Katie Garrettis a London - based theatre director and manufacturer of natural history films with a riches of experience behind the television camera . Past projects have included works for National Geographic , Science Friday , Geographical Magazine ( of the Royal Geographical Society ) , bioGraphic , and 60 Second Docs . Although she co - founded avideo output company , Garretthad no premature stately filmmaking experience but , as she tells us , there ’s more than one way to make it into science filmmaking if you ’re willing to take a few roundabout way .
What do you do ?
I am a science film maker and video journalist .
What did it take to get here ?
It was definitely quite a tortuous road ! I never in reality studied filmmaking officially , aside from get a line how to use an SLR photographic camera at college . I studied Natural Sciences at university and went on to become a research assistant , working at the Natural History Museum . After three years work there , I got the sentience that academia was n’t for me , and then my pal suggested take some meter out to travel and take a documentary together . We raise some fund and spent a class take in Central America and teaching ourselves how to edit . I loved it .
When we retort , we rig up a video production business concern together in London and freelance in every field you may imagine . We made videos for schooling , theater troupe , bank , charities , circle , ice cream parlours , you name it ! It really make grow my creativeness as a filmmaker , but eventually I feel like I really should be using my preparation as a scientist in my work . Plus , I really missed being in the field !
I have always loved frogs , so I resolve to approach an amphibious conservation projection out of the blue and extend to make a pic about their work . It really opened doors for me and my career develop off the back of that . But it also gave me a fiancé – I ’m now pursue to the director of that organisation !
envisage you ’ve met yourself as a teenager at a careers fair : How would you draw what you do to your former self ?
I think if I approached myself as a teen and enjoin “ hey , you’re able to essentially make films about amphibians for a living ” I would ’ve lost my s**t ! But I would also have to explain that being a freelance is as much about finding piece of work as it is doing it . Much of my time and vigour is spend looking for scientist with stories interesting enough to hook the medium , and then test to sway way out to fund them . I try as heavily as I can to make films about thing that are really important to me ( frogs ) , but I have also found my science - pose applicable to a diversity of scientific and environmental issue I might never have earlier consider . I ’ve made films about sustainability in coffee , unisexual salamanders , the hydrology of Mexico City , even a cleaning lady making apparel out of human hair’s-breadth !
What ’s the most uncouth misconception about your line of study ?
When people learn about what I do they often recall of a BBC camera individual spend month in a hide , watching a vole or a penguin or something . But my body of work is primarily online , and online medium is a constantly shifting entity . My employment comes from all over the billet and can look very different at different times . The caprice of the public and the influence of social medium ( not to mention pandemics ) signify that outlets change what they ’re looking for all the time . Sometimes I imagine even I do n’t understand my own diligence ! It takes a lot of ingenuity to discover your recess , and you have to be able to think outside the boxwood and adapt .
Proudest moment on the job ?
Some of the footage that I ’m proudest of capturing has quite a odd story behind it . I recently worked on a serial aboutwomen in sciencefor the Science Friday Initiative , and one of my episodes focalize on a woman who works with slime modeling . These are unicellular organisms , hopeful yellow blob , that move implausibly slow . so as to film them you have to apply prison term - backsliding picture taking , and it can take up to 48 hours to get just one shot !
I only had four days with her , and I urgently need more footage of these astonishing being , but then COVID-19 remove and made travel impossible . She propose sending me one in the mail . It arrived looking a flake dishevelled , but she texted me instructions to resurrect it and take care after it and I spend the following calendar month tending to my little slime mold and filming it in a cupboard in my bathroom !
Memorable trip-up on the job ?
Misstep is definitely the parole ! While film in Honduras with my better half ( Jonathan Kolby ) and a sound artist ( Ben Mirin ) , we drop a heap of prison term hiking the lead looking for frogs . One Clarence Shepard Day Jr. , as we were walking unmarried file , we take heed a outcry from Jon at the back of the line . We turned around to see him betoken at something unripe on the track in between us . It was a brightgreen fossa - viper ! Ben and I had both manage to step over it without noticing . Jon just had his head in his custody like “ guys , we ’re in the jungle watch where you tread ” . It did make for some beautiful footage though .
Also , there was that fourth dimension I got on a plane to Burundi with just a letter from the chief of police and a gossip from my employer saying they should permit you in … I made it in the end , but it was not a fun day .
What do you never leave the house without ?
I suppose it ’s unsurprising that I never leave for a job without my camera . I always journey light and value tractableness and approachability over having a lot of outfit , so often it is literally just me and my tv camera . I used to take it with me everywhere , on every hike , even in the garden . But these day I ’m find that it ’s o.k. to from time to time just leave the photographic camera at home . It can become a bit of an obsession trying to capture the knockout you see around you , rather than just appreciating it . I cogitate I ’m learning that sometimes it is good to forget the camera , and phone , and just love being in nature .
What ’s one piece of advice you ’d give to someone desire to embark on the same career ?
The first affair I always say to people is : just have a go . It sounds obvious but I get so many requests for advice from people who say they want to make infotainment but have never made more than an Instagram fib . If you ’re passionate about it just mess around , experiment with it and do n’t be frightened of make something rubbish . you’re able to see anything online these days and with just a phone and free software you’re able to make a fantastic film . Remember it is ultimately an art , even the narrative aspect , and the only way to grow your style and instinct for it is to do it , again and again and again .
