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Wild films: MSU program trains students to make science, natural history movies
BOZEMAN — For 13 weekends last fall, Tracy Grazino drove 120 miles to Yellowstone National Park’s Lamar Valley to videotape coyotes.
By BRETT FRENCH
Of The Gazette Staff
Working from 4 a.m. until sunset, sometimes wearing six layers of clothing for warmth, she aimed a 36-pound camera at the wild canines as they chewed on carcasses, hunted mice and played in the snow.
Since the Christmas holiday, she’s spent another three weekends in the field. This time capturing footage of two coyotes mating, difficult to get since the female is only receptive for about three days a year.
Grazino, 25, is a second year student in a one-of-a-kind program at Montana State University. Thirty students from diverse backgrounds have been chosen for a master of fine arts degree in science and natural history filmmaking. The course of study began 2-1/2 years ago.
The premise is to have people with backgrounds in science making films, rather than people with a background in film making science movies.
"We have a great film program at MSU, which is predominantly a science university," said Ronald Tobias, filmmaking director and a professor of media and fine arts.
Bill Neff, chairman of the Department of Media-Theatre Arts, said the graduate filmmaking degree has added a new dimension to the school.
"The people coming in are not just filmmakers; they have been in the sciences. That is a great plus. We’re now talking to other people besides filmmakers. That interaction is an interesting one."
Tobias and Rick Rosenthal, the only other full-time professor in the program, carefully select the students.
The two look for people with good academic records who work and communicate well with others and are capable problem solvers. They also look for a strong science, engineering or technology background. For every 10 applicants, the program accepts one.
Hillary Thum, 22, a first-year student from Berkeley, Calif., is one example. With a bachelor’s degree in science and zoology, she was considering going on to veterinary school. Then she saw a poster advertising MSU’s program. It shows a mountain lion with film curling out of its growling mouth.
She applied to MSU and was accepted.
"It was totally unexpected," she said. "A lot of people want to do something alternative with their science or biology degree. This is about educating the public."
The 30 students in the program have come from as far away as Korea, Tanzania and India. Another 12 students will be added next fall. They range in age from 22 to 42.
Their backgrounds differ greatly. One student has a doctorate in chemistry from Princeton, while another has a bachelor’s degree from a small Midwestern college.
"What’s fun about our program is no two people are alike," Tobias said. "They come from all kinds of disciplines — zoology, astrology, chemistry and physics."
The students take 60 credit hours over three years. The program’s first class will graduate in 2004.
The goal of the program is to educate science graduates in film and video production, with the undercurrent of promoting conservation of natural resources. Along the way, students learn the skills to be a producer, director, writer and editor. They also have the opportunity to work as paid apprentices at The Discovery Channel, federal agencies and other organizations.
In the first year of study, the students take classes on film and video production. By the second year, students like Grazino are working in the field on their own 15-minute, broadcast-quality film.
Grazino’s 15-minute film on coyotes is due in May.
In the third year, students produce a half-hour broadcast-quality film, often an expansion of the second-year project. The budget for films can run from $25,000 to $100,000.
The expense of making the films requires students to find their own funding, usually with grants. So far, Grazino has been unsuccessful, paying for her film on a credit card.
Film program taps variety of sources for funding
Montana State University’s science and natural-history filmmaking program is funded by tuition dollars, with any extra expenses made up through grants, donations, or funding from corporations or federal agencies.
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Film program taps variety of sources for funding
Montana State University’s science and natural-history filmmaking program is funded by tuition dollars, with any extra expenses made up through grants, donations, or funding from corporations or federal agencies.
For example, the program is a finalist to document NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Mission which launches this summer.
The program’s startup funding came in part from The Discovery Channel, which committed to the first five years.
"Discovery came in as a sponsor to get the program off the ground," said Mark Kozaki, senior vice president of U.S. networks. The corporation would not reveal the terms of its financial commitment.
Even though Discovery’s financial backing will run out, the network will still offer other benefits to students, such as preference to MSU graduates for internships and films.
