Help preserve Marty Stouffer's classic Wild America Film Collection to educate and entertain all future generations.
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This project will only be funded if at least $1,250,000 is pledged by .
About this project
Our Goal...
ReMastering all 120 Programs of The “Wild America” Film Collection in 4K Ultra HD.
Converting the entire collection into High-Definition is a huge undertaking. Your pledge is instrumental in helping us fund the scanning, remastering and distribution of “Wild America” in 4K Ultra HD. This will make these Films available for generations to come. With 120 Programs to work on, there is a lot of time, effort, energy, and money required. We have estimated that it will cost approximately $7,000 per episode plus reward fulfillment, marketing and other necessary expenses, for a total funding requirement of $1.25 million dollars.
4K Ultra High-Definition, or 4K Ultra HD, is the next generation of resolution in film content for the Internet and television; as it delivers a more dramatic, detailed, immersive, and realistic entertainment or educational experience. 4K Ultra HD is inevitable as the most valuable format on the largest screens in our institutions and homes. It's simply better for educational presentations, for home movie nights, and for displaying text and other information.
Because “Wild America” was shot on Film, we can use the original negatives to make a new 4K scan on today’s state-of-the-art equipment. This will create a true 4K digital copy and will increase the color saturation, fidelity, resolution and sharpness with a subtlety of light that cannot be accomplished in Standard Definition or even High-Definition.
In order to create a true 4K Ultra HD version, we will...
* Physically inspect, test splices, and hand repair the original 16mm negatives of all 120 episodes.
* Ultrasonically clean the original 16mm negative before scan.
* Scan and convert to digital over 250,000 feet of the original picture rolls to full-image 4K.
*Digitally re-edit and assemble the new 4K image to match the original 120 episodes length.
*Digitally restore and retrieve the color, exposure, and contrast to faithfully match Marty’s original intention for each episode.
*Hand-paint out (digitally) any dust and scratches frame-by-frame.
*Scan the original soundtrack master tapes for each show, clean them up and re-synch to the picture.
*Add Closed Captioning for the Hearing Impaired.
*Export all 120 episodes to multiple file standards (Ultra HD, HD, & SD) and store media for both archiving and delivery.
In 4K Ultra HD, the "Wild America" content will be the largest, most complete Video Encyclopedia available on the topic of North American Wildlife and Nature.
The potential reach of the “Wild America” content in 4K Ultra HD, delivered via the Internet to classrooms, libraries, and public institutions, is vast. With well-proven visuals, which have been entertaining and educating people for more than 40 years, it will continue to entertain and educate well into the future.
Our initial Kickstarter Goal will bring us into the realm of HD and will allow us to potentially expand into other Stretch Goals - including 20 brand new Programs and additional educational projects.
If additional support is received beyond this initial proposal, that funding will go toward the distribution of The “Wild America” Film Collection to as many other outlets as possible. Our initial Recipient List includes 120,000 schools and 120,000 other worthy entities. The need is clear for an even greater distribution than this initial Recipient List figure of 240,000 and the opportunity may then exist for this effort to be doubled or even tripled in scope.
Recipients could include grade schools, middle schools, high schools, colleges, universities, libraries, museums, nature centers, environmental groups, game departments, national parks, wildlife refuges, hospitals, pediatric, geriatric, oncology and hospice centers, military bases, correctional institutions, support clinics, and many other public and private educational and environmental groups and facilities.
We have identified in excess of 720,000 potential Recipient List entities and we look forward to working at determining which of these are the most important and worthy.
Who is Marty Stouffer?
Over the past fifty years, Marty Stouffer has become America's foremost Naturalist. He has created Film productions that are specifically focused on presenting the flora and fauna of our amazing North American continent.
He has become known as the voice of integrity – he is the nationally recognized advocate for the American environment and all of the creatures that call it home. In this regard, he has no equal.
Marty Stouffer has served as both entertainer and educator and he has been the subject of interviews, articles, television programs, feature films, and books.
