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WELCOME TO THE WILDLIFE FILM ACADEMY NEWSLETTER 09
Learn the art of wildlife filmmaking in Cape Town, South Africa. This intensive one-month course, offers lectures by industry professionals, includes a spectacular all expenses paid field trip to a premier game reserve, and each student produces their own unique five-minute short film. |
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NEWS OF PAST STUDENTS
After successfully completing the Wildlife Film
Academy course, these students are pursuing their
passion for filmmaking....read below and see what
they are up to.
Shani van Straaten is now working as an assistant producer for “Fly on the Wall Productions”. Paula Morrison has started her own production company and is working together with Marna Cilliers-Hartlief, who also has her own production company, “Green Vision”, on the National Heritage sites of South Africa. Rob Heathcote is returning to South Africa to join Paula’s company to assist with productions. Samir Noorali is working as an editor and freelancing in Portugal. Sebastian Elmaloglou has been employed by a fund-raising company, that works for WSPA (World Society for the Protection of Animals), Green Peace and others. Zanele Guqaza has been employed by NHU AFRICA (Natural History Unit) and is working in Sales and Distribution of wildlife programming. READ HER STORY, see end of this newsletter. Marianne Louw is carrying out an internship with Wild Dog Productions. Sharita van der Merwe is preparing to cross Africa on her bicycle again! Daniel Queridohas been employed by WildEarth as a director, www.wildearth.tv Marco Tonoli is joining the WildEarth team as a Presenter/Director, and recently assisted the NHU AFRICA with camera work on a production. Eddie Lambrecht is working at Spier as a cheetah handler. Alexander Sletten is working for WildEarth as Presenter/Director/Cameraman. Kara Maeyer and Katy Johnson are working for SANHU, www.sanhu.co.za on various productions, producing and editing youth programmes for local broadcaster SABC 2. Adel Tarhuni is currently working on his cultural programme on Greece, he is based in Los Angeles. Darryl Sweetland worked for the NHU AFRICA on their “Planet Africa” production and is now employed by Earth-Touch, www.earth-touch.com producing wildlife inserts for their shows on SABC. Saint Ledger Gaborone completed his internship with the Wildlife Film Academy and will now be carrying out an internship with 50/50, an environmental television programme, broadcasted on SABC.
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NEXT COURSE STARTS IN JUNE
The Wildlife Film Academy has 1 place available on the June course, which runs from 9 June – 9 July 2008. See the website for other course dates in 2008. To maximise the experience that students gain from attending the course and to ensure the most professional tuition - spaces are limited to 10 students per course. If you are interested in booking for this course email info@wildlifefilmacademy.com
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ANIMAL PLANET'S ORANGUTAN ISLAND
ORANGUTAN ISLAND - A story of hope, survival and freedom A desperate struggle for survival is raging deep in the heart of Borneo’s forests. Illegal logging is rapidly destroying the orangutans' last home in the wild, leaving hundreds of orangutan babies orphaned and homeless. Their future seems bleak but a ground-breaking project provides real hope for ensuring survival of the species.
Meet the 35 classmates of Forest School 103 at the Nyaru Menteng Orangutan Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre. Through this innovative project, led by Lone Droscher-Nielson and her team, the orangutans will get to live on a protected island, the foundation for the largest primate rescue project in the world. Unlike wild orangutans, this group will be confined to an island where they will need to learn to live together in a community, something that will not come naturally to them. Learning to bond with the other orangutans, forming friendships and sharing knowledge are all issues they will face. Will these bonds they have formed at the Nyaru Menteng nursery survive and serve a basis for creating a society or will issues of dominance prove too destructive? Tune in to Animal Planet to find out.
Please consult your local TV listings for schedule times.
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NEWS FROM FILMMAKERS IN THE FIELD
The Wildlife Film Academy interviewed Swati Thiyagarajan, a Conservation Journalist who has been working for NDTV, Asia’s largest television company for 12 years. For the past 5 years she has had her own conservation show called “Born Wild”, as has won several national and international Awards for this show.
1 What are you currently working on? “I am currently working on a wildlife conservation series. The series consists of thirteen episodes, all to do with conservation in South Africa. We are looking at issues like urban wildlife, endangered wildlife, ecosystems and people who are involved in conservation efforts. These have included; looking at the baboon versus people conflict in the cape, the issue of canned lion hunting, the San and their legacy of conservation, the debate of zoos versus animals in the wild, the kelp forest ecosystem and many others. Our aim is to throw open debates and inform people about the various rules, laws, plans, and ideas all out there, that are for and against conservation. And to sensitize everyone to why it is so crucial to understand that we need to now be looking at conservation in a bigger more innovative way, than how it has been practiced for so long.” 2 What has been your most memorable / hair-raising experience whilst out there filming?
