Behind the Stories
Capturing Yellowstone's Grandeur
By John CrancerNovember 18, 2009
It’s been almost twenty years since Bruce Reichert and Sauni Symonds produced “Yellowstone in Winter.” We thought it was time for Outdoor Idaho to revisit this incredible part of the country.
Almost immediately, we discovered a new layer of complications. The National Park Service is now charging fees to “commercial” video producers. We argued that we are a non-profit, to no avail.
While the permit wasn’t prohibitively expensive because of our small crew, we also learned we’d have to pay to interview park employees or videotape geothermal areas. I yearned for the days when our crews had full no-fee access to the park and were actually encouraged to document its splendor.
Despite these frustrations, we gathered a lot of material on an area of the park we have never featured before: Yellowstone’s Cascade Corner. I was extremely impressed with this corner of the park that actually extends into Idaho. Of course, capturing its beauty involved many of the usual challenges of videotaping in the backcountry.
In addition to our food and personal gear, we also had to carry a heavy load of television production equipment. Horses helped on a couple of the segments, but if you’re using a pack horse to carry your gear, you have to unpack and repack every time you want a shot. That’s difficult for photographers who like lots of pictures. One other thing: there are no ‘current’ bushes to recharge your batteries in the backcountry, and your production can quickly end without power for the equipment.
For the winter segments we needed a special trailer attached to a snowmobile to haul equipment. It worked great most of the time, but we did lose the trailer once on a particular bumpy stretch and had to backtrack to finish the segment.
We have begun to use some smaller production equipment for some shoots but our larger HD gear still produces the highest quality images, and for Yellowstone our videographers chose to deal with the added weight of the bigger cameras.
I think it was worth it, they were able to record some stunning images of a lesser known part of the park. We also spent several days in the main park area so we could incorporate the overall picture into our program. Again, our crews did a great job getting shots of wildlife and geothermal features.
Despite the challenges, I believe it was worth the effort. We hope you agree when you see our most recent hour-long Outdoor Idaho, “Yellowstone’s Cascade Corner.”
Adventure Racing: The Final Push!
By Thanh TanNovember 5, 2009
As I prepare to roll out my first production for Outdoor Idaho, I can tell you it truly takes a team to get a fresh program on the air! Here we are—one week away from the adventure racing show’s premiere—and yours truly is nursing a cold and a case of pharyngitis at home. Bad timing, right? Well, thank goodness I have a wonderful team to help me out. Plus, the process of putting this show together started about five months ago.
We shot this program back in June. I started writing in July. Since September, I’ve left everything in the hands of our amazing director/editor Sauni Symonds. Watching her perform her magic on the script I handed her has been a wonderful learning experience. Under her guidance, I’ve re-written the script at least a dozen times so that the pictures you’ll be seeing match better with the sound you’ll be hearing from the adventure racers and our narrator, Bruce Reichert. I’m so excited about the final product. This is a fast-paced show; quite different from most other Outdoor Idaho programs we’ve produced. Sauni and I wanted to take advantage of the wonderful video shot by our photographers, showing the athletes in their best and worst moments throughout the race. Sauni spent countless hours looking for the perfect music. 
Because shooting a moving race is so difficult, very few of our shots are on tripods. That certainly posed some editing challenges for Sauni, but I believe it will make the show more exciting and put you, the viewer, in the mindset of the racers as they endure a plethora of challenges by land and water.
We’ve spent the last couple weeks fine-tuning the audio and preparing other important matters, such as map graphics for the final show and promos. I wrote a script for a mini movie. Sauni edited that three-minute project, along with a short promo that (I think) has already begun airing throughout the state. Right now, I’m starting to put together content for a web site we’ll create just for this particular show. I’m learning quickly that producing an Outdoor Idaho means you are involved in every aspect of the show, from start to finish. It’s been a wonderful journey.