Although Bozeman may seem like an out-of-the-way place for a one-of-a-kind film program, it wasn’t hard to sell Discovery on the location, said Ronald Tobias, the program’s director. MSU’s close proximity to Yellowstone and Glacier national parks certainly helped. Both are great resources for filmmakers.
It also helped that Tobias had a connection with the channel, signing on as a filmmaker when it first opened in 1985. He also said MSU’s program, by its nature, practically sells itself.
"This program is sexy and people right away get what we’re doing," he said.
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For example, the program is a finalist to document NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Mission which launches this summer.
The program’s startup funding came in part from The Discovery Channel, which committed to the first five years.
"Discovery came in as a sponsor to get the program off the ground," said Mark Kozaki, senior vice president of U.S. networks. The corporation would not reveal the terms of its financial commitment.
Even though Discovery’s financial backing will run out, the network will still offer other benefits to students, such as preference to MSU graduates for internships and films.
Although Bozeman may seem like an out-of-the-way place for a one-of-a-kind film program, it wasn’t hard to sell Discovery on the location, said Ronald Tobias, the program’s director. MSU’s close proximity to Yellowstone and Glacier national parks certainly helped. Both are great resources for filmmakers.
It also helped that Tobias had a connection with the channel, signing on as a filmmaker when it first opened in 1985. He also said MSU’s program, by its nature, practically sells itself.
"This program is sexy and people right away get what we’re doing," he said.
"Getting the footage is great. I love going out in the filed. I want to be a camera person," she said. "Fund raising is no fun. But I’m so committed to the program that it’s not hard to get motivated."
Students who graduate could go on to produce and direct films for science-based programs like The Discovery Channel and Nova. Or they could work for a large museum, many of which are now using high-definition equipment to make films for in-house IMAX theaters. Another option graduates have is to shoot educational films for virtual-science classrooms.
Discovery executives, who helped launch the filmmaking degree, see it as an investment in the future. Twelve years ago, when Discovery was just starting out, it was hungry for programming. Now that the channel has gone from 156,000 subscribers to more than 700 million, Discovery has raised its standards, but there are also more venues. The Discovery network alone offers 13 channels. That creates a tremendous need for quality programming and quality filmmakers. Discovery Network produced more than 3,000 hours of programming in 2002 alone.
Rosenthal said the pressure to deliver something different is demanding and the bar for quality is constantly being raised. It’s his job to make sure the students have a grasp of the fundamentals. He teaches production and the less glamorous tactics of how to navigate the intricate bureaucracy of national agencies in addition to skills for communicating with scientists.
He also tries to convey the difficulty of producing films in the outdoors. Some films take as many as 200 days out of doors, Rosenthal said.
"They don’t believe how long it takes because they see the film and it’s compressed," he said. "They don’t see those days of nothing, crawling through mud, technical problems or breakdowns. They don’t believe it."
He sees his task of passing on knowledge as key, not only to the continuation of his profession, but also to the protection of the planet and explaining science and technology to the average person on the street.
Rosenthal said natural history filmmaking is a race to save the last few great wild places on the planet. He’s done his part. Rosenthal was one of the main cameramen for a series of programs examining Earth’s oceans called "Blue Planet," which won a prime time Emmy for cinematography.
"When we’re running around the world with our cameras, we’re looking for the best candy stores and there aren’t a lot left," he said. "The challenge is to give that environmental message without scaring people off."
With the first crop of students, Rosenthal and Tobias see promise sprouting. One second-year student is producing a film on leopards in India, one just got back from Mongolia, another is filming near the Afghan border, two others are with NASA, and two are filming in Glacier and Yellowstone national parks.
"I think there’s talent out there," Rosenthal said, "We just have to nudge them along."
Grazino’s project is titled "God’s Dog", a translation of the Aztec word for coyote. The film will interweave Native American stories with research being done by Robert Crabtree in Yellowstone.
Although coyotes are notoriously difficult film subjects, Grazino sees the complication working to her advantage.
"I have to make an impression some way," she said.
Brett French can be reached at [email protected] or at 657-1387
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