Our courses are designed from the ground up to enable you to learn everything you need to embark on your wildlife film career.
We are proud to be the only wildlife film school in the world to film and edit 4K in the field for such an unprecedented amount of time…
The Wildlife Film School courses are based around teaching to participants the fundamental basics of logistical problems, navigation, camp-craft and camera operation you need to become a professional wildlife camera operator (or production/support crew) whilst out on location.
We provide you with all of the equipment required, from the cameras to the tents. The only essentials you need to bring are your clothes and a sleeping bag – and a keen attitude!
One of the areas we would like to focus on is giving people with very little or no experience in the great outdoors the ability to join us and have a go. Our courses are not limited by your previous experience. Broadening your horizons is an essential part of wildlife film-making and it is our aim to increase your ability and confidence during every one of our courses. Equally, this is not to say that our courses are only for beginners, or that they are merely ‘taster’ courses. Our courses cater to students of any ability and experience, from a first time amateur operator to those who already have decades of experience in television and film studio work.
Filming wildlife cannot be rushed and takes large amounts of time and patience. You can spend as many days as you like covering all the theory you like, but until you have experienced that heart racing moment out on location when you´ve finally film that elusive wildlife you have been waiting for, you will never know what it is like to film ‘real wildlife’
We want to offer you the opportunity to experience that first hand. Whether you wish to attend just to satisfy your personal interest in filming wildlife or you wish to embark on a career in wildlife film or television, our courses can provide essential ‘hands-on’ training and the indispensable real world experience you can´t get in a classroom.
Unlike some other wildlife film schools around the world, we do not spend half of your course giving you time consuming lectures in a classroom. In fact, we do not spend any time in a classroom environment. 100% of the time spent on our courses is out in the field, living and working on location.
Wherever you are or whoever you are, you are more than welcome to attend any of our courses. For example, 50% of our students are from outside of the UK, and 60% of our students are female. Our courses cater to students of any ability and experience, from a first time camper to those who already have decades of experience in television production.
Unfortunately, due to limitations imposed by our insurance cover, you need to be 18 years of age or over to attend one of our courses.
Here at the Wildlife Film School we believe in four fundamental basics which form the very foundations and the overall philosophy of our courses –
Unlike some other film courses, the films you make are yours: The instructors and tutors are here to assist you, and not the other way around. They are not making the films for you, and you are not simply assisting them to make a film for them; you will be doing all the filming, the scripting, the story-boarding, the sound recording and the editing!
We will provide everything you need to be able to produce professional footage of your own out on location and the completed film that you make is yours to take home with you at the end of your course.
Real wildlife is exactly what it says it is… real wildlife! That’s wildlife found freely roaming in its natural environment. Be it on the side of a mountain, roaming over vast open Savannah, hidden deep in the Amazonian rainforest.
You simply can’t gain any real wildlife filming skills filming animals kept in an observation tank in a classroom or by visiting an animal rescue centre to film animals kept in enclosed ‘pens’/spaces.
We have spent the last 15+ years running wildlife film courses across the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. During your course you will be out in the field, working under the same conditions as a professional wildlife camera operator, filming wildlife on location in their natural environment.
There is a lot more to being on location than just the geographical area where the wildlife can be found. There are all of the other field-craft skills that go into making the difference between a successful expedition and an under-prepared fiasco!
This is exactly what our wildlife film school is designed to do – we will take you through all of the necessary logistical requirements to produce a wildlife film out on location that you just haven´t thought of; in this way you will personally experience what goes on behind the camera, as well as in front of it.
You can only experience this whilst working out on location. You must leave the classroom behind you, to actually learn to live and work on location.
During a wildlife film course with us, you will be actively taking part in many different tasks which, when all added together will significantly increase your personal levels of skill and ability to work out in the field.
Wildlife film work can be very hard work. You do not need to be super-human to do it, but you have to realise that there is a lot more to producing a wildlife film than just the filming the wildlife.
It will become apparent very quickly that there are simply not enough hours in the day to get everything accomplished. Batteries must be charged, media to be digitise, rushes to be watched, dinner prepared – and all of this has to be squeezed into ‘the rest of the day’ that wasn´t spent during your 10 hours out on location filming!
Again, you simply can´t learn this in a classroom, you have to experience it first hand. Experience isn´t all about the hardships however. Stepping out of what may be a comfort zone and living and working in the wild is a very liberating and rewarding experience that many are keen to repeat.
