WHY SHOULD YOU WATCH THIS DOCUMENTARY?
Conditions of Western Wildlife (Western Wildlife) offers you exciting entertainment, spectacular scenery, outstanding orchestral music, and enlightening education. Western Wildlife could enhance your existence if you’re a fan of wildlife films or merely want to explore a cross-section of the American West’s fascinating biodiversity and scenic geography.
RECOGNITION
In summer 2010, Western Wildlife aired in prime-time on local PBS stations in California and Oregon.
FEATURES & UNIQUE ATTRIBUTES
This hour-long production uses the narrative of prehistoric and historic conditions to showcase a variety of popular North American game animals. Western Wildlife presents various biology facts and information on species’ population dynamics, geographic ranges, and evolutionary histories. This documentary tells a story as it takes you on an epic journey.
Visit the high plains to learn the tragic history of bison and the origins of the pronghorn’s fantastic speed. Wander the wetlands for a look at the remarkable success story of waterfowl conservation. Journey to mountain country to examine elk, mule deer, and predators such as the legendary grizzly, elusive bobcat, and infamous coyote. Climb high peaks to study mountain goats. And traverse rugged terrain to investigate a variety of bighorn sheep ranging from the Dakota Badlands to the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
Bighorn sheep are a highlight of Western Wildlife. Finding and observing bighorns can be especially difficult. This documentary presents rare footage of wild sheep in habitats that are not widely known for hosting the animals. For instance, my production has a segment on the extremely rare, federally endangered Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep. Western Wildlife also showcases California bighorns, Rocky Mountain bighorns, and desert bighorns.
DVD BONUS MATERIAL
The Western Wildlife DVD features an astounding forty minutes of bonus features, making it by far the best bargain among my DVD offerings. Never-before-seen features are five scenes cut from the original documentary because of time constraints. These scenes profile: cute prairie dogs, rapid-surfing harlequin ducks, playful California sea lions, clumsy coots, and the mysterious American bittern.
Videos that have previously only been viewable online are other special features. These videos include my wildlife shorts. However, the picture and sound quality on the DVD is much better than what you’ll see on this site. Duckling Dawn, Lizard Lunch, Turtle Tantrums, and Quail Qualities are all included.
My gorgeous showreel (with five years of cinematography highlights) is another feature on the DVD. Western Wildlife’s DVD extras are rounded out by TV spots, previews for my other documentaries, and a scene selection menu with exceptional landscape photos.
HOW/WHEN WAS THIS DOCUMENTARY MADE?
I shot footage that ended up in Western Wildlife for five years, starting in 2004. I recorded most footage with a Canon XL1S camcorder and three Canon telephoto zoom lenses: the 16x IS II, the EF 100-400 mm, and the EF 28-300 mm.
From 2004 to 2009, I recorded whatever struck my interest while traveling through different parts of the West. In 2008, I started writing a script to blend my high quality footage into a cohesive narrative. For script information, I mainly used Humboldt State University’s library, my own reference books, and reputable websites. My script and all my information references are viewable here.
I finished editing Western Wildlife in April 2010 after three years of intermittent efforts dedicated to post-production on the project.
PARTING MESSAGE
The result of my work is a unique program profiling popular game animals across the West with rare footage and special emphasis on bighorn sheep. I’m happy to finally share material that’s been on my shelf for years, and I hope you enjoy watching Conditions of Western Wildlife as much as I enjoyed finishing it.
