Spend the week documenting Maine’s beautiful natural scenery with accomplished cinematographer Mauricio Handler (National Geographic, Netflix, BBC, CNN). Learn field techniques to produce beautiful motion sequences using RED cinema cameras.

Dates:
Jun 24, 2024 - Jun 28, 2024

Levels: Beginner, Intermediate,
Workshop Fee: $1595
Workshop Duration: 1-week (Monday-Friday)
Workshop Location: On-campus
Class Size: 8

Maine mountains in fall - by Mauricio Handler
Take field trips, exploring Maine while capturing the beauty of its colors. Photo by Mauricio Handler.

Spend the week documenting the beautiful natural scenery of Midcoast Maine with natural history documentary Producer, Director of Photography, and Cinematographer Mauricio Handler. Students will embark on field trips within the coastal landscapes, forests, mountains, and rivers!

Following brief initial lectures, the bulk of the workshop will be spent working hands-on in natural environments using professional digital cinema cameras. From wide landscapes to macro close-up, you will learn how to document scenes using an array of field techniques including high speed and time-lapse.

Maine river in fall - by Mauricio Handler
Photo by Mauricio Handler.
Dog diving into the water in fall - by Mauricio Handler
Photo by Mauricio Handler.

As this course will be shot entirely using natural lighting, you’ll learn to ‘find the light’ in your natural environment and produce the highest quality cinematic visuals. We will also dedicate time to digital workflow and best practices for processing the footage you shoot.

Maine Wild - Short Sizzle placeholder

Mauricio knows how to capture Maine. He was Executive Producer, Director / Director of Photography for ‘Maine Wild’, an Ultra High Definition natural history documentary filmed entirely in the state of Maine. This one-hour pilot aims to bring to the national screen a blue chip documentary comprised of a series of short stories on species that inhabit the many ecosystems within the state of Maine, both on land and underwater. 

Meet your instructor, Mauricio Handler:

Mauricio Handler - Profile Picture

Mauricio Handler is a natural history documentary Producer, Director of Photography, and Cinematographer. Since the launch of his Maine-based production company Aquaterrafilms in 2012, Mauricio has created hard-to-get sequences for the top players in today’s broadcast world including Wildspace, ZDF/ARTE, Netflix, BBC, and BBC Science, Rolex, National Geographic, Curiosity Stream, ESPN, and CNN. 

Although an underwater specialist, he has worked extensively on land using the latest tech probe to super long lenses. He incorporates drones, sliders, and lights, as well as underwater scooters and re-breathers to help him bring a cinematic look and feel to all of his productions.

Mauricio Handler - Underwater and on land

Over the past five years, Mauricio has Executive Produced and Produced his own films including the mini-series, World of Oceans and Ocean Secrets as well as The Humboldt Current (Curiosity Stream / Off the Fence).

Mauricio Handler - Documentary posters

His latest work as underwater DP and self-shooter recently aired on the CNN Original Series, Patagonia: Life on the Edge of the World, CNN’s first commission into the natural history genre, produced by the UK company, Plimsol. 

He is a long-time RED Camera adopter who pushes his RED 6k Dragons into the extreme environments above and below the water around the world. 

Mauricio first started teaching this workshop at Maine Media in 2014. He lives in Maine with his wife and business partner Julia and their dog Tristan.

Header image by Douglas Dunlap.

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