Shooting Focus Earth with Bob Woodruff
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 As Zumi & I ventured closer and closer to the buffalo, the herd got increasingly more nervous.
So did we.
We were told to watch their tails. If they start switching them back and forth, it either means they're swatting mosquitoes, or they're going to charge us.
Hard to tell because they seemed to always be moving those tails around. The big bulls especially, as they eyed us and our camera & gear, which they could easily squash without batting any eye.
But they never charged, and we were never a threat. We were just there to capture the rare beauty of one of the few fully pure-bred herds of bison in existence today, in a place where there used to be hundreds of thousands - the Northern Great Plains of Montana.
We also spent some time in a fully-functioning prairie dog town, counted fish in a stream with a hydrologist, and got dive bombed by a mother Swainson's Hawk as we shot amazing footage of her babies in a nest. We were also eaten alive by mosquitos - so many that we were issued nets to cover our heads and face. Tricky to shoot through, though a real savior as thousands and thousands of hungry mosquitoes sought out our blood!
All of this for a new high definition TV show called Focus Earth with Bob Woodruff that premiered on Discovery Channel's Planet Green Network this month. This fascinating and extremely relevant new program explores all sides of the environmental issues that affect us on a daily basis - politically, economically, and socially.
We had the pleasure of working with Bob and the Focus Earth team in Northern Montana shooting this premier episode - which explored the work of the American Prairie Foundation and the World Wildlife Fund restoring and preserving thousands of acres of this beautiful prairie land.
Focus Earth can be seen on The Planet Green Network. For more information on this program visit the Planet Green Website.Look for a clip of the program coming soon. For more behind-the-scenes stories, along with production tips and tricks, visit Big Pictures News on our website.
Photo Credit: Carrie McGourty
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| The Art of the Interview |
The person sitting across from you is a potential treasure trove waiting to be mined. They have something to say, an opinion to convey, a story to tell.
Your job is to get them to tell it in a compelling way that serves your production, on camera, under all these bright lights. The camera person says, "Speed!" Now what?
I've had the privilege of being around hundreds of interviews - from presidents to actors, athletes to CEO's, rock stars to the guy next door. Most of them I spent behind the camera, many in the interviewer's chair, and even some in the hot seat itself. What they all seem to have in common is as old as communication itself - storytelling.
The toughest interviews I remember were part of a Steven Spielberg project called "Survivors of the Shoah." I huddled safely behind the lens as holocaust survivors unfolded horrific stories of their time in the concentration camps - sometimes for the very first time. This was storytelling in its rawest form - with sweat and tears pouring down our cheeks. They went on for hours with interruptions only to change tapes. I felt like we were part of something much bigger than ourselves. And we were. These stories are now part of history - catalogued for all to see.
Then there was Hunter S. Thompson. His interviews started late at night. They were crazy, rambling affairs, that produced little usable content. It was worse in his final years...
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