Learn how to craft wildlife films

Photo: Wikimedia CommonsAvon Wildlife Trust has linked up with Bristol’s natural history film industry to offer amateur filmmakers and wildlife enthusiasts a rare chance to gain hands-on shooting, editing and production tuition from some of the world’s leading wildlife film experts.

Following the success of the first 'Introduction to Wildlife Filmmaking' course in May, a second course has been organised for Friday 25 – Sunday 27 September. The residential course is based at Avon Wildlife Trust’s Folly Farm Centre, set in a 250-acre nature reserve in the beautiful Chew Valley.

Over the three days, students will find out about research, story telling, fieldcraft, camera techniques and picture editing. Filming will take place in and around Folly Farm and at nearby Chew Valley Lake, a wonderful location for wildfowl. Participants will take away a DVD of their completed film.

The course is designed to be fun and informative, a chance to meet others enthused and inspired by the natural world, to socialise with industry professionals and to discover how to transfer your enthusiasm for nature to the screen.

Sarah Pitt, one of the leaders of the course and an experienced TV producer, says: “The boom in video camera ownership means that very many more people are trying to film their encounters with nature, both at home and abroad.

However, it is one of the trickiest forms of filming. In Bristol, we’re lucky that the scale and quality of our wildlife film industry means that many of the world’s finest wildlife filmmakers are based here. The aim of our course is to let a wider audience take advantage of this professional know-how and help them to make nature films of their own, for pleasure, to inspire others or to help with wildlife education and awareness”.

Among the tutors taking part in the course are Somerset-based cameraman John Waters, who has worked on more than 60 TV productions, including the David Attenborough series The Private Life of Plants, The Life of Birds and Planet Earth, Natural World and Meerkat Manor; the BAFTA-winning and Emmy nominated editor, Martin Elsbury, and award-winning producer Steve Nicholls, who has produced acclaimed programmes for the BBC, Discovery and National Geographic in the US.