Spyverius Productions

Co-Founders: Chance & Josh Established: 1999: 6 & 7 years old First project: Hawk #693
Host & Scripts: Chance
Camera & Post-Production: Josh Funding: Odd jobs, Grants & Dad Best Part of the job: Taping Animals in their natural habitats Worst Part: Running out of light, editing and forgetting lines.
Greatest Obstacle: Adults who don’t understand what we are trying to do.
Greatest Advocates Adults who DO understand what we are trying to do.
Camera: Canon Elura DV
Editing: Powerbook G4 & iMovie

Current Events:
school stuff:
It’s weird but Josh and I go to different schools now. He goes to a magnet school that is for digital/cyber-type kids. He gets a lot of experience with multi-media communication there. I started going to this intense prep-school downtown. It is small and keeps me focused on academics and scientific exploration. Both of our schools should benefit Spyverius Productions in the future, but right now we are taking a break from video work except public speaking things.

Taping:
There’s not enough time for Spyverius Productions to produce tapes during the school year so we do most stuff in the Summer. The exception is when I am speaking at outdoor classrooms.

We walk the talk..sometimes we run!
Spyverius Productions is our own wildlife video production company. Basically, we pick an animal or an environmental topic and we start planning things out. I do the research and write the script (I get help getting it all organized). Josh runs the camera and does most of the post production work. In the middle of all that, we work small jobs or schmooz Mom to earn the money for travel, video tape, postage or w/e. Once we are done, we make copies and send them out. It’s pretty simple and cool to be the ones to decide what’s next. We see a lot of things other kids never see.

We have covered eagle surgeries, hawk rescues, ecological mysteries, press conferences, movie premiers, wild animals in the sky, in the water and of course, on the land.

Why do we do it? Cuz I think that if we show how cool an animal is, then we can make a case for why everyone should respect it and it’s habitat. Pretty simple.

Yes, we have been chased by animals and I don’t recommend it You’re OK if you can run faster than the slowest person in the group. (Usually your Mom. Hahahaha jk jk Mom.)

Yup. We’ve ruined more than one camera (we buy a warranty) The truth is that what we do isn’t exactly safe. Waves have nearly smashed our boat into rocks while we were filming. We have fallen in, slipped down, tripped over and dragged through just about anything you can think of. Our parents weren’t too happy when we had to jump from one cliff to another over a frozen section of the Rio Grande, in the New Mexico mountains. We’ve had serious moments of danger that most parents wouldn’t go for, but I’ve only had to be officially rescued twice, and Josh has never had to be rescued.

All this is to say that doing exactly what we do might not be for everyone because a lot of stuff can go wrong. But there’s a lot to be said for getting out in nature and trying to tape what surrounds you so you can see it someday when it’s not here anymore. Get help from a good adult who can rent stuff like a boat, a kayak, scuba gear or other equipment you need or just stay close to home and study what’s around you.

Go to the Tracks Page

Current Videos:
As usual, we are always limited in how many tapes and DVDs we can make. We hand them out to friends and family first and then whatever is left we give out online.
We are currently all out of our latest video, RAPTORS. If we get more, I will announce it here. BTW Raptors was one of 5 films selected to be shown at the International Falconry Fair in England this year. BAM.

All of our videos are Free of course.

Raptors: Flying Eyes OUT
Seals, Sea Lions and Sirenians OUT
Batty for Bats: The World’s First Chiroptorium OUT
Barn Owls OUT
Creepy Critters of Texas OUT
When WE Grow Up (lecture) OUT
We Are All Connected (monologue) OUT
H.I.P.P.O (lecture) OUT
Don’t be B-L-U-E (lecture) OUT
Interview with Robert Kennedy OUT
Interview with Jane Goodall OUT
Building the F-U-T-U-R-E (lecture for adults) 2006 version OUT
The Mystery of the Catalina Fox (lecture for kids)
2008 version is almost out.

What’s Going on Now?
We just replaced our camera again. Warranties rock.

We are also trying to convince our dad to help us get Apple’s “Final Cut Studio” software for editing. (Dad’s dragging his feet at the price...anyone wanna donate it?) hahaha We got it!

Just did a video at Busch Gardens with Julie Scardena and Jack Hanna. Ya they are Conservation beasts!

This summer Josh and went to the British Virgin Islands with SeaTrek to trap and tag sea turtles and to earn more advanced scuba and Keelboat certifications. We are scheduled to return to diving in June and July next year. I’ll be diving in the Bahamas, and he’ll be earning his master diver certification in the BVI.

We have 14 presentations scheduled for Next month

We are talking about doing some work with Mission Playground this year, which really excites me.

Hopefully we can go to Mexico again next summer to help out some churches with our youth group.

There is some media stuff that we aren’t quite ready to announce yet..but it’s kind of exciting, and will promote the mission in ways we never hoped. :D