Reprinted by Permission of Professor Chris Palmer - School of Communication, American University

Wege Family Welcomes Wildlife Filmmaker to Aquinas

Two generations of Peter Wege’s family turned out in April for the 15th annual Wege Lecture at Aquinas College given by Chris Palmer, the renowned wildlife film producer. Pictured above being recognized in Aquinas’s Performing Arts Center from left to right are: Patrick Goodwillie, Mary Nelson, Jim Nelson, Jonathan Wege, Peter Wege II, Caitlin Wiener, Jessica McLear, Christopher Carter, and Rachel Wege-Lack, Peter Wege II’s daughter, who is shown introducing Chris Palmer to the full auditorium.

Chris Palmer, whose wildlife documentaries have appeared on IMAX, Disney Channel, and Animal Planet, among others, showed clips from his films, including up-close encounters with Southern Right Whales and a wolf pack making a den. In his elegant British accent, Chris Palmer captivated the audience with his animated style and passionate commitment to protecting wildlife.

“I want the world to be preserved,” he told the crowd, “and wildlife films are one way to tackle the problems of the environment. All the films I make are part of a conservation campaign.”

To Read More go to http://www.wegefoundation.com/news/chrispalmerlecture.html

Professor Chris PalmerAuthor of Shooting in the Wild: An Insider's Account of Making Movies in the Animal Kingdom  (Sierra Club Books, 2010)Distinguished Film Producer in ResidenceDirector, Center for Environmental FilmmakingSchool of Communication, American Universitycell 202-716-6160; office 202-885-3408Center website: www.environmentalfilm.org SOC profile: http://www.american.edu/soc/faculty/palmer.cfm Shooting in the Wild on Facebook: http://on.fb.me/gOTUlc Shooting in the Wild website: http://bit.ly/a4L3LU Chris’s Facebook site: http://www.facebook.com/#!/chrispalmer47 Follow me on Twitter @chrispalmer_au Chris’s blog: http://soc-palmer.blogs.american.edu/  President, One World One Ocean FoundationPresident, MacGillivray Freeman Films Educational Foundationcpalmer@mffeducation.orgwww.mffeducation.org Chief Executive Officer, VideoTakes, Inc.chris@videotakes.comwww.videotakes.com

Reprinted by Permission of Professor Chris Palmer - School of Communication, American University

Ask An Expert: Is Shark Week Good for Sharks?

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Is Shark Week Good for Sharks?
Discovery Channel's Shark Week 2011 starts Sunday, July 31st

Shark Week is entertainment by exploitation By Chris Palmer
Chris Palmer is the director of American university’s Center for Environmental Filmmaking and author of the new Sierra Club book, Shooting in the Wild: An Insider’s Account of Making Movies in the Animal Kingdom.

Teeth of Death. The Worst Shark Attack Ever. It’s that time of year again, when the Discovery Channel brings out shows like these as part of its annual Shark Week. This week of bloody feeding frenzies and vicious shark attacks is part of a larger trend in nature programming. Instead of seeking to educate or promote environmental conservation, these shows focus only on presenting graphic, sensationalized animal violence. While they might garner high ratings and attract advertiser dollars, these shows all too often mislead the audience, exploit animals and fail to promote conservation.
 

     It’s easy to understand why Shark Week would attract viewers. The subject matter is riveting, the editing is flashy, and the shows are thrilling and suspenseful. This brand of mayhem and mutilation has an eager audience and has turned the nature-film genre into an entertainment juggernaut. However, even worse than these programs’ shameless appeals to the viewer’s basest instincts is their impact on the wildlife they show. In a time when sharks face increased threat from shark finning, overfishing and pollution, programs that depict sharks as vicious, man-eating killers only make it more difficult to convince the public of the need to protect them.
   

  In reality, wild creatures spend most of their time resting or finding food. Obviously, a feeding frenzy makes for more exciting footage, but showing such a disproportionate amount of violence gives a dangerously skewed view of animals. While it would be just as mis- leading to suggest that animals never hunt and kill, there’s a major difference between showing the dispassionate reality of nature, and creating whole programming out of only the most gory and gruesome details.
 

