Mike Van Laanen
Well-known member
Could use some help from my fellow science and natural history filmmakers. I am developing a non-profit educational program for University film students and Middle School children. As this is the proof of concept phase of the program, I am only looking for about a dozen or so documentary filmmakers who would be willing to participate. Am trying to get a wide variety of locations. Thus far I have found filmmakers in Tasmania, Columbia, India and Oman as well as numerous locations in the USA who are either helping me with actual productions or are aiding me in locating Universities that have documentary films schools in their parts of the World and Middle Schools that are willing to participate in the test phase of the project. Once the program is launched we will be offering tuition grants to documentary film students. In return for the tuition grants, the film students will act as field producers for a Middle School short form documentary. Our website will act as a repository for all the children's doc's and we will securely make them available to educational institutions around the World. Kids will be teaching kids.
Below is a Field Producer job description I drew up for University's listserves. Now I realize that most of the filmmakers here on RedUser are professionals and the payment for this job is well beneath their regular salaries or daily rates, so I am not specifically asking you to take on the field producer's role. But I would really appreciate some assistance in locating documentary film schools - preferably an accredited university or college. I am looking for contact names / addresses of the university's film department heads. My international google searches have been less than fruitful and most times outdated. Thanks for you help on this.
Our Rock©
Field Producer Job Description
Thank you for your interest in Our Rock. Our Rock is a non-profit educational service firm that brings together filmmakers, scientists, engineers and middle school classrooms to produce short form documentaries about their local environment. The goal of the project is to provide the children with an immersed learning experience, with a focus on science and math.
The Our Rock website is a repository for all the docs and we make them available to middle school geography, history and cultural studies classrooms worldwide. So not only will this program provide the children with an applied math and science experience, they will also have an opportunity to learn about other countries and cultures from children their own age.
Your role as a field producer is to guide the children through the production process. The children need to be the directors and the writers of the short form (6-10min) documentary, it must be their voice we hear and see in the films. As this is the start up phase of the project the environmental topic is limited to just one area for now, we will expand the list once we move into the operational phase. So for now the question we want the children to answer is: Where does your water come from?
We do not want to put any restrictions on how they approach the subject. What we mean here is that they could focus on the overall picture of evaporation-precipitation in their particular region of the country or they could look how geography and geology play a central role in providing them with their water. They could also focus on the treatment plants where the water they use is cleaned and recycled. The choice of scientists and engineers that may be used to help education the class and tell the story will also be left up to you, the teachers and the children.
As the field producer you will be charged with the task of locating a middle school classroom that would be interested in participating in this test phase of the program. Working with your advisor, the local teacher and the school administration you will design a program that fits within established criteria and curriculum guidelines. This may sound a bit daunting, but you will find that the schools are more than happy to work with you on this. Just be prepared to use school breaks and vacation time for the fieldwork.
You will also be required to complete the post-production process of the film, including editing, coloring and finishing. We will assist in clearing rights for a music track. So please feel free to let the children have a voice in this choice, again it has to be their film not yours. You are the producer.
Once all the documentaries have been completed, we will send you copies of them to share with your class. This way the children have the opportunity to learn what life is like in other parts of the World from kids their own age. The children will be asked to write a paper about what new things they learned from watching the films, what do they know now that they didn’t know prior to watching them. You will be asked to get copies these papers and forward them back to us for review.
Contract Salary: $1K - $5K depending on experience.
Below is a Field Producer job description I drew up for University's listserves. Now I realize that most of the filmmakers here on RedUser are professionals and the payment for this job is well beneath their regular salaries or daily rates, so I am not specifically asking you to take on the field producer's role. But I would really appreciate some assistance in locating documentary film schools - preferably an accredited university or college. I am looking for contact names / addresses of the university's film department heads. My international google searches have been less than fruitful and most times outdated. Thanks for you help on this.
Our Rock©
Field Producer Job Description
Thank you for your interest in Our Rock. Our Rock is a non-profit educational service firm that brings together filmmakers, scientists, engineers and middle school classrooms to produce short form documentaries about their local environment. The goal of the project is to provide the children with an immersed learning experience, with a focus on science and math.
The Our Rock website is a repository for all the docs and we make them available to middle school geography, history and cultural studies classrooms worldwide. So not only will this program provide the children with an applied math and science experience, they will also have an opportunity to learn about other countries and cultures from children their own age.
Your role as a field producer is to guide the children through the production process. The children need to be the directors and the writers of the short form (6-10min) documentary, it must be their voice we hear and see in the films. As this is the start up phase of the project the environmental topic is limited to just one area for now, we will expand the list once we move into the operational phase. So for now the question we want the children to answer is: Where does your water come from?
We do not want to put any restrictions on how they approach the subject. What we mean here is that they could focus on the overall picture of evaporation-precipitation in their particular region of the country or they could look how geography and geology play a central role in providing them with their water. They could also focus on the treatment plants where the water they use is cleaned and recycled. The choice of scientists and engineers that may be used to help education the class and tell the story will also be left up to you, the teachers and the children.
As the field producer you will be charged with the task of locating a middle school classroom that would be interested in participating in this test phase of the program. Working with your advisor, the local teacher and the school administration you will design a program that fits within established criteria and curriculum guidelines. This may sound a bit daunting, but you will find that the schools are more than happy to work with you on this. Just be prepared to use school breaks and vacation time for the fieldwork.
You will also be required to complete the post-production process of the film, including editing, coloring and finishing. We will assist in clearing rights for a music track. So please feel free to let the children have a voice in this choice, again it has to be their film not yours. You are the producer.
Once all the documentaries have been completed, we will send you copies of them to share with your class. This way the children have the opportunity to learn what life is like in other parts of the World from kids their own age. The children will be asked to write a paper about what new things they learned from watching the films, what do they know now that they didn’t know prior to watching them. You will be asked to get copies these papers and forward them back to us for review.
Contract Salary: $1K - $5K depending on experience.
