(Manassas, VA) - In a new documentary titled Who’s Protecting Our National Bird? a resilient pair of bald eagles tries to hold on to their habitat in Manassas, Virginia—located 32 miles from the nation’s capital—in the wake of increasing encroachment from developers. The only pair of eagles in the city limits had lived a somewhat peaceful existence at the edge of a historic Manassas Battlefield park before backhoes first arrived in 2015 to dig utility trenches just 300 feet away. Sixteen months later, developers ripped up the entire field directly in front of the nest to build two mixed-used warehouses. The eagles must now attempt to raise young while 18-wheelers zigzag around the back of the buildings just feet from the nest tree.
But Manassas residents are not alone in their quest to protect our nation’s bird. As the film reveals, concerned citizens across the country are attempting to mitigate these disturbances by challenging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) for not providing the birds with adequate protections and enforcing the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act. From Colorado to Virginia to Florida, the battle plays out over and over again: developers come in, citizens protest with signs, city council meetings, and sometimes, lawsuits—but USFWS routinely favors on the side of the developers.
This all began back in 2007, when then Department of Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne removed the bald eagle from the Endangered Species List during a ceremony on the National Mall. Since then, the once-required 660-foot and 330-foot buffer restrictions for building construction have been relegated to guidelines. Builders are still required to obtain an Eagle Take Permit if their work would breach those buffers and could possibly disturb the eagles, but in the case of the Manassas eagles, no such permit was issued during construction.
In the film, the Manassas eagles face another blow. Their main feeding habitat, a pond just half a mile away from the nest, soon becomes the target of another development—a $250 million retail and housing project known as The Gateway Project. Viewers will watch as both habitats wane away over three years, with shocked residents desperately trying to make a positive difference in the eagles’ lives.
Filmmaker Victor Rook, whose other nature film, Beyond the Garden Gate, aired on PBS and won two Telly awards, describes why he produced the film. “I had never seen a bald eagle in the wild until I was 51. That’s over half a century. Though eagles are making a comeback, they still face challenges with habitat loss. To see our Manassas City representatives stand by and allow this to happen in the name of ‘economic development’ didn’t sit right with me. I knew this had to be exposed and documented, especially when I found out this is happening all over our country.”
The film also touches on the threat of lead poisoning, when eagles die from consuming gut piles contaminated with lead bullet fragments left behind by hunters.
For more information on the documentary, visit the official website at http://baldeaglefilm.com.
Editing is hard work. Even if you’re editing a linear documentary—a film that flows as it happened—you still have to make difficult choices. Just because you follow a timeline doesn’t make the process any simpler. Well, maybe a little.
1. The building progression. This includes the warehouses directly in front of the nest and the Gateway Project surrounding the eagles’ feeding pond.
2. The eagles. People would be most interested in, I would assume, how our Manassas eagles fared with the construction. This would include roosting, nest building, mating, egg laying, egg hatching, feeding, and fledging. All these activities were met with some form of disturbance.
3. Our advocacy. Interwoven with the above were our advocacy steps. This would include documenting the eagles on video, interviewing concerned citizens, posting flyers, the City Council meeting, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, the lawsuit, and corresponding with the City of Manassas, FWS, and VDGIF. The timing of these with the above is crucial in presenting an accurate picture of what transpired.
Filming with the super-zoom camera in the hatch.
So I went about weaving these three strings together as best I could over the past 16 months. I had a ton of footage to choose from. I was out filming at least 3-4 days a week so I’d have plenty of eagle shots, building shots, peoples’ reactions, and B-roll (nature, football games, downtown events, etc.). Even while editing I’ve had to keep the camera rolling in case the situation changed for the eagles. And it did for the 2018 breeding season.
But I also needed to take the viewer away from the immediate zone—the warehouses and the nest area—and provide a bit of “construction relief.” So within the documentary are pieces on eagle protection laws, eagle symbolism (which includes a tattoo parlor), Manassas itself, other eagle advocacy fights around the U.S., and a piece on lead poisoning.