To Read More go To  http://www.scubadiving.com/training/ask-expert/ask-expert-shark-week-good-sharks

Professor Chris PalmerAuthor of Shooting in the Wild: An Insider's Account of Making Movies in the Animal Kingdom  (Sierra Club Books, 2010)Distinguished Film Producer in ResidenceDirector, Center for Environmental FilmmakingSchool of Communication, American Universitycell 202-716-6160; office 202-885-3408Center website: www.environmentalfilm.org SOC profile: http://www.american.edu/soc/faculty/palmer.cfm Shooting in the Wild on Facebook: http://on.fb.me/gOTUlc Shooting in the Wild website: http://bit.ly/a4L3LU Chris’s Facebook site: http://www.facebook.com/#!/chrispalmer47 Follow me on Twitter @chrispalmer_au Chris’s blog: http://soc-palmer.blogs.american.edu/  President, One World One Ocean FoundationPresident, MacGillivray Freeman Films Educational Foundationcpalmer@mffeducation.orgwww.mffeducation.org Chief Executive Officer, VideoTakes, Inc.chris@videotakes.comwww.videotakes.com

Reprinted by Permission of Professor Chris Palmer - School of Communication, American University

As an 11-year old in 1958, I watched the Disney film White Wilderness. We see a cute little bear cub lose its footing on a steep, snow-covered mountainside and fall faster and faster until it's tumbling down totally out of control. It eventually stops falling after banging hard into rocks. The audience laughs because we assume it is totally natural and authentic and it's funny in a slapstick kind of way--at least at first. In fact, it is totally staged top to bottom, including the use of a man-made artificial mountain and captive bear cubs.

When I was a teenager growing up in England, Life Magazine carried a prize-winning sequence of photographs showing a leopard hunting a baboon. It was dramatic and thrilling. The final picture showed the leopard crushing the baboon's skull in its jaws. Later it was shown to be all staged with a captive leopard and a captive and terrified baboon.

When I first got into television in my early 30s, I brought home a film I had just completed to show my wife, Gail. She especially liked a close-up scene of a grizzly bear splashing through a stream and asked me how we were able to record the sound of water dripping off the grizzly's paws. I had to admit that my talented sound guy had filled a basin full of water and recorded the thrashings he made with his hands and elbows. He then matched the video of the bear walking in the stream with the sounds he had recorded. Gail was shocked, offended and outraged--and called me "a big fake" and a "big phony-baloney." I had made a documentary after all, which led her to expect authenticity and truth.

What ethical issues do these three stories illustrate? First, audience deception through staging and manipulation. Second, cruelty to animals. And third, a more subtle ethical issue but a vital one nonetheless: Do wildlife films encourage conservation?

To Read More go TO

http://www.documentary.org/magazine/wild-ethically-nature-filmmakers-need-code-conduct

Professor Chris PalmerAuthor of Shooting in the Wild: An Insider's Account of Making Movies in the Animal Kingdom  (Sierra Club Books, 2010)Distinguished Film Producer in ResidenceDirector, Center for Environmental FilmmakingSchool of Communication, American Universitycell 202-716-6160; office 202-885-3408Center website: www.environmentalfilm.org SOC profile: http://www.american.edu/soc/faculty/palmer.cfm Shooting in the Wild on Facebook: http://on.fb.me/gOTUlc Shooting in the Wild website: http://bit.ly/a4L3LU Chris’s Facebook site: http://www.facebook.com/#!/chrispalmer47 Follow me on Twitter @chrispalmer_au Chris’s blog: http://soc-palmer.blogs.american.edu/  President, One World One Ocean FoundationPresident, MacGillivray Freeman Films Educational Foundationcpalmer@mffeducation.orgwww.mffeducation.org Chief Executive Officer, VideoTakes, Inc.chris@videotakes.comwww.videotakes.com

Reprinted by Permission of Professor Chris Palmer - School of Communication, American University

Keynote Speech for the National Annual Meeting of the ARCS Foundation At Amelia Island in Florida

 SCIENCE AND COMMUNICATION:  FRIENDS OR ENEMIES?

 By Chris Palmer

Distinguished Film Producer in Residence

Director, Center for Environmental Filmmaking

School of Communication, American University

palmer@american.edu; (202) 885-3408

www.environmentalfilm.org

 June 3, 2011

 It’s a great honor to be invited to give this keynote speech. The ARCS Foundation is a vibrant
organization. In this academic year, you’ll award $4 million to over 400 graduate and
undergraduate scholars. I commend all of you for your dedication to passionately pursuing the
vital goal of keeping America strong in engineering, science, and medical research. It doesn’t
surprise me at all that the ARCS Foundation was selected for the distinguished CASE Award in
2009 based on the commitment and engagement of ARCS members to its scholars.

 This morning I’d like to speak about working with scientists, communicating science, and finally
about the ARCS Foundation itself.

