importance.” Jess is working with her characters remotely, conducting interviews online and encouraging the researchers to capture vlog-style videos of daily life and interruptions caused by COVID-19.
 Beth Ebisch was planning to be in Colorado right now, filming her thesis. “I’ve spent the past few months getting into shape to skin up and ski down some of Colorado’s major mountain peaks with a woman who was the first to ski all of Colorado’s 54 peaks over 14,000 feet,” Beth said. A range of emotions hit Beth when her plans were interrupted by shelter-in-place orders. She is practicing creative resilience and is reworking her story to figure out how to include the skier even though the ski season will have melted away. “The world is feeling a sense of grief for the loss of normalcy and the stresses of uncertainty. I identify with my global community in these feelings,” Beth said, “But also recognize that I am in the very fortunate position… to use extra time to my advantage. A film will always change form from its conception to completion, so I am trying to consider this as a road bump [in the] common formula of change.”
Forward, Onward, Upward, Together!
“It’s definitely a crazy time,” Hyatt Mamoun said. “I’m incredibly grateful I can keep working… It’s just a little more complicated  than normal.” Hyatt is currently in the post-production phase of her thesis film, “Bahamian Queen,” a documentary following conch harvesting in the Bahamas. “The production of this film has been a bit rocky, with the recent hurricane and [now the] virus. However, I’m not going to let these things get in the way of what I have the ability to do while in self-quarantine; even though we are away for now, the conch are not, and are still in need of conservation efforts.” Hyatt is feeling grateful she has access to all her materials to complete the edit. “I’m just keeping in mind the motto on the Bahamian Coat of Arms, which features the Queen Conch: Forward, Onward, Upward, Together.” Hyatt’s trailer for “Bahamian Queen” can be seen here.
 Robert Boyd is another graduate student who has completed production for his thesis project. He worked with the National Park Service to complete two short films about science history within the parks. The two shorts were picture-locked in February, however Robert was in need of sound sweetening and color correction. “I’ve gotten a few [AU sound] students to do some sound design for me, and I now have someone at the National Park Service color correcting my film,” Robert said. “Fortunately, we got all our filming done before this mess… all the post production work we’re doing now can be done on a laptop.” He has been able to utilize connections on and off campus to allow him to stay on schedule for the completion of his project.
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Send us your stories and your ideas for filmmaking while sheltering in place. We'd love to hear from you.
Take special care and stay healthy.
Kind regards,
Maggie
Executive Director
Center for Environmental Filmmaking
stogner@american.edu
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