A few days ago, after three months of making some important tweaks to the film—most notably how the separate pieces flow together—I gave the entire film another look. But this time I chose to keep the sound off. I know I’ll be rereading the entire narration again, and I didn’t want to listen to mismatched voiceover recorded at separate times with my voice sounding a bit different each time. It can be distracting. Luckily, I could hear the words in my head while watching. They sort of embed themselves in there.
Manassas Boy Scouts speak on behalf of the eagles.
One of my concerns was the number of times I faded down and up from black. This is typically reserved for important scene endings. For instance, the end of the City Council meeting. People get pretty passionate in that piece, and after four minutes I felt it best to slowly fade to black at the end. It then fades up to an eagle hopping around and picking up grass in a field, and the beginning of fall with wind gently blowing through colored leaves. This 20-second gap gives the viewer a moment to absorb one of the film’s climaxes, and allows for a passage of time. In other areas I changed some black fades to slow dissolves. There are even two white fades in the film.
The problem that still confronts me is what, if anything, I need to cut from the film. It currently clocks in at 1 hour 56 minutes, which is fine for DVD or online viewing. Most film festivals want a shorter version, like around 1 hour 35 minutes. So the challenge is removing 21 minutes while keeping the story in tact.
Two pieces, “Encroachment” and “The People Circus,” can be removed from the film without changing the story. However, they provide the best emotional drama of the film. Encroachment shows the effects of the development on other wildlife, and The People Circus emphatically showcases the effects of people on the eagles. That piece alone is seven minutes, though it also includes an offshoot to the Occoquan Wildlife Refuge and how those eagles are protected with barriers and signs. I guess I just talked myself out of removing that piece. It’s pretty important.
Lone adult watches the sunset before returning to the nest.
Last night I decided to score, from 1 to 5, each of the 47 pieces by two criteria: the importance of the piece to the overall story, and the emotional drama contained within the piece. Adding those two figures up gave me a few 6s and one 7 out of 10. So I will look closely at shortening or removing those pieces altogether.
Ultimately, the decision on what more to remove will come down to what initial viewers like and dislike the most. Until then I will hack away as much as I can—like using a fine chisel—and see how the story takes shape.
To watch the video trailer for this documentary and make a contribution, visit our GoFundMe page. We appreciate your support! Vic
Tonight an impassioned group of residents loaded with data addressed the Cape Coral City Council in an attempt to maintain the city's unique 1100-foot construction buffer for eagle nests. And they won. By a vote of 7-1, their city representatives voted NOT to change their ordinance to the federal guideline of 660 feet.
Last ten minutes and vote of the June 4, 2018 Cape Coral City Council Meeting
Cape Coral is not only the fastest growing city in the country right now, but they are also steadfast eagle lovers. Many spoke about how the eagles are a major draw to their community. And that draw brings in revenue. There are 10 nests in the city, with 7-8 nests currently active. One resident pointed out that there has been a decrease in the number of nests in surrounding cities that only adhere to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife guidelines.
As you may know, the City of Manassas not only allowed construction deep within the 660-foot buffer, as in five feet from the nesting tree, but they still have not put into place any eagle-specific signs on the warehouse or park property to protect the eagles from disturbing onlookers. In our upcoming documentary, Who's Protecting Our National Bird? you will see the egregious attempts by the city, the developers, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to circumvent protections for our eagles, and to be honest with the citizens. In one of many emails obtained by the Freedom of Information Act, City of Manassas Community Development Director Liz Via-Gossman chastises the warehouse developer, Pruitt Corporation, for clearing and grading before the recommended August 1 start date. But the message to the media and to the public by the city was that the land owner was following all local, state, and federal guidelines and permits. False.
Dead eagle located two miles from the Manassas eagle nest.