 I. Working with Scientists

In 1986, marine scientist Greg Marshall invented the crittercam. Attached to an animal, this little
camera enables biologists to gather new information, such as feeding patterns, mating behavior,
and migration routes.

 Greg Marshall hired Nick Caloyianis, a veteran filmmaker specializing in sharks, to go to the
east coast of Mexico to shoot underwater scenes of Greg attaching a crittercam to a shark.

 A few weeks later, out at sea, the team hooked a bull shark. These sharks are aggressive and
dangerous even when they are calm and free, but this one was stressed and confined.

 While Greg Marshall was attempting to attach the crittercam to the shark, its handlers,
mistakenly thinking Greg was done, released the creature prematurely. A producer asked Nick
Caloyianis to get shots of the free-swimming shark, and though Nick knew it was a risky
situation, he agreed, resolving to keep his distance. He dove in and began filming. But what Nick
didn’t know was that shark handlers in another expedition boat had decided to recapture the
agitated bull shark and finish attaching the crittercam.

As he was peering through his lens, Nick suddenly noticed a dark shadow in the upper right
corner of the viewfinder. He didn’t realize that this was the shadow of a shark handler diving in,
hooking the bull shark in its mouth, and hightailing it back to the surface.

 The shark, now extremely agitated, lashed out at the nearest creature, which happened to be
Nick. He turned the camera toward the shark to push it away, and as the animal thrashed and bit
at the camera, Nick’s hand went into its mouth. Reflexively, he pulled it out, splitting his thumb
and forefinger to the bone. He dropped the camera. As he continued to pound and push the shark
away with his hands, it lashed out at his legs. He could feel the shark’s teeth sinking into his
flesh, tearing it open and crushing his anklebone.

 Nick somehow got his leg out of the shark’s jaws, but the angry animal charged at him again and
again as they both headed for the surface. Nick was now badly injured. He and the shark
surfaced right next to the shark handlers’ small skiff, and Nick was pulled into the boat, his silver
wetsuit streaked bright red with blood. Nick spent weeks in the hospital and months more
recuperating. He still has nightmares about the incident and suffers chronic pain from his
injuries.

 This tragic accident happened because of poor communication between scientist and filmmaker.
Often such communications are highly effective, so that both filmmaker and scientist mutually
benefit. The filmmaker can make an exciting film, and the scientist can get his or her research
conveyed successfully to the general public. Take these examples. The first is a clip from an
IMAX film on whales.

 Show clip from Whales. We couldn’t have made this film without whale biologist Dr. Roger
Payne whose work we feature in the film. He told us where the whales were, when they were
likely to breach, sing, tail-slap, and perform many other intriguing behaviors. He taught us how
to interact with the whales to ensure mutual safety and minimal disturbance.

 Here’s another clip from an IMAX film on wolves. Show clip from Wolves. We couldn’t have
made this film without wolf biologist Dr. Steve Torbit. He told us where to find wolves, what
behavior to look for, how wolf packs function, the vital role of play, how wolves mentor their
young, and how wolves collaborate when hunting.

To Read More Go to

http://www.arcsfoundation.org/national/Keynote.pdf

Professor Chris PalmerAuthor of Shooting in the Wild: An Insider's Account of Making Movies in the Animal Kingdom  (Sierra Club Books, 2010)Distinguished Film Producer in ResidenceDirector, Center for Environmental FilmmakingSchool of Communication, American Universitycell 202-716-6160; office 202-885-3408Center website: www.environmentalfilm.org SOC profile: http://www.american.edu/soc/faculty/palmer.cfm Shooting in the Wild on Facebook: http://on.fb.me/gOTUlc Shooting in the Wild website: http://bit.ly/a4L3LU Chris’s Facebook site: http://www.facebook.com/#!/chrispalmer47 Follow me on Twitter @chrispalmer_au Chris’s blog: http://soc-palmer.blogs.american.edu/  President, One World One Ocean FoundationPresident, MacGillivray Freeman Films Educational Foundationcpalmer@mffeducation.orgwww.mffeducation.org Chief Executive Officer, VideoTakes, Inc.chris@videotakes.comwww.videotakes.com

Reprinted by Permission of Professor Chris Palmer - School of Communication, American University

Reprinted by Permission of Professor Chris Palmer - School of Communication, American University

Reprinted by Permission of Professor Chris Palmer - School of Communication, American University

Best Practices: business tips from the pros

Reprinted by Permission of Professor Chris Palmer - School of Communication, American University

Reprinted by Permission of Professor Chris Palmer - School of Communication, American University

