Wild Connection tells the story of Rod Macdonald and his connection and affinity with the Common Buzzard. Rod has made a beautiful and brave short film, allowing his own personal story to take the lead role. By leaning into his own vulnerability and keeping his tale simple, Wild Connection is a highly engaging and life-affirming watch.
In Rod’s words:
“Building my knowledge and skill over the last 3 years, I mainly concentrated on photography. As I became more comfortable with my camera, I seemed to reach the point of exploring the filming side more, and loved it but felt I needed some help. Youtube only takes you so far! When deciding on my next steps, I came across the film school on Mull on an internet search. I couldn’t believe that I had found what seemed to be exactly what I was looking for. A one to one, wildlife filmmaking course that offered exactly what I was looking for with the advantage of being on Mull which could potentially offer some amazing wildlife in spectacular, dramatic surroundings. Perfect.. so I booked!
As I was really interested in the art of the filmmaking aspects over a specific subject animal for this purpose, my first concepts were connecting with Eagles and Otters as it seemed there was a good chance of filming them on Mull.
As S-J and I started communicating, first by email and then laterally face to face at the start of the course, my story line developed but after talking about my life and experiences and my connections with the Buzzard, a very different story began to emerge. The story of my my connection with the buzzard and the importance of my connection with nature.
I was very reluctant at first, as a film involving me was very much out of my comfort zone, but the more we discussed it, the more it became clear that, in my case, that was the real story that needed telling.
S-J has an incredibly intuitive, empathetic gift to enable and encourage you to develop a story that has structure and meaning that allows an audience to engage with the film, which, I think, is the essence of the art of filmmaking. There was never any pressure, just encouragement to explore the direction a story could take.
Once the final story was set, It couldn’t have worked out any better. The weather was fantastic and we managed to find some great locations for Buzzards, even a nest area and we were in disbelief when I managed to capture photographs of a pair of buzzards mating on a ledge while we were scouting for locations. Sadly, I wasn’t ready in time to film them. Over the 4 days I had some amazing encounters with buzzards. At one point I had 6 overhead and struggled to keep up. I also filmed Golden eagles and amazingly, a raven trying to pluck a feather from a white tailed Eagle’s tail. But it was the Buzzards that meant the most to me.
Creating the story was only part of what the course has to offer, there are so many components to the process of wildlife filmmaking that I hadn’t fully considered. The importance of sound, and capturing ambient sounds. The skills of fieldcraft and scouting for locations. Making a shooting schedule to being able to actually capture the footage you want. Developing my patience in waiting for subjects to appear! How to go about filming when it does, and how not to, so as not to disturb the animals. S-J’s ability to share this knowledge so well are a testament to her skill and experience.
On top of all of that, but no means least, the cottage accommodation was full of character and charm and along with S-J’s great cooking (after a long day for her too) and ability to put you at ease, it felt like home. I was sad to leave.
The amount I learnt in 4 days now seems impossible to have squeezed into such a short timeframe, not to mention what I learned about myself in addition that. The whole experience for me has been nothing short of transformational. I have so much gratitude to my old friend the Buzzard, and to my new friend S-J for enabling that journey, thank you.
The course has given me a whole new perspective on how to capture and share my connection with nature. I can’t wait to see where it will lead me. I couldn’t have wished for more.”