On the bright side, the ignorance of some of our Manassas representatives may have helped tonight's vote in Cape Coral. Last week I shared our film's trailer with the mayor of Cape Coral and their council members, along with other detailed information. In tonight's discussion Mayor Coviello brought up the need to consider the area surrounding the nest where the eagles feed, something I also mentioned in an email sent today. In the past, our eagles could dip down below the nest to pick up a squirrel or rabbit or snake. There are pictures of that before the warehouses were built. Now what they have below them is asphalt. That means they must travel farther for food, which puts them in jeopardy of getting hit by cars or trains. Just two miles from the nest we discovered a dead adult eagle along the tracks last December. The consequences of habitat loss are real.
If you would like to make a donation to our documentary so it can help other cities make the right choice when it comes to our National Bird, you can do so at https://www.gofundme.com/bald-eagle-preservation-documentary. Your name will be included within the credits. We appreciate your support!
I am currently in the process of editing a documentary on what happened to a pair of bald eagles in Manassas, Virginia, which will also include the plight of other eagles around the country. As predicted by biologists and conservationists after the eagles recovered from the scourge of DDT, habitat loss would be the next big issue. And we see it front and center in many communities today. Landowners are selling off unspoiled woods and grasslands at record rate without much concern for what it will do to the surrounding ecosystems. At some point, my hope is, they’ll realize that enough is enough. But that’s a focus for another blog post. In this post I will discuss how to build a documentary, as well as a few different types of documentary styles.
Expository Documentaries
These are the most common in which the filmmakers and narrator have separated themselves from the content; they are only there to film it and tell the story. Think of March of the Penguins or any Ken Burns film.
Participatory Documentaries
This means exactly as it sounds. The filmmaker, who can also be the narrator, has participated in the story. You may hear him or her asking questions to the people interviewed. If they also become the narrator, they can give the piece a more personable feel. You are no longer a fly on the wall; you are allowed to feel the emotional state of the filmmaker at various points. Think of Michael Moore documentaries.
There are also other styles of documentary: Poetic, Reflexive, Performative, Observational. Some have overlapping similarities. There are also documentaries where the narration is made up of only the subjects themselves. Search out Trophy Kids on Netflix. In this film parents and coaches forcing kids to excel in various sporting activities provide all the narration. They talk about what drives them to push their kids, and you also see them "in the moment" egging on their young prodigies. How the filmmaker was able to capture a father belittling his son for five minutes at the beginning of the documentary is beyond me. I’m guessing they spliced together the most shocking moments over that one day.
In any event, you have to decide what category your documentary fits into. And this was part of my original struggle. I knew I fully participated in the documentary. It’s my voice you hear when interviewing subjects, and there are several pieces where I directly address the camera. I was fully involved. So it would be wrong for me to write the narration in a totally expository way. For instance, look at this one sentence:
"It’s only fitting that the City of Manassas, Virginia, located just 32 miles from the Nation’s Capital, has its own pair of bald eagles. After all, the bald eagle is also the mascot for the local high school."
It seems fine. But I have pulled myself out of the picture. It would be better written as follows:
"It’s only fitting that our City of Manassas, Virginia, located just 32 miles from the Nation’s Capital, has its own pair of bald eagles. After all, the bald eagle is also the mascot for our local high school."
See the difference? It maintains my closeness to the subject. But there are certain sentences in the narration of a Participatory documentary that can be written in an expository way. Like this:
"Manassas is a vibrant community with a historic past. Two major Civil War battles were fought here. At times it can be the picturesque embodiment of hometown U.S.A."
In this case I don’t need to impart my connection. It was already stated in the previous sentences.
Segments
All films are made of segments, which are sequences of shots put together to cover a point in time or a certain topic. In this film I will edit a segment on eagle symbolism. I’ll also edit segments on events that took place. Some segments have finite beginnings and endings, like a day where a lot happened, a council meeting, a groundbreaking ceremony, etc.