Best practices: Managing time effectively

Professor Chris PalmerAuthor of Shooting in the Wild: An Insider's Account of Making Movies in the Animal Kingdom  (Sierra Club Books, 2010)Distinguished Film Producer in ResidenceDirector, Center for Environmental FilmmakingSchool of Communication, American Universitycell 202-716-6160; office 202-885-3408Center website: www.environmentalfilm.org SOC profile: http://www.american.edu/soc/faculty/palmer.cfm Shooting in the Wild on Facebook: http://on.fb.me/gOTUlc Shooting in the Wild website: http://bit.ly/a4L3LU Chris’s Facebook site: http://www.facebook.com/#!/chrispalmer47 Follow me on Twitter @chrispalmer_au Chris’s blog: http://soc-palmer.blogs.american.edu/  President, One World One Ocean FoundationPresident, MacGillivray Freeman Films Educational Foundationcpalmer@mffeducation.orgwww.mffeducation.org Chief Executive Officer, VideoTakes, Inc.chris@videotakes.comwww.videotakes.com

Reprinted by Permission of Professor Chris Palmer - School of Communication, American University

How to be a star speaker

Professor Chris PalmerAuthor of Shooting in the Wild: An Insider's Account of Making Movies in the Animal Kingdom  (Sierra Club Books, 2010)Distinguished Film Producer in ResidenceDirector, Center for Environmental FilmmakingSchool of Communication, American Universitycell 202-716-6160; office 202-885-3408Center website: www.environmentalfilm.org SOC profile: http://www.american.edu/soc/faculty/palmer.cfm Shooting in the Wild on Facebook: http://on.fb.me/gOTUlc Shooting in the Wild website: http://bit.ly/a4L3LU Chris’s Facebook site: http://www.facebook.com/#!/chrispalmer47 Follow me on Twitter @chrispalmer_au Chris’s blog: http://soc-palmer.blogs.american.edu/  President, One World One Ocean FoundationPresident, MacGillivray Freeman Films Educational Foundationcpalmer@mffeducation.orgwww.mffeducation.org Chief Executive Officer, VideoTakes, Inc.chris@videotakes.comwww.videotakes.com

Reprinted by Permission of Professor Chris Palmer - School of Communication, American University

Professor Chris PalmerAuthor of Shooting in the Wild: An Insider's Account of Making Movies in the Animal Kingdom  (Sierra Club Books, 2010)Distinguished Film Producer in ResidenceDirector, Center for Environmental FilmmakingSchool of Communication, American Universitycell 202-716-6160; office 202-885-3408Center website: www.environmentalfilm.org SOC profile: http://www.american.edu/soc/faculty/palmer.cfm Shooting in the Wild on Facebook: http://on.fb.me/gOTUlc Shooting in the Wild website: http://bit.ly/a4L3LU Chris’s Facebook site: http://www.facebook.com/#!/chrispalmer47 Follow me on Twitter @chrispalmer_au Chris’s blog: http://soc-palmer.blogs.american.edu/  President, One World One Ocean FoundationPresident, MacGillivray Freeman Films Educational Foundationcpalmer@mffeducation.orgwww.mffeducation.org Chief Executive Officer, VideoTakes, Inc.chris@videotakes.comwww.videotakes.com

Reprinted by Permission of Professor Chris Palmer - School of Communication, American University

Best Practices: creating a personal mission statement

Reprinted by Permission of Professor Chris Palmer - School of Communication, American University

Best practices: Acing a job interview

Professor Chris PalmerAuthor of Shooting in the Wild: An Insider's Account of Making Movies in the Animal Kingdom  (Sierra Club Books, 2010)Distinguished Film Producer in ResidenceDirector, Center for Environmental FilmmakingSchool of Communication, American Universitycell 202-716-6160; office 202-885-3408Center website: www.environmentalfilm.org SOC profile: http://www.american.edu/soc/faculty/palmer.cfm Shooting in the Wild on Facebook: http://on.fb.me/gOTUlc Shooting in the Wild website: http://bit.ly/a4L3LU Chris’s Facebook site: http://www.facebook.com/#!/chrispalmer47 Follow me on Twitter @chrispalmer_au Chris’s blog: http://soc-palmer.blogs.american.edu/  President, One World One Ocean FoundationPresident, MacGillivray Freeman Films Educational Foundationcpalmer@mffeducation.orgwww.mffeducation.org Chief Executive Officer, VideoTakes, Inc.chris@videotakes.comwww.videotakes.com