The Nature Conservancy Spot
“Let Nature Bring You Back to Your Senses”
Ravenswood Media produced a 90-second spot for The Nature Conservancy, urging the public to renew their connection with the outdoors. Cassie Hauswald, a team member of the Blue River Project, says, “The goal of this spot is to raise awareness of the role the Conservancy plays in the area of Southern Indiana, and we aim to reach a more general audience than would normally go to our website.” With that in mind, the public service announcement will be shown in The Great Escape theaters across southern Indiana and the Louisville area, as well as on local cable television. |
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| Hovey Lake, Fish and Wildlife Area |
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| Half Moon Pond |
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The Conservancy and Ravenswood aim to remind folks of the delicate natural beauty surrounding them and the value of conserving these “last great places.” After all, everybody needs a peaceful respite from this constantly changing and distracting world.
Larry Simon developed the concept for Ravenswood. “We brought him some vague ideas and he came back with a brilliant approach,” says David McGowan, Ravenswood producer. Like any good creative director, Larry tapped into his own outdoor experiences, and particularly his interest in the Zen culture of Japan, to utilize the light touch of the understated. |
Mike Brockway edited the piece and shared several versions with Allen Pursell of the TNC Blue River Office. “We went back and forth on kids, no kids,” says Mike concerning the spot. “It’s good to have another set of eyes checking the work because you can get too close and lose the big picture.” It was finally decided that including the kids illuminated the process of learning from, the boundless treasury of nature.
“I wanted the music to increase in urgency throughout the piece and end abruptly,” says McGowan. “I thought the best way to approach it was to increase the tempo but Doug Lofstrom, the composer, pointed out that increasing the complexity of the instrumentation was a far more effective way to achieve the results. And he was right.” The final product is a convincing piece of advocacy for conservation. |
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| Turkey Run State Park |
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| Two stage ditch construction, Angola, IN |
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To Build a Better Ditch
TNC at Upper St Joseph River Office
Ditch design has changed very little in the last 200 years and it is due for another look. Though seldom thought of as a technological feat, the building of a well-designed ditch can be revolutionary for farmers and, just as important, the conservation community.
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The Upper St. Joseph River office of The Nature Conservancy is bucking the old system by testing an innovative ditch design. Called the 2 Stage Ditch and developed by Andy Ward at Ohio State University, the concept involves a lot of science, but really boils down to simply adding a mini flood plain to the typical ditch design. The goal is to slow the flow of water from rushing nutrients and sediment into the Great Lakes and Gulf of Mexico, where they cause hypoxic “dead zones.” The 2 Stage Ditch gives the plants and micro-organisms living in the ditch a chance to reduce the nitrogen in the water before it blossoms into deadly algal blooms. |
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| Joe Draper, Chad Watts, David McGowan,and Andy Ward |
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| Jennifer Tank |
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| Two Stage Ditch in Flood |
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Ravenswood Media filmed the construction of a 2 Stage Ditch in Northeast Indiana last month with the intention of encouraging the spread of the technology throughout the Upper Midwest. The challenges are huge, as there are tens of thousands of miles of ditches throughout the region, but farmers welcome the deviation from the norm because it saves their fields from eroding away.
“We’ve spent a lot of time slogging around in ditches which isn’t ideal.” says McGowan. “But we also got a peek at the wonderful diversity of life that inhabits those ditches.” A ditch is no longer just a ditch, especially when it is a 2 Stage Ditch…
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Once upon a time the worldwide web was a place of static content that was in the control of the author/publisher. The audience was a passive recipient. Revolutionary as the Web was it still shared one important characteristic with "old media,” and sites were still a one-way road. This phase of the Web is referred to as Web 1.0.