After you’ve outlined what you want to cover in the film, you begin editing those segments. You have to figure out where each segment should be placed in the film for maximum impact. It can be challenging at times, to figure out the order in which the sequences should occur. Sometimes you’ll realize that a little foreshadowing of later events can be very effective. Once you decide, you typically fade from black or dissolve between the sequences to signify a change in direction or a passage of time.
Writing Narration
I find myself writing and recording test narration, editing a piece, and then rewriting the narration to better fit the shots I’ve chosen. And that’s okay. Things don’t always work out as first thought, or there may be a better choice of words to accentuate the images. In some cases, the shots fall into place so well that a segment turns out better than you ever imagined. Those are the magical moments.
Failure is Not Failure
The most important thing I’ve learned in any creative endeavor is that if you realize something sucks, it is not failure. It’s you successfully ascertaining that something needs to be improved. Ask yourself why it sucks? Is it the narration, the delivery of the narration, the music, or the selection of shots? Does a certain segment bring the film down or detract from the overall message? Does it steer the film in the wrong direction? Like writing, editing video is an art that involves reediting and retrying. Don’t get discouraged. You’re already on the right track if you realize something is amiss.
The Overwhelmingness of it All
Making a feature-length documentary can be a daunting task, especially if done by one person. Look at the credits of other documentaries you’ve seen. Twenty, fifty, one hundred people or more are sometimes involved. But great documentaries can be made with little money and by few people. Today’s digital cameras shoot in full HD. Like never before creative folk are putting out some truly intriguing content.
But, it can be overwhelming at times. Where is the light at the end of the tunnel? Is this too big a task for one person? When it comes to that I always think of Barbra Streisand’s song “Bit by Bit.” Check it out. All great works of art are created in pieces: a mural that takes a month to paint, a song that takes a week to write, or a movie that takes four months to shoot and a year to edit. All good things come in time. Unless you win the lottery, of course, but you still have to wait for taxes to come out and the check to arrive.
Deferred gratification. It will come. So be strong and persevere.
To watch the video trailer and make a donation to our documentary, please visit our GoFundMe page. We appreciate your support! Vic
Oh, Dear God, what have I gotten myself into? That’s the first thing I ask myself whenever I invest my time into a large project. And a feature-length documentary is a monumental project, especially for one person. It can take years to complete.
I am now producing my third documentary, “Who’s Protecting Our National Bird?” which highlights the loss of habitat and disturbance of a pair of bald eagles and their offspring in Manassas, Virginia. Two 40,000 square-foot warehouses displaced the natural habitat directly in front of their nest with an asphalt lot edging up to five feet from the base of the nesting tree. It was a colossal failure by U.S. Fish and Wildlife, the City of Manassas, and, to some extent, the developers. I will also cover similar situations and threats to our National Bird around the country.
So, when you make a documentary, you have to recognize its importance. Why is it important? Who’s to blame? Will the documentary enact positive change for future occurrences? All the reasons to think about before taking on such a large project.
To date, I have filmed over 10,000 usable video clips and over 15,000 usable stills—“usable” meaning I’ve removed the bad takes. So I have a lot of material to work with. Sometimes you don’t know when enough is enough, so you keep on shooting. For these particular pair of birds, I have to keep on filming while producing, because at any moment, the situation can change.
I have some totally lovely footage. Breathtaking. Things that no one has ever seen before. And that’s what I call the “cream of the crop.” Footage that must somehow be incorporated into the film. That could be a heron flying in slow-motion to a moving statement from an interview subject. I know right when I’m filming it: this has to be included. Sometimes it makes me shiver when it happens live. Keep the camera steady, keep the camera steady.
