Indiana Rattlesnakes

When I worked for Brown County State Park I began working on a documentary about timber rattlesnakes in Indiana. In my spare time I would shoot B-Roll around the park, our resident timber rattlesnake, and I even drove up to Pokagon State Park near Fort Wayne to get the story of the Eastern massasauga rattlesnake.

I've had this video footage sitting on my hard drive since then. I've been waiting to finish the documentary with more interviews, more b-roll, and a nice Attenborough-esque voice over.

I decided a few days ago that I really needed to do something with this footage. A longer documentary probably wouldn't hold most people's interest anyway, so instead I made a short (2:45) video that just touches the surface of these reclusive reptiles.

Instead of making one long, all encompassing, documentary, I am going to break it up into pieces. An overview, biology, habitat, and conservation issues.

Below is the first installment - an overview of the rattlesnakes of Indiana.

Enjoy!


Rattlesnakes of Indiana from Michael Carney Media on Vimeo.

Rattling Along

Well, I've got a few more shots in the can for the Timber Rattlesnake Doco. Next I still need to talk to a couple biologists, a law enforcement agent and then get some fall and winter B-roll. And of course, find out how to see inside a hibernacula!

[me filming the eastern massasauga - photo by Fred Wooley]

[Jim getting interviewed. Note the interpreting gesture ;) ]

[Fred getting interviewed. Again with the gesture. Its almost like the

facilitator clap,everyone does it if they know it or not.]

[and of course, the star of the show]

New Project

(Its like "Where's Waldo," but with a rattlesnake!)

I just got approval from my boss to work with our captive timber rattlesnake to produce a short documentary about timber rattlesnakes in Brown County State Park.

I'll be working not only with the snake, but setting up interviews with biologists, DNR employees, Conservation Officers, and many other people to put together this 10-12 minute documentary.

Topics will include natural history, biology, and, of course, human interaction both historically and currently.


Phase one - script writing. I'll try to keep the blog updated with my progress.