Help on Filming Wildlife

[bookwormtom]

I'm making short films about local wildlife to educate the children in my neighbourhood, but I'm an amateur photographer and biologist. Any help on how to film wildlife, habitats, or general information on wildlife in Derbyshire would be greatly appreciated.

[GERRY WOODGATE]

Greetings from Yorkshire.

Wildlife filming?

I have been trying to do it in a respectable manner for ages. I always go back to editing my film on monitor and domestic VHS recorder.
I have an editing desk but it difficult to use. And time consuming also.

It is no use making a wildlife film to exhibit to others unless it is of the very highest standard. Knowledge of your subject should be a very high priority?

Suitable equipment and patience are also essentials.

Talking of equipment does not mean you need a £5000 camcorder to do the job?
Innexpensive camcorders are really sophisticated these days.

A good tripod or monopod should really be considered. Unless you can hold the camera steady you will find that long zoom will prove dreadful because every small movement is magnified. This shows badly on a finished film unless it is edited expertly.

Practice make perfect, but personally I prefer to do a slide show. They are just as effective.

Last but no least. Welare of the subject. Last but one. Insurance? I dropped my trusty little £600 JVC camcorder on the carpet from about four feet.
Now it is useless for filming.
My main workhorse is my Canon EX2 Hi 8mm which I have owned and used for about ten years.

Gerry