The Joy of Wildlife Filmmaking

I’m now very close to finishing my short film project, called Tiny Titans! It has posed many challenges to me, but I’ve also had quite a bit of fun making it – it was easily worth the frustration and struggle. One of the most significant hurdles I faced early on was actually finding my filming subjects and overcoming the challenges of the terrain to properly film them. It can be very difficult to actively seek out specific bugs, and harder still to get them on camera in a visually pleasing manner. They are very small, tend to hide from people, and often move in a quick and erratic manner. Some of my best results were born of unintentional, accidental encounters with these creatures when I happened to have my camera equipment on me!

Due to having a muscle tremor, the use of a tripod or other stabilizing device was an absolute must. Having a background primarily in still photography, this was the most daunting aspect of switching to film. Tripods can be big and clunky; they require a decent amount of time to set up and adjust to the appropriate positions, and restrict how quickly you can move yourself, your setup, and where your camera is pointing. There were many times where I simply wasn’t fast enough setting up or making an adjustment and missed what would have been an amazing shot, which was very frustrating. However, my patience did finally bear some fruit, and I’m very proud of some of the footage I was able to get. Was it perfect, National Geographic quality? No, certainly not – but considering the circumstances, I am pleased with what I was able to accomplish as a solo filmmaker with a single camera. I have learned a lot about cinematography from this experience, and gained a fresh appreciation for professionally shot nature documentaries and the feats required to bring them to life! I’m very excited to share my movie with others, and hope that for at least someone, bugs will be just a little less scary.