Shooting for the Edit
And so for this first blog post on the documentary, I want to talk about “Shooting for the Edit.” It’s when you choose shots along the way that you know you need to incorporate in your story. Watching a documentary about bald eagles would get pretty boring if all you saw was the nest for 90 minutes. So I’ve had to film shots of the town, the people, interviews, nature, and the consequences of overdevelopment. It can be something as simple as an open utility box with wires in disarray, a graded field, or, sadly, an animal carcass on the side of the road. It’s a baseball game, a county fair, a Christmas parade, and a high school football game. All these things make up the BIG picture. They give the story perspective and life.
Sometimes I don’t know what I will use in the future. I am certain that I have more than enough footage of these eagles to make a good film. Coming, going, mating, mating, mating, mating, feeding, preening, flying, swooping…it’s all there. Still, how can you not resist to film more of these majestic birds?
Getting to Know your Footage
Once you’ve decided that it’s time to move along with your documentary, you have to take a look at everything you have. That means weeks and weeks of looking at every video clip and every still. It means logging the best shots. It means creating a timeline. It means one of the worst things of all: reliving all the drama again.
On that, I wish people knew the toll on one’s heart it takes to re-experience all the strife you went through. And this is not a one-time thing. As you edit and assess the quality of each edit, you re-experience it again and again. Like, for months and years. You have to keep it as real as possible, but keep your own emotions in check. I once wrote in a book a segment on a man giving up a beloved dog he had found. I got up from my desk and paced back and forth in my kitchen and bawled like a baby for 15 minutes. I know that if it doesn’t affect me in the editing room, it probably won’t affect anyone else.
And so, over the next month or so, I will scroll through months and months of shots to create a timeline. From that timeline I will create an outline. I already know the opening segment; it’s already been written. It will be created from footage that I didn’t even know I had. It’s very moving, considering what happens after.
I hope that I have the full support of my cohorts and the people who have followed along with this particular story. I still need donations so I can travel to remote locations across the U.S. for interview segments that are important. You can do so at the GoFundMe Page.
Nine months ago the many eagle lovers in Manassas, Virginia witnessed the removal of the habitat directly in front of our only known pair of bald eagles within city limits. It was devastating to watch. What was once a tranquil field of tall grasses and pine trees has now been replaced by two 40,000-square-foot warehouses and a parking lot. The asphalt rides up to just five feet from the base of the nesting tree. It's a travesty how U.S. Fish and Wildlife and the City of Manassas allowed this to happen.
But the eagles have stayed. They have laid eggs. And now they are raising two healthy eaglets. Yet, ironically, what may scare them away, or worse yet, cause them physical harm, are the eagle lovers themselves.
Trespassers disturbing bald eagles on private property.
In the past, when there was a spacious field in front of the nest, people kept their distance, for the most part. It was a natural buffer, and people knew that if they got too close, the birds would fly off. Now it seems to be a round-the-clock drive-through ride and snap. People see a paved lot and somehow feel that they have the right to drive onto private property to get as close to the eagles as they want. There are no barriers or gates to prevent gawkers from coming within feet of the tree. There are only Private Property/No Trespassing signs at the entrances, which most seem to ignore.
I've had the opportunity to witness and speak to these many people who seem to think that they have the right to get up close and personal with these eagles. I actually had a local school teacher tell me that "she pays taxes," and that she has every right to view the eagles that close no matter what signs are put up. Wrong. So very wrong. It's private property.
Another onlooker told me that she always ignores No Trespassing signs because she "has no intention of doing any damage to the property." Wrong again. And shockingly so.
We get it. You want a great photo of the eagles to share on Facebook or Instagram. But is it worth the price that these eagles have to pay? At this point, our eagles have no choice but to try to raise this year's young in a hostile environment. They already have to deal with large trucks, noise, and commotion from the warehouse tenants. Why add more to that? In fact, the majority of the traffic disturbing these eagles on a daily basis is the eagle lovers themselves.
And I've seen their effects on the birds. I've documented it on video. The parents will often stop feeding their young when too many people are below. If one is resting on a nearby branch, it will fly back into the Cannon Branch Fort Park to get out of the line of sight. They do take notice, and this may ultimately cause them to abandon their nest in time.
