Expedition Chesapeake

DNP STUDIOS WORKING TO SAVE A NATIONAL TREASURE
Using the Power of Large Format Film to Inspire Safeguarding Chesapeake Bay Watershed

Orlando, FL —— April 19, 2011——DNP Studios will be producing a Large Format Film intended to inspire the millions of Chesapeake Bay residents to safeguard the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. In collaboration with Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts, and Trinity Group, DNP Studios will bring the power of Big Cinema to shine a life-altering light on the watershed. Expedition Chesapeake a multi-media educational and entertainment experience will be anchored by DNP Studios’ Giant Screen Film, which is designed to educate and encourage all to become more aware of this national treasure.

The project will result in four related products that will be headlined by DNP Studios’ 42-minute documentary. “We are in the heart of the Chesapeake Bay watershed, and this initiative cuts to our core mission – to educate citizens, especially students, about the world around us. Our goal is to educate and inspire the 17 million residents of this watershed so we can all become better stewards of this national treasure,” said Dr. Michael Hanes, President and CEO of Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts. “We are proud of the work we have done in preparation for this launch and look forward to working with our many partners as we continue to develop this project. We’ve attracted an enormous wealth of talent and expertise which will result in the creation of a world-class product.”

“For maximum impact, the film will aim to trace the pollution-plagued path of water from the upper-most headwaters of the watershed to the shellfish-rich bay” stated Sandra Thrift, Vice President Creative Services DNP Studios. “We want to show how water starts in the valley and its journey all the way to the bay, and how it’s affected along the way,”

The Chesapeake Bay watershed is the largest estuary in the United States and covers 64,000 square miles in New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Delaware and Washington, D.C. Expedition Chesapeake will share the lives of real people making a difference. “Large Format has been delivering an inside look at important issues for many years now; however, Whitaker Center’s approach to take what we bring to life on the giant screen and deliver it directly into the classroom and begin a serious conversation with residents is really cool. We are very proud to be part of this innovative project”, stated David Nixon, President DNP Studios.

Dr. Patricia Vathis, Environment and Ecology Curriculum Advisor for the Pennsylvania Department of Education, said “The learning experiences being developed through Expedition Chesapeake are an exciting way to bring environmental education into the 21st century. To truly comprehend this watershed you must understand its issues and how they relate to the people in each of the six states. Our goal is to provide the appropriate tools for the classroom in order for that to happen. By integrating the teaching standards established by the Department of Education with interactive, educational tools for students, we now have a powerful combination that allows us to have a positive impact for years to come.”

“There’s no better way to portray the beauty of the Chesapeake Bay and the impact that ignoring this issue will have on its longevity. Giant Screen Films is optimum to drive this point home”, said Nixon.

About DNP Studios

Film and video production & post-production company founded in Florida over 25 years ago. Diverse roster of clients including Walt Disney World Resort, Lockheed Martin Corporation, CHEP, Chris-Craft, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute. Manages projects throughout the US and around the world with a staff comprised of feature film Directors, Producers, Creative Directors, and Post Production team. Capabilities consist of concept development, scriptwriting, production management, on-location and studio shooting and directing, filming with the RED Digital Cinema & Panasonic VariCam HD cameras, Pro35 & Panavision lenses, custom music, computer animation and special effects. Audio studios for narration recording, DVD authoring. Portfolio contains award-winning national and regional television commercials; corporate image and training videos; capital campaign and foundation films; promotional and sales videos, music videos, short films, documentaries and full length feature films. For additional information about DNP Studios, please visit, www.dnpstudios.com

About Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts

Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts is a leading non-profit educational and cultural organization based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Harsco Science Center, housed in Whitaker Center, is a 22,500 square foot, hands-on interactive learning environment. State-of-the-art learning experiences for approximately 100,000 visitors to Harsco Science Center each year, innovative learning experiences for all ages providing the basis for creative professional development opportunities for pre-school through high school educators to improve science education in the region.

About Chesapeake Bay Watershed Program

Effort to save 64,000 square miles with 11,600 miles of tidal shoreline, including tidal wetlands and islands. The watershed encompasses parts of six states. Approximately 17 million people live in the watershed; about 10 million people live along its shores or near them.

The Go-Pro by HERO

I want to tell you about a fun little product that we’ve been using called the GoPro Camera, you’ve probably seen this. It’s just amazing! We’ve been using it on a lot of our shoots and it’s an actual little camera that shoots hi-def video, and it’s this little thing. But in this little package you can shoot full 1080p hi-def video and the beauty is, you can mount this anywhere. It’s in this underwater housing so it will go down 180 feet underwater, and it has all these crazy connections that you can mount it. We’ve just finished a couple of shoots with it because you’re always looking for new ways to tell a story, different angles you can get, and radical photography, and this camera is just amazing.

We just did a shoot on an airboat where we had this on the end of a 20 foot pole. As we were going along, airboat to airboat at about 40 mph, we could hang this out over the other boat. It has a radically wide-angle lens we utilized for some amazing shoots. We actually had the camera in the spray of the water coming from the airboat, pulled it out of the spray and came over the top of the boat, and the footage was just amazing. This camera never ceases to amaze me how great it is. It’s so cheap, about $300 and you can get great hi-def footage.

We were just up in Lancaster, PA on a farm, where we mounted the camera down underneath the wheels of the tractor, in the planter, so you can see all the wheels turning and the slicing as its planting the field. We are able to mount the camera where you would never put a very high-end, expensive camera, but this tiny camera you can put anywhere. I’ve seen shows recently, a car show, where they put five or six of these in different places on the car, and drive the car at 100 mph to get amazing photography.

This is the GoPro Camera. Not only does it shoot 1080p, but it shoots at 60 fps, and also at 720p at 60 fps, so you can do slow motion of water or anywhere you have high speed action going on. It also shoots stills and time-lapse photography and works off a simple SD Card that you can plug right into your computer.

This is a cool little device that we have been using recently to get some unusual photography.

GoPro

Pawdcast 01: “GoPro Camera” with David Nixon from DNP Studios on Vimeo.