Northumberland wildlife captured on film

Will Nicholls is a young cameraman based in Northumberland with a passion for his local wildlife.

His latest project is a ten minute film which has taken the schoolboy over eight months to complete and features some very rare footage of a red squirrel and a pheasant in a stand-off argument.

[vsw id=”vAwfWaj_TWo” source=”youtube” width=”560″ height=”315″ autoplay=”no”]Following a move to Northumberland in 2006, Will soon noticed the wildlife on his doorstep and began capturing them on film.  As with many filmmakers, he started with still images but quickly moved on to video and the moving image.

Currently in 6th form and taking biology, chemistry, psychology and geography for ‘A’ Level,s he hopes to go on to study zoology at Bristol university.

Funding for his hobby comes from selling still photographs at various shows. This allows him to buy new cameras and equipment which, he says will lead to him following in the footsteps of Sir David Attenborough and Steve Backshall.

“Since I have developed such a strong interest in the planet’s diversity, I am hoping to become a broadcasting naturalist.

“I do a lot of things to try and make myself stand out from the crowd, and one of these is to make wildlife documentaries of my own.”

Nature documentary

Studying for crucial ‘A’ levels does not leave Will much time for film making.

“With waiting times of around five hours a day in hides, sometimes with no success, it isn’t surprising that it took so long!

“I produced and edited the video as I went along, gradually adding more clips to it.

“Once all the footage was in place, I voiced over the documentary and made any last minute adjustments.”

Planning and knowing the subject is key to many of the shots used in the documentary film. Will says that the images of the red squirrels were taken from a hide he has worked on for over five years.

For Will, the dream is be to become a naturalist, travelling the world. He said: “My future aspirations are to become a broadcasting TV naturalist. I really want to see all of the corners of the planet!”

Kit used

The camera used for the video is a Panasonic HDC-SD600. Canopus Edius Neo 3 is used in the edit. Music is royalty free from Jamendo.com.

Higher end kit is used for the still image work that Will produces, including a Nikon D700 and a main Nikon 200-400mm f/4G VR II lens.