“I have had so many memorable experiences, however none have been hair-raising to me although it may have looked like that to others! In India, it starts with my first sight of the tiger in the wild which was over 15 years ago and all the sightings I have had since. Walking with wild asian elephants, watching fresh water otters swim and play in a river, viewing the very rare Irrawadi dolphins in Irrawadi lake, going to a little village in south India where the villagers look after and have made a home for nesting painted storks and spot billed pelicans who are considered daughters of the village. Doing night vigils with tribals in the east of the country, waiting for elephants that raid the crops and witnessing the huge elephant versus people conflict with both sides killing and dying. I have been chased by wild elephants, and have chased through a thorn scrub jungle after a lion, as I was so desperate for the shot that only 5 minutes into running after it, did it strike me that we were being stupid enough to run after a huge predator on foot, and then having to find our way back to the jeep. Trying to keep out of striking range of a king cobra who did not want his picture taken and having to wrestle with a rescued indian rock python who did not want to be put in a sack, and here in Africa, wrestling with white lions, playing with habituated hyenas and cheetahs, ironically touching my first tiger. I have had so many experiences, that I could go on and on.....oh of course meeting my heroes, Jane Goodall and David Attenborough and interviewing them.”
3 What is your advice for newcomers to the industry? "My advice is simple - know what you want to do. Having a niche is the best thing, for some it might be scripting, for others directing, or editing or camera. Maybe some want to be presenters, but don’t find out by accident. There are hundreds of talented people who want to be in this industry and you have to know what you want and stay very focussed towards that goal. When I started it was far easier, 12 years ago in India, television had just started to be privatised and as I had a degree in mass communication I got a job straight off the bat. It was tougher in some ways, in that the training ground was intense and we had to learn to do everything and be everything, but that learning curve was invaluable. Today it is different, it is a specialised world and media is no different. The other bit of advice is a no brainer, it’s passion, you have to have a deep abiding passion for whatever it is that you want to do. I know people who just want to be on television, that does not help. Know who you are and find out the one thing that has always grabbed you. Trust me that is when your job stops being a job and becomes a passion and then it is so much easier.” |
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HD
EQUIPMENT FOR HIRE
The NHU AFRICA (Natural History Unit), based in Cape Town, has a wide range of equipment, including the latest HD equipment,which is available for hire at vastly discounted rates to help with your budgeting constraints on wildlife and natural history productions. For more information about the rental rates for cameras and other gear email lianne@nhuafrica.com or geta@nhuafrica.com or telephone +27 21 422 0012.
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INTERNS AVAILABLE
The Wildlife Film Academy has a number of students who have completed the wildlife filmmaking course, and are now brimming with enthusiasm and creative energy and would welcome any internships in South Africa and abroad. Should you be interested in employing an intern please email info@wildlifefilmacademy.com |
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NEWS FROM PAST STUDENTS
News from past student, Zanele Guquza, email zanele.guquza@etv.co.za
“The wild has always been home for me, and I have
spent many years in the deep forests along the
Garden Route and Transkei. Therefore when I read
about the Wildlife Film Academy two years ago, I
instantly knew that this was a course I wanted to be
a part of. Time has flown since then, and my
experience of the wild has deepened and bloomed.
Hence when I arrived at the Academy in the month of
March 2008, I was extremely excited to be a part of
such a journey. With a photography background and a
humble love for the forest as my basics, I couldn’t
have been more at the right place to enhance those
characteristics.
The experience at the Academy is inexplicable, all I
want to do is to tell everyone to go and do the
course, because it is one of those things that every
person who has a love for films and the wild should
experience. The lectures were exceptionally
informative; all lecturers are professionals and
possess invaluable expertise about all the subjects
we were lectured on. I never knew that so much team
work went into making a movie, neither did I
anticipate the consistency required when editing
your film. Every day was a highlight in those
lecture rooms and at the Kruger National Park. The
feeling of pitching your project to a panel of real
life filmmakers, commissioning editors and
distributors was a phenomenal experience, and their
feedback molded all of us to an extent that the
films that we produced were a myriad of exciting
productions, all of them presented a milestone for
each student. I met incredible people, intelligent,
friendly, creative, caring and loving students; we
were a family for days.
Everything I have dreamt of doing such as shooting, presenting, editing, and sharing valuable information with the world through a documentary, the course gave me an opportunity to achieve it. I am currently working for the NHU AFRICA, learning the ropes of selling wildlife documentaries to companies globally, another valuable journey to the ins and outs of making films. What other best way for one to know what is valuable to the viewers, than to liaise with those who buy the products and know what the viewers enjoy. What more of a blessing would I want? This is another dream come true!!!” |
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HD ON-LINE EDITOR WANTS TO RELOCATE TO CAPE TOWN
Danielle Dreyer: “I am an experienced HD On-Line Editor and Junior Colourist on Final Cut and AVID Symphony Nitris. I have worked in the Wildlife Film industry for four years and assisted Colourists in London. I am looking to relocate to Cape Town to widen my horizons and learn new skills. I am prepared to put my hand to anything – assistant editing; experienced logger and digitizer (particularly wildlife); fully conversant with deliverables international and local. I am contactable on nocturnalfae@gmail.com or 073 523 4864.” |
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THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS
Animal Planet -
www.animalplanet.co.uk
NFVF -
www.nfvf.co.za
Lizard Entertainment -
www.lizardentertainment.co.za
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CONTACT DETAILS
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The Wildlife Film Academy - inspire yourself!
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