Taxidermist Confessions

This was my second documentary for the class. I really wanted to do a piece on taxidermy. I was talking to a friend and discussing different trades and skills that I could focus on and taxidermy became a very real subject. I tried getting in contact with a few taxidermists in the St. Louis area but I never made much progress. This was the most difficult thing about this documentary because I already had an idea of how to do it but I was not gaining any entry into taxidermy studios. I contacted Jim Miller of Big Daddy's Taxidermy in Frenchtown, located a mile or so away from main street. He was happy to let me in and I was happy to finally start shooting.

I wanted the opening to resemble something dark, similar to the opening theme of Dexter. I wanted to gain the audiences attention with these frankenstein type shots of the studio. I think I did it right, but I have also considered taking out his narration and just leaving the audio. I shot this in two days for a few hours each day and I don't think I ever ran out of shots of b-roll. Everywhere you turn in the studio is a stuffed animal, tools, pictures, etc. This is my favorite piece that I did for the class and probably one of my favorite videos I have produced. As Jim states in his interview he was hoping business would pick up in the hunting season. While I was shooting this I could totally tell he was just a normal guy trying to make a living and I really connected with him, and I feel like his story is perfect for underground economy. I would like to do a longer piece on him and perhaps see how the fall season has been treating him.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• taxidermy
• taxidermist
• shop
• animals
• birds
• outdoors

[killajuggaloz5]

Great Video 5/5

[NSCinc]

nice