NEC opens parking lot to eagle lovers. Park in the right lot.
There are several great alternative ways to view the eagles. NEC is allowing eagle lovers to park in their lot directly across the street. You can see the nest fine from that location, and the birds will often fly overhead. One has even taken to bathing and drinking from a little puddle of water that fills up just feet away in the adjacent field. You can get some terrific shots from that location. And, you won't be disturbing the birds. Plus, you can meet and chat with the many other eagle lovers in the area.
Please give the eagles a rest. Obey the Private Property signs. Know, also, that video surveillance cameras have now been installed to track disturbances. It's a misdemeanor to be caught on Private Property. Don't take the risk. Stay back. Stay off the property. And please be considerate and protective stewards of our National Bird.
Eagle lovers taking photos from across the street so they don't disturb the birds.
It was something most of us only found out about this summer while we witnessed the eagles' nesting grounds decimated by builders of two large warehouses: the City of Manassas, Virginia, also had plans to tear up the 40 acres of land surrounding the feeding pond down the street. This is where the bald eagles regularly fish for themselves and their young. It is also home to herons, geese, ducks, hawks, ospreys, and a large variety of plant, animal, and insect life. It will be replaced by office buildings, retail shops, residential units and, unless they pull out of the deal and find a better spot that won't upset their current patrons, Heritage Brewing.
One of the main perching trees for the bald eagles has been removed.
It had been in the plans for decades to develop the strip of land that leads from the City's core to the Manassas airport. According to Councilman Ian Lovejoy, who voted against the development along with Councilman Marc Aveni, there is a competition between surrounding Prince William County and the City to be the most "economically developed." A developer by the name of Lerner Enterprises backed out of the deal years ago because of the recession. Buchanan Partners LLC stepped in in 2015 and struck a deal with the City.
On Dec. 13, 2016, the City held a groundbreaking ceremony, and now much of the damage has been done. Both sides of Gateway Blvd. have been plowed down. One of the eagles' favorite perching trees has been removed, and grading on one side of Gateway Blvd. has already begun. This is where over 270 high-density, high-priced residential units will be built. On the opposite side, mere feet from the pond, is where the rest of the development will take place.
A permit for Discharges of Stormwater from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (VDEQ) is posted at the site location, however, we are unaware and do not believe the City or the developer hired a biologist to determine the effect the development will have on the wildlife.
Development will clear up to the pond's edge.
The Cannon Branch pond, though man made, has been erroneously referred to as a "retention" pond, which gives the impression that it does not flow elsewhere. On the contrary, the pond flows under the street into a smaller pond, then over a retaining wall, and turns into the Cannon Branch River. There is even an inlet to the pond next to the cemetery by the DMV. The pond is also loaded with fish, which isn't something that just happens when you dig a big hole.
In fact, the Cannon Branch pond has transformed into an entire ecosystem over the years. Insects feed on the bountiful plant life. Fish eat the insects and insect larvae. And the eagles feed and rely upon the fish. Now that most of that plant life is gone, there will be little for insects to pollinate. Without insects you have no fish. And with no fish, no bald eagles. The entire ecosystem begins to collapse.
Tree removal and grading of land for residential units.
A number of citizens have expressed their dissatisfaction with the excessive development within the city. They do not see this as "progress." They see more traffic, more congestion, and with more homes comes more children. And more children means overcrowded schools. With so many vacant office buildings, retail stores, and residential units within the city already, you have to wonder what kind of mentality would make these kinds of decisions.
Greed. As some have put it, grass doesn't pay taxes. Even if the development fails, the City will still get their money--upwards of $20 million in land sale proceeds and $3 million in taxes.
To help protect these eagles and others around the country facing similar circumstances, please go to baldeaglefilm.com and donate to the important documentary, "Who's Protecting Our National Bird?"
