| He decided he had to get out himself. About
the same time, his teammates in the boat above
saw what was happening and quickly raised the
shark cage to the surface. Wimberg managed to
get out of the cage and into the boat without
getting bitten by the shark. The shark was
released unhurt. Wimberg’s near shark attack
became a dramatic high point in the fi lm.
Why do fi lmmakers like Randy Wimberg
put their lives in danger to produce wildlife
films with an environmental message? In
Wimberg’s case, he is deeply committed to
marine conservation and to stopping the
wanton and wasteful destruction of sharks. By
learning more about their habits and behavior,
and educating the public about their value,
fi lmmakers and conservationists are developing
ways to stop shark numbers from plummeting.
Shark depletion is only one problem the
world is facing. As everybody knows, we have
immense environmental challenges. We are
fouling our own nest to an unprecedented
degree. Powerful images and fi lms (as we saw
with An Inconvenient Truth) can help.
I founded American University’s Center for
Environmental Filmmaking – which I run with the
help of my School of Communication colleagues |
Larry Engel, Sandy Cannon-Brown and Maggie
Burnette Stogner – to train fi lmmakers to produce
fi lms and new media that encourage conservation.
Our students produce fi lms for Maryland Public
Television and other nonprofi ts and government
agencies. We also bring outstanding fi lmmakers to
campus to talk about their work. Our most recent
guests have included Boyd Matson and Brady
Barr from National Geographic, Dan Mathews
from PETA, McArthur from Free Range Studios,
David Mizejewski from Animal Planet, and Dan
Basta from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration. We provide innovative programs
like Classroom in the Wild, an intensive outdoor
workshop held in wilderness areas in which
students camp out and learn how to meet the
challenges – sometimes extreme challenges – of
wildlife fi lmmaking in the fi eld.
We recently launched the Student Short
Film Festival with Phillippe Cousteau from
Earth Echo International. This event is held
every March as part of the Environmental
Film Festival. We showcase the talents of
emerging “green communicators” to promote
environmental causes and empower individuals
to make a difference. Another joint project
we’ve embarked upon, this time with AU’s |
Center for Social Media, is the development of
“best practices” for green fi lmmaking, with the
goal of making the School of Communication’s
fi lm program the fi rst in the nation to go
green. We are going to defi ne standards for
“green” production for students in university
fi lm programs and professional documentary
producers. For more on green fi lmmaking, read
the sidebar written by fi lmmaker Larry Engel
on how to help the planet when making fi lms.
British fi lmmaker Andrew Buchanan made
a fi lm for the National Geographic Society
called Earth Report 2006 without, in effect,
any carbon emissions. Al Gore did the same
with An Inconvenient Truth. Of course there
were emissions during the production of both
fi lms, even after following the “reduce, reuse,
recycle” rule. But those emissions were
tracked and the fi lm production budget paid
the money needed to buy the fi lm’s “carbon
offsets.” The money was used to build wind
turbines on a Native American reservation.
The students at the Center for
Environmental Filmmaking in the School
of Communication at American University
are the future Randy Wimbergs. The next
generation will similarly devote themselves
to shooting amazing footage and compelling
stories, all with the goal of promoting greater
conservation awareness and action.
Chris Palmer directs AU’s Center for Environmental Filmmaking (www.environmentalfi lm.org.) and is also president of the MacGillivray Films Educational Foundation. |