“Web 2.0” is characterized by web content and services which are collaborative and shared among groups of writers, and which reflect the individual interests and preferences of the user. These include blog sites such as Wordpress and Typepad, “micro blogs” such as Twitter, social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, and Ning, social book-marking sites such as Delicious and Google Bookmarks, video and photo sharing sites such as YouTube and Flickr, and collaborative websites such as Wikipedia and Open Directory. Today it is relatively easy to build a page that is a “mash-up” of freely shared content from all of the above sources, and can include embedded video, tweets, blog posts, stock reports, user comments, popular search terms and the like. |
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| This latest wave of online activity, which is also called social media, has striking characteristics. For example, social networks of like-minded people tend to form organically. They read and comment on each other’s blogs, follow Tweets, collaborate on Wikis, share bookmarks, and re-purpose each other’s content for their own sites. Content is king. People are looking for excellent online content on every imaginable subject of interest, and in every available form. Old media giants, corporations, universities, libraries, indeed even governments no longer control the dialog. At best, they can try to insert themselves into a dialog that has already gotten underway without them. |
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Businesses, nonprofits, and advocacy groups need to become a trusted and authoritative source of information to their online markets, constituencies, interest groups and fans. In this way you build trust, and others will reciprocate in turn by following your blog, viewing your videos, and following your “tweets.” By inserting yourself into others’ conversations, you can win attention for your own website, issues, or products. You must go in search of like-minded individuals and organizations, as represented by their blogs, Facebook pages, Flicker pools, and Twitter feeds. Read or watch what they’re discussing and add your own contribution, which should reflect your genuine understanding and appreciation of what they are doing. The social networking world is highly alert to crass marketing come-ons of every stripe, so the contributions must be on-topic, relevant, and a genuine attempt to engage in a two-way conversation with their network by sharing useful information.
While solid evidence of a “payoff” for all of this is scarce, in one recent study it was found that a small group of companies with the highest social media activity increased their revenue in the last 12 months, while least-active companies in the same industries saw a 6 percent drop.
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Where should you begin?
Familiarize yourself with what others are doing, and leave comments. Go to Google’s Blogsearch and search for recent blog entries on your topic. You should be able to find some good articles, and they will usually have a comment box at the bottom, as well as a place for “Your URL”. Bingo! You are doing social media marketing. |
You can also set up Blogsearch to send you daily or weekly emails with the latest search results from your chosen keywords, so you can stay up to the minute on what’s being said today about your subject out there in the blogosphere. |
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Macachiavellian Intelligence
Dave McGowan and Paul Feldmann, a biologist and wildlife television host, have been collaborating on a spec pogram featuring University of Chicago associate professor, Dario Maestripierei. A specialist in comparative human development and evolutionary biology, he has written a book entitled Macachiavellian Intelligence providing deep insights into the complex psychology of both rhesus macaques and how their behavior sheds light upon our own human tendencies.
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The Trust views the role of the chimpanzee as one of the leading species for conservation of wildlife
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Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary
Megan Vandehey
After finishing up her contract with Harpo Studios, Megan will begin work with Ravenswood Media on a short fundraiser piece about the Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary in Uganda. The sanctuary was established in 1998 by the Chimpanzee Sanctuary and Wildlife Conservation Trust for the care and welfare of entrusted animals while creating minimal impact upon the ecosystem of the island.
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| Stonesoup Films |
Paul Feldmann and Coulter Mitchell, another Ravenswood Media colleague, have teamed up to produce a documentary about "Alpha Males" in animal societies. They filmed bison in South Dakota this past summer. A sample of their work can be found here.
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Ravenswood Media Holiday Party
Mark your calendars! Come by the Fine Arts Building on December 11, 4pm―10pm, for refreshments and good cheer. We hope you will stop by and meet us in office 934.
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Screenings
The Mark of the Maker
Indianapolis Marion County Public Library
The World of Paper Exhibit
Oct. 10, 2009 – Jan. 10, 2010
Blue River, Indiana and Where Waters Wed
Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum
Saturdays, 11am – 1pm
Winter, 2009
Why Frogs Call and Why We Should Listen
Speaker Dr. Michael Lannoo
Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum
Jan. 13, 2010
To Build A Better Ditch
EPA Region 5, Chicago
January, 2010
Caves: Life Beneath the Forest
Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum
April, 2010 |
UP AND COMING FILMMAKERS
Ravenswood Media thanks the many people who have passed through our office. Each one has offered a unique insight and their own particular talent to our programs. We wish them luck in their careers.
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Present Interns
Ian Jarsovek – Ian is a senior at Columbia College Chicago for film and video. He is interested in learning the art of wildlife photography/videography and all its practices/disciplines through the work he does at Ravenswood Media. He is a huge outdoor enthusiast―climbing, hiking, snowboarding, etc, and considers himself to be a conservationist. Every summer he makes efforts to spend summers in Alaska. In the future, he plans to grow his own independent film company.
