THE STORY
THE FILM STARTS on Day 1 of training at Tracker Academy, a premier program in traditional wildlife tracking methods, and follows the transformation of eight students over a year as they cultivate the tracker mindset and learn to read the language of nature.
By training the next generation of trackers, Tracker Academy aims to create an industry standard for tracking as a scientific and professional pursuit, and integrate these ancient skills into modern conservation.
Training is far from a smooth ride.
Taking up to twenty years to master, tracking is a rigorous profession rooted in a disciplined mindset of critical analysis and creative conjecture.
Along their journey, students learn that tracking is much more than identifying tracks and signs; rather, it's a compass for life.
Many students arrive with little to no experience, and some are former subsistence hunters. All are on scholarship, coming from disadvantaged communities across Southern Africa, Mozambique, and Botswana.
If they fail to perform, they will lose an opportunity to change their lives.
If they succeed, they will land a career-track job in conservation and set a precedent for the future of their profession.
THE CINEMATIC VISION
Embracing a blend of intimate cinéma vérité, interviews, and archival, the film is a character-driven three-act story that “tracks” the evolution of the tracker mindset. Themes of equity, shared humanity, and self discovery run throughout.
As students learn a new way to use their senses, we will introduce that new skill through the use of visuals and sound. Imagery will become more nuanced and intimate, and will begin to glide across the landscape, as students learn to master their craft, building confidence and honing their focus.
The soundscape will also evolve with the students. In the beginning, the sounds of nature are a cacophony, much like the hyper-stimulated minds of the students. As students learn to focus and concentrate, we’ll leave the roaring soundscape behind and focus on their breath and absence of chatter.
By the end of the film, the audience will be inside the mind of a tracker, hearing and seeing what they do.
Photo by Nature Guide Training