Making A Wild Fishing Film – A Brainstormer

[corsican dave]

i have been thinking about a project concerning my local river, especially as my best mate (a semi-pro photographer) has now started doing drone stuff. i had the idea of a story to hang it on, being a piece of writing about the river; when we first moved in Part-Time dropped round the day after with "the Muckle Troot of the Dulnain". we'd never met before, but became firm friends....

you can see where this is going, hopefully? sort of a work in (not much  :lol:) progress

some 'framing' footage of planning & discussion in the tackle-room/balcony, a bit of socio-historical/natural history bollocks, trying to hunt down our very own muckle troot (location, tackle, tactics), an exploration of the river, great friends finally triumphant or thwarted (doesn't really matter either way).  ZZZZzzzzzz  next stop BBC2 & Ewan MacGregor doing the voice-over  :lol: :

[Highlander]

These old films were good & still are they set the standards for others to follow.
Having said that there are some really professional films out there. Only concerns I have about some them are in some cases the actual fishermen are  how can we say it not very good. The one about Spring Creeks is a case in point poor casting. The filmmakers in the main though are the opposite, very good. Only other gripe is the "mad music" in a few does my nut in. A tasteful selection to enhance the film works well should be no problem for Fred ?

Other than that a nice mixture works well. A beginning ,a middle & an end.

Tight Lines

[Wildfisher]

Ewan MacGregor doing the voice-over 

I was hoping for David Tennant.  :lol:

[Wildfisher]

Only other gripe is the "mad music" in a few does my nut in.

Same here. I love Led Zeppelin, but James Taylor style would be more appropriate for a fly fishing film.

[corsican dave]

Same here. I love Led Zeppelin, but James Taylor style would be more appropriate for a fly fishing film.

depends on the subject and the style. trashy, urban with strange angles & rapid jump-cuts lends itself to RATM or similar....

cuts & fades are a subject in their own right. most amateurs use far too many fancy cuts & it just looks rubbish. most professionals generally only use a straight jump cut or fade.

it's also worth timing each shot on a film you like. you'll rarely find a shot that lasts longer than 20 seconds or so. even when it's a speech to camera there'll be other shots cut in or taken from a different angle by a second camera to break it up a bit

[Tweed]

I really like what these guys do.  As Burnie says, a good soundtrack (subjective, of course) goes a long way.  As you allude to as well Fred, it's about the adventure, experience, and environment as much as the fishing . . .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmsxtidcXso

the short film "the source" re. new Zealand is another that's always stuck with me.

[burnie]

Chris Yates and Bob James were recruited by top wildlife cameraman Hugh Miles to make Passion for Angling, my favourite by some distance. I understand from talking to them that the shooting of that series took years and the editing took nearly as long, sounds like a marathon task if you got the extreme end.

[Lochan_load]

From a purely aesthetic point of view Fred I think that casting a fly pin is worth giving some 'air time'
If you can capture the sound and the loop of the line flipping out and laying nicely on the water it's got a very graceful, hypnotic quality on film. Very often you just see the fishers face and his arm flying back and forth with the sound of his waterproof jacket rubbing. It's hard to capture the excitement Watching people play fish but you can sum up the peace of a quiet place casting a fly line.