What I did this summer Connecticut’s young adults go globe trotting

Ari Jacobson, West Hartford

Byron Glacier, Alaska

Ari Jacobson, 19, is a graduate of Hall High School in West Hartford and now attends American University. This month, he spent a week in Alaska as part of “Extreme HD Alaska,” a three-week immersive “Classroom in the Wild” filmmaking course offered by the American University School of Communication’s Center for Environmental Filmmaking. Together with four fellow undergraduates and five graduate students, Jacobson learned high-definition filmmaking skills under challenging environmental and expeditionary conditions in Alaska.

The first few days were classroom sessions where we went over topics including aircraft egress, bear encounters, and ascending and descending rock. Most sessions were followed by a hands-on training session. For instance, after we had a classroom session on underwater aircraft egress, we were brought to a pool, put in a cage that was supposed to mimic the inside of a cockpit, and rolled into the pool to put our training to test. We were able to go rock-climbing with cameras and learned how to tie ourselves off in order to film while suspended.

Some of the most valuable lessons we learned were about how to take care of our equipment in such extreme conditions. This was put to the test when we were filming on the Byron Glacier as rain swirled around us. I had to use Styrofoam and duct tape to make an enclosure for my camera, which proved useful on the rocks as well.

There were quite a few frightening experiences. Most things we did were frightening in some respect. The underwater aircraft egress training gave most of us a scare the first time we tried it; it can be very nerve-wracking being strapped in a cage and thrown head first into a pool of water. No matter how many times we practiced above water, it was extremely disorienting when we were thrown in the pool. Another experience that was frightening was rappelling off of rock faces. We had to learn to tie figure-eight knots so that we could suspend ourselves and film or take photos at the same time.

Ari Jacobson

Our main film project in Alaska was an instructional and promotional video for Learn To Return (LTR), the survival company we were being trained through. We filmed a few different scenes for them that would showcase their training programs as being “the best around.” We are also planning on editing a few other projects from all the footage we took – about a terabyte! – including a video that we will submit to the “video of the day” feature on GoPro, [a manufacturer of film equipment for outdoor, action, and “extreme” conditions], and a scenic and/or environmental piece. We are also allowed to take the footage and edit it into whatever we want.

So now that we are back in D.C., our work has only just begun, as we have just completed tagging and organizing all of our footage. We have a presentation on Nov. 6th where we will present our experience and work to friends, family, and the AU community through the Center for Environmental Filmmaking.

The course only confirmed for me that expedition and adventure film-making is what I want to be doing, at least in the immediate future. I love the outdoors, traveling, and film-making so it’s the perfect job for me.

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