Go Wild With Your Camcorder by Piers Warren

Reviewed by Nigel Cooper

Go Wild With Your Camcorder is a great little book aimed at wannabe wildlife filmmakers. After spending a few hours reading the 122-page book I found it to be an easy book to digest. The 10 chapters and 25 sub-chapters are well laid out with only a few pages dedicated to each section, but Piers has neat writing skills in that he is able to put across a lot of information in just a few paragraphs. He doesn?t get all technical or over-complicated with his explanations, he simply gets to the point and gives you all the information you need to get started in this rewarding area of video production.

Chapters include:
Selecting a camcorder
Other useful equipment
Subjects for filming
Documentary themes
Camera techniques
Fieldcraft
Set building
Ethics
The end product
Post-production

Each of the above chapters has subchapters covering various elements under the chapter?s main umbrella.

After reading though the book I would say it is aimed at beginners looking to learn the basic skills required for wildlife filmmaking, but those who have been filming wildlife on an independent basis for a while, and who are looking to hone and fine tune their skills, could also pick up many other hints and tips from the book. Piers concentrates on the prosumer/semi-professional range of digital camcorders including Mini-DV, DVCAM and the new breed of HDV camcorders such as the Canon XL H1. The XL series of Canon camcorders are firm favourites amongst independent low-budget wildlife filmmakers due to its interchangeable lens system. It?s obvious from the book that Piers is a big fan of the Canon XL series and uses them himself, however I would have liked to have read at least an acknowledgment of JVC?s great ProHD series of camcorders including the GY-HD111E. After all the JVC has an interchangble lens system too; only a professional non-servo that works like a real professional broadcast lens, it is cheaper than the Canon XL H1 and most importantly it shoots in native Progressive mode too, a feature lacking from the XL H1. Piers only really touches on the formats to give you an idea of where to start, he even touches on Super16mm film, though I would imaging most people buying this book would not be considering film for one second. Being fair to Piers, if he were to cover all the semi-professional and professional camcorders that could be used for wildlife filmmaking and the pros and cons of them all he would have to write an entire book on that subject alone, with this in mind he covers the various formats rather well in one neat little chapter.

Piers goes on to explain about other pieces of equipment and what to look for in them, these include: tripods, lenses, lights, recording media, sound equipment as well as the right clothing i.e. camouflaged army surplus so as not to be seen by wildlife. Again, Piers does not go into great detail here, he covers the basics of equipment, which is enough information to get you started, but there is room for a little more research on the reader's part.

When it comes down to the actual filming of wildlife Piers pulls out all the stops and really goes for it. It is this area that Piers is king. He explains in great detail the various techniques involved in filming animals including: camera techniques such as composition, exposure, depth of field, shot sizes, shooting sequences, camera angles, POV shots, panning, tracking, time lapse, slow motion and much more. He also covers in great detail the art of field craft which includes staying hidden from your subject by wearing camouflaged clothing as well as staying downwind of your subject and not wearing any scented aftershaves etc. Piers then goes on and discusses the effects of filming at different times of day when the sun is low in the sky, high in the sky and the way in which this effects your footage. The book is worth the money for this chapter alone and I?m sure you will pick up a ton of great tips and essential wildlife filming information from these pages.

Piers also goes into a lot of detail on other areas of wildlife filmmaking such as coming up with great ideas for a wildlife documentary and everything involved to write, film, edit, produce and distribute a completed programme. He even goes into music in wildlife programmes covering what type of music to use and where to get it and how much it costs. Oh, did I mention that Piers started out his career as a musician and professional sound engineer? Well he did, which means he also knows his onions when it comes to music and scoring a wildlife programme.

Also covered in the book are the techniques involved in set-building. You?d be amazed at how many shots in your average wildlife film were filmed in a controlled set environment, all those tiny little close-ups of tarantulas and the like, chances are it was filmed in a pre-built set using vegetation from the spider?s native country so you would never know. Of course this isn?t always the case, but for those times that you need to film a small animal in a controlled environment, Piers leads the way sharing his experience in the art of set-building.

As Piers is the founder of Filmmakers for Conservation it goes without saying that he covers this area in this book. Well it is a very important part of the wildlife filmmaking process, he covers various guidelines for working in the field and they are well worth a read; it could keep you from upsetting a local farmer or other landowner.

The final part of the book covers the post-production part of the process. Here Piers takes you through the planning part and explains the best way of editing a wildlife programme with lots of great tips based on his experience as an editor. Piers is a big fan of Apple?s Final Cut Pro and for good reason, Final Cut Pro is now an industry standard editing package, but a very competitively priced one. Piers explains about transitions and not going over-the-top with them or using the tacky and tasteless ones. He covers sound, Foley, music, narration, titles & credits and more. This chapter encapsulates the entire editing stage very well without being tedious or boring.

The book is rounded off nicely with the end product and what you could do with it i.e. TV broadcast, DVD distribution, uploading to the web for the world to see etc.

About the author
Piers Warren has been a wildlife filmmaker for over 20 years, so he has had a wealth of experience and is at the top of his game. He is the principal of Wildeye Films film training in Norfolk, producer of Wildlife Film and the founder of Filmmakers for Conservation. Piers is well known and respected throughout the wildlife filmmaking world and has written many books (Careers in Wildlife Filmmaking is well worth checking out also) and magazine articles. Through his web site www.wildeye.co.uk he Piers offers specialized training for aspiring wildlife filmmakers, training includes short weekend introductory courses held in Norfolk through to wildlife training expeditions all over the world.

To buy Go Wild With Your Camcorder visit: www.wildeye.co.uk/wildlife-films