About the Documentary

“Mapping the Future” is an NSF-funded documentary that follows three major research projects through the 2007-08 research season at the Angelo Reserve in northern California. The video will document how scientists work in the field; the impact their research can have on critical global questions like climate change, habitat loss, and the availability of clean water; and how advanced technologies, like DNA fingerprinting, laser mapping, and stable isotope analysis, are helping to answer once-impossible questions.

We’re shooting the footage digitally in high-definition video using a Panasonic HVX 200. This means that rather than buying video tape stock, we’ve invested in hard drives. The camera records onto disks, which we then download on to a 160-gigabyte field drive. Upon returning home, the footage is backed up on two terabyte hard drives-one I keep in the office, the other is kept at the editing facility.

The crew for the production includes Jerry Booth, Producer/Writer. Jerry is the senior science writer for the UC Natural Reserve System and has almost 20 years of experience producing video programs.

Dave Drum, Director of Photography. Dave’s camerawork has been featured in nearly 75 television shows for the BBC, numerous programs for German, Italian, and Canadian television, as well as ABC, NBC, MTV, HBO, Discovery, and PBS. His recent credits include "The Faces of Yellowstone" (Gold Award, N.Y. Film Festival) and "Horizons—Emerging Viruses" (Best Documentary, BBC).

Rob Weiner, Audio/Video Engineer. Rob has over 20 years' experience working in the industry. His expertise in the latest digital technologies makes him invaluable both in preproduction (setting up a system to capture, organize, archive, and edit terabytes of digital data) and while shooting on location.

Rick LeCompte, Editor. Rick brings 22 years of experience to this project. His most recent documentary project, “The Loss of Nameless Things,” was an official selection at the AFI Silverdocs Festival and has been acquired for broadcast by PBS for its Independent Lens series. He has just completed editing his fifteenth feature film, The Darwin Awards, starring Joseph Fiennes and Winona Ryder.