Broadcast faculty enters high-definition world

By Christine Tutty
J-School Web Reporter

photo by Luke George

Adjunct instructor John Twiggs puts together a rough cut of documentary footage that will be processed in either Seattle or Denver. The high-definition documentary is projected to air in fall 2005.

The story of Evelyn Cameron, a photographer who left behind diaries and photographs as a “home video” of turn-of-the-century pioneer life, will be the first high-definition documentary for Montana PBS.

John Twiggs, Ray Ekness, and Gus Chambers of the J-School’s broadcast faculty and former graduate student Alison Perkins are writing, shooting, producing, and directing the documentary, which will air next fall.

There are several differences between standard and high definition. One of the more obvious differences is the size and number of lines in the screen. A standard television is four units wide by three units high and contains 525 lines. A high-definition television, HDTV, is 16 units wide by nine units high and contains 1,080 lines, or almost double a standard.

Twiggs decided to make the documentary in high definition for a couple of reasons. First, the technology is clear, crisp and vivid, and he wanted to portray the clarity of Cameron’s photos. The second reason was that the filming would be done in eastern Montana.

"If there was ever a landscape built for wide screen, it is eastern Montana,” Twiggs said.

Because high definition is a relatively new technology, Montana PBS does not own any HD equipment. The crew is renting an equipment package that includes a camera, tripod, monitor, and battery from a Seattle company for about $2,000, but they can rent some parts locally in the state.

Twiggs said it forced the crew to have scripts and shots more planned out. Every script is thoroughly critiqued before any shooting begins.

While local Missoula stations like KPAX and KECI have both tried the high definition, HD, they just can’t afford the new technology right now.

“The economics hasn’t caught up to the quality,” Twiggs said. But high definition has a clarity and vividness “that you just don’t get anywhere else.”

The story idea for the documentary came from another PBS show called “Backroads of Montana.” In 1996 the show featured a story about a woman who had photographed Montana in the pioneer days. Evelyn Cameron (1868-1928) was from England. She and her husband, Ewen, moved to eastern Montana in 1889. Their goal was to have a ranch to raise polo ponies for export to England. When that business failed, they tried a lot of other things.

Eventually, Evelyn Cameron started her own photography service. Although a few different types of cameras were available, she decided to operate with an old glass plate camera, which took very clear, detailed photographs.

“She was very representative of a lot of women,” Twiggs said. “That rough, that resourceful and reveled in the challenge to survive.”

The types of pictures Cameron took were unique. It was rare to see photographers in the field, especially taking pictures with a glass plate, but Cameron was there. She took photos of people out working: women out on the ranch; people thrashing wheat, shearing sheep and pushing cattle. People in that era were fascinated with the West and the people living in it.

Janet Williams, one of Cameron’s friends, inherited some of her possessions, including her photos. Williams had the photos for about 60 years, when she finally let author Donna Lucy, look at them. Lucy wrote the book “Photographing Montana, 1894-1928, The Life and Work of Evelyn Cameron.”

Cameron’s photos and story made an interesting episode of “Backroads of Montana,” but Twiggs was amazed no one had done a documentary on her. In 2001, he called Lucy to pitch the idea of a documentary about Cameron and wanted to know if Lucy would support the idea.

Twiggs began researching the documentary and knew he had a lot of information to work with on the film.

“That many tangible pieces of history is so rare,” he said.

He was referring to the almost 2,000 photos Cameron had taken, and the 35 years worth of diaries she kept. One of Williams’ nieces in California has a rifle that belonged to the Camerons, so the crew went to California to see it, and the niece let them borrow it for the hunting scene.

Not everything was wine and roses for the crew. Most of filming was done in Terry, Mont., a remote location about 40 miles east of Miles City. Several ranches around Terry were also used for shooting, and getting to some of the locations required a four-wheel-drive vehicle.

"We’ve redefined the middle of nowhere,” Twiggs laughed.

When they filmed the opening scene south of Terry, something happened to the crew. Twiggs calls the shoot the “Disease Trip.” Five horses and four people were in the scene, along with authentic props – including the original gun — and a lot of people from the area who just wanted to watch.

A stomach virus or food poisoning went through camp. Twiggs and Perkins got sick, began vomiting and ended up in the emergency room.

With his two partners ill, Chambers kept shooting because the travel and equipment is so expensive, it costs too much to stop filming. He got sick about three days later.

"Not a good week,” Twiggs said with a smile. “Not the glamorous part they promised us.”

After the“Disease Trip,” the definition of a good shooting trip changed.

"Any shoot where we didn’t get sick,” Twiggs said, “We always consider that a big, big bonus now.”

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