PORTLAND, Ore.-Director Jeff Mishler, a Portland resident, is back in the commercial arena after a brief hiatus. Represented locally by Food Chain Films, Portland, and nationally by San Francisco production house Complete Pandemonium, Mishler spent five weeks last fall on the Kamchatka peninsula in far eastern Russia, documenting the conservationist efforts of the Wild Salmon Center, a nonprofit research organization founded by his friend, retired Navy captain-turned-conservationist Pete Soverel. The Center is a collaboration between American and Russian scientists in association with Moscow State University (MSU) and is devoted to studying migratory fish such as the Steelhead, a rainbow trout that has become endangered by commercial harvesting and poaching.
The Wild Salmon Center’s program trades recreation for research: The Center recruits civilian fishermen, bird watchers and other environmentalists interested in making an expedition to Russia. That group then meets up with the MSU scientists at remote field stations along various rivers in Kamchatka, and while the fishermen fish, the scientists conduct their research. Mishler explained that because the Steelhead is listed as an endangered species by the Russian government, killing them is illegal. So when one of the Wild Salmon Center’s fisherman catches a Steelhead, the MSU scientists take fin, scale and tissue samples and record other relevant data, then release the fish unharmed.
Mishler, who began his career as a wildlife cinematographer, has been involved with the Wild Salmon Center since its first Russian expedition in 1994, when Wild Steelhead & Atlantic Salmon Magazine asked him to shoot a photo-essay of the trip. After that he began volunteering as a fund-raiser, spreading awareness and generating sponsorships from individuals and corporations. He has made additional trips to Russia as a camp director.
On his September voyage, Mishler said, he "decided to bring along a 16mm camera." His plan was to shoot footage for both a five-minute promotional reel to generate interest in the program and a documentary film. He is in preliminary talks with PBS’ Nova series regarding a possible hour-long program, and has so far shot about 13 hours of interviews and b-roll footage. He said Nova would be an ideal outlet because the series has a strong scientific bent, as does the research program. "Everything is regulated," he explained, "like a science experiment: which rivers [can be fished], what time of year, when the [scale, fin and tissue] samples are taken."
Before he completes the documentary, however, Mishler said he plans to return to the area in order to capture the "pristine and unique" landscape, for which he needs additional funding and equipment. Sparsely populated, the remote and snow-covered Kamchatka region is known for its numerous volcanoes, geysers and brown bears.
Mishler called the Wild Salmon Center program noteworthy for its new approach to conservation, which focuses on the science of restoring a habitat to its natural state. "What we’re trying to do is understand the fish in a healthy environment," he said. The problem is that a healthy environment is almost impossible to find. Said Mishler, "[Humans] have affected the environment so much that [the fish] are in a constant state of recovery. [But] we’re trying to get a sense of what the real ecosystem is and what the fish need in order to recover."
Back on the commercial front, at press time Mishler was in the running for a pair of spots for the Broadway musical Oz via Food Chain Films and agency Kirshenbaum Bond & Partners, New York. If Mishler’s awarded the job, it will entail what he de-scribed as a "re-creation of Kansas." He also recently completed an internal corporate image piece for Intel through Creative Media Development, Portland.
Known for directing humorous spots, Mishler said the serious and scientific nature of the Kamchatka project doesn’t signal so much a creative departure for him as it does a return to familiar territory. "I started out filming wildlife," he said. "My background is deeply rooted in nature and the outdoors. But when I started [directing], at the time there was a hole in the comedy-dialogue [specialty]. Now it’s what everybody’s doing, but when I started there were very few people doing it. I’ve said before that I can’t tell a joke to save my life, but my commercials are pretty funny. It’s just having a sense of design and knowing where to put the punch line. [Directors] don’t come up with the ideas-the agencies are the ones to come up with the creative-but I think a good sense of design is what helps make a commercial funny."
