Herping With Dylan: homebrew nature doc

February 20th, 2009

Some time ago I came across this short video showing an enthusiastic young man and a den of poisonous Brown Recluse spiders.  It was a charming video, and I took it as a one-off, so it’s my great pleasure to discover that it’s just one of a huge cache of nature-doc videos put together by Amanda Stueckel and Dylan Cebulske, under the title Herping With Dylan.  Here’s  their re-worked version of the aforementioned spider video:

Seeing the team in action, it’s not difficult to say what’s great about these videos: it’s everything!  Dylan is an engaging, informed, and animated host; Amanda’s direction and photography is superb.  But what really draws me in is the unbridled passion of two young people for their project.  At first I was worried by the sight of Dylan casually handling venomous serpents, but then I realised that this boy knows what he’s doing.  How well does he know what he’s doing?  Well enough to handle venomous serpents, that’s how.  Did I mention how much Dylan loves cotton-mouths?  That guy frickin’ loves cotton-mouths.

Even with millions of dollars of production money, exotic locations and incredible photography of rare beasts, it’s enthusiasm that sells a documentary to the audience and that’s something Amanda and Dylan have in spades.  I’d much rather watch this than a lot of the animal documentaries on air.

It’s incredible to think that less than five years ago this wouldn’t have been possible, but the availability of cheap hardware and a free distribution means that entrepreneurial young talent like Amanda and Dylan don’t have to wait for some network to discover them – they can set about making entertaining TV in their own backyard.  That’s not to say I don’t wish them the best – hopefully soon their videos will catch the attenton of some TV execs and the pair can share their love of all things creepy and crawly with an even bigger audience

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