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Takuya Uemoto – Takuya has been with Ravenswood since March and has helped out on the Battle for Bats and To Build a Better Ditch. “The biggest attraction to working at Ravenswood is the variety of experiences,” he says. “We are not shooting on a fixed set, but instead you have to learn how to be flexible on the different locations, with different weather, different light. You are in the real world and it’s like a puzzle.” Using what he has learned with Ravenswood, and a degree in film from Columbia College, his primary goal is to produce his own feature.
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Elise Ratliff – After taking an extensive trip through South and Central America, Elise found herself drawn to the power of film. Pursuing her interest in post-production, she found Ravenswood and hopes to cultivate her editing skills under the tutelage of Mike and Dave. “What started out as a hobby has taken a turn towards the professional, and I am eager to learn all I can,” she says about her internship. She has a life-long love of nature and different cultures, wanting to teach the sedentary world about each through the use of film.
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David Smith – A recent graduate from the University of Kentucky, David is a Spanish major with a minor in International Studies, and has more fun hobbies like soccer, painting, movies and music. However, his real interest lies in filmmaking, and in particular, Motion design and 3D Interface. He has been involved with video editing for 4 years and aims to one day create his own feature film. He feels his work at Ravenswood will help prepare him for the professional realm.
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Past Interns
Wonjung Bae – Wonjung just finished up a 10 day shoot in Makanda, IL for a documentary on a Krenovian cabinetmaker named Kyle Kinser. Kyle is a 59 year old woodworker who apprenticed under James Krenov, a master woodworker who just passed away several weeks ago. Krenov's one-of-a-kind method for furniture making is aptly coined after his name, Krenovian. The film will be a short documentary, around 5-6 minutes, using 16 mm black and white. You can see some of Wonjung’s digital shot list here. The photo shows her leaving her internship at Frontline (WGBH Boston).
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Chani Petro - Chani currently is freelancing for a kid’s production company, an independent comedy director, and cutting a short independent drama. She recently had an organic farming documentary screened for over 800 people and had an organization approach the director and her about using the video to spread the word/endorse their company. She'll be graduating in December and has a full length documentary scheduled to start being cut around that time.
Take a look at Chani’s current work.
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Ethan Barnovsky - Ethan is currently finishing the final year of his undergraduate degree in Film and Video at Columbia College. He is working on a number of projects including a short documentary about chess hustlers in Chicago. He has also spent a great deal of time focusing on work that incorporates both motion graphics and computer animation.
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Michael Silberman―Michael, a twenty-two year old independent documentary filmmaker, recently completed a forty-six minute piece entitled "In Our Backyard," which can be viewed here. Aside from his personal work, Michael has been collaborating with Coulter Mitchell, a former Ravenswood Media intern, on a documentary about extreme environmental activism. They interviewed Naom Chomsky (pictured here) last month. Michael has recently been awarded with a potential position at the Filmworkers Club in Chicago, one of the leading post production/color correction facilities in the United States.
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Ramiro Figueroa-Bryant―Ramiro is living in Bristol, CT currently working as a Production Assistant with ESPN. He is in his 4th month now, and one of his main jobs is to produce highlights
for shows like SportsCenter. "Everything we do here is storytelling, so some of the skills I learned in Chicago have helped here in Bristol," he says, referring to his time spent with Ravenswood.
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Andrew Rosinski―Andrew is currently employed at Threespheres Media NYC as a web and graphic designer. He is working on four films: post-production phases of two experimental films and early stages of pre-production for two feature-length documentary films. A daily blogger and founder of http://dinca.org, an avant-garde film, graphic design, and found images blog, Andrew is enjoying life and making sure each day is filled with creative expression and art creation. He also recently designed and launched an online portfolio.
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Steve Spence―Steve graduated from Western Kentucky University with a BA in TV production, and a minor in geology. After graduating, he traveled to China and spent a month and a half in Ireland. He is now an associate member of the International Association of Wildlife Filmmakers. The link to his page is here.
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Ben Hunt―Ben is a coordinator in the Education Department at Shedd Aquarium, where he develops programs for local schools that incorporate video footage from Shedd and from the wild. Information about those programs can be seen here.
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