Stouffer has worked in a modest studio near Aspen, Colorado since 1970. Marty’s long-running “Wild America” Series began airing nationally on television in the 1980s. Now, 33 years later, Marty is now known as America’s favorite Wildlife Film Program Host.
Over these past several decades, he has created 120 half-hour Programs and 12 one-hour Specials in the award-winning Film Series “Wild America”. It stands alone as the first and only Series to exclusively celebrate America's rich natural heritage. TV Guide calls “Wild America” "the next best thing to being there," while the Los Angeles Times refers to the photographic quality of the Series as "literally breathtaking."
Why Wild America?
The "Wild America" Film Collection documents the behavior of virtually every representative North American Mammal, Bird, Fish, and Reptile, as well as the Natural Wonders and Scenic Beauty of the North American Wilderness.
This spectacular and irreplaceable Collection - the most comprehensive Film Library in existence on the subject - is the quintessential Natural History Video Encyclopedia of our entire living continent. There is simply nothing else like it in existence!
"Wild America” presents a close-up and slow-motion look into the realities of living wild. Animals are born and die, play and mate, feed and get fed up, all on-camera. It is entertainment and education at its very best - a treat for adults and children alike – there is something here for everyone.
This is an incredible array of experiences. It will entertain, enthrall, enlighten, educate and empower. Millions of people, young and old alike, have enjoyed the award-winning brand “Wild America”.
Filmed over a 50 year span at a cost in excess of $30 million dollars, the scope, depth and breadth of this material will simply never be duplicated.
I hope you agree that this Kickstarter campaign is something that you want to support. Your pledge will bring ReMastering The “Wild America” Film Collection one step closer to fruition.
Your Pledge
This is an adventurous undertaking that will leave a lasting legacy for all future generations. But we can’t do it without your help. We have all the elements ready and waiting. The films will be efficiently, safely and masterfully preserved and restored to their original beauty, and soon you’ll be able to see them in your own home.
Our vast array of Rewards and Add-ons will give you, as a Kickstarter backer, access to exclusive content and the knowledge that you have helped continue the valuable legacy that is Marty Stouffer's "Wild America".
#4KWA
The Wild America Kickstarter is a huge undertaking and will take time, but we hope to deliver a portion of our goal as it is completed. So we have decided to create a mini-set which displays a selection of episodes from the new Collections. Those backers who choose any of the 4K Media Rewards above will receive access to the mini-set.
The new Collections better categorize all 120 episodes as it groups them according to these compelling concepts: Amazing & Unique Animals, Beautiful & Beloved Birds, Big Game of America, Creepy & Crawly Critters, Cuddly & Cool Creatures, Game Birds & Fishes, Mysterious & Marvelous Mammals, Nature Parks & Refuges, Predator & Prey Olympics, Small Game of America, Unusual & Endangered Animals and Watching and Photographing Wildlife.
#WAX Wild America Extreme
As a part of the Wild America Kickstarter, we are delighted to bring you exclusive access to a series of 12 Wild America Extreme webisodes when completed. They display the essential aspects of life in the wild: Feeding, Fighting, Traveling, Hunting, Escaping, Killing, Nesting, Courting, Mating, Parenting, Playing and Communicating.
* All Backers will receive this Exclusive Kickstarter Access to #WAX
Risks and challenges
We are happy to say that there are no risks or challenges whatsoever that come with completing this campaign on schedule and on budget - ReMastering all 120 Programs of The “Wild America” Film Collection in 4K Ultra HD (Ultra-High-Definition) and in the 16:9 Aspect Ratio Widescreen Video Format.
Furthermore, all necessary associations and arrangements have been made and these individuals and organizations are standing by and ready to proceed on an immediate basis.
To expound on that, there will be no costly and uncertain production or post-production because all of the Programs in the Collection are in a fully completed form.
ReMastering The “Wild America” Film Collection in 4K Ultra HD is a straightforward physical and electronic process that poses no risk of failure. None of the physical Film will be shipped to the Video Production facility where the work will be done; it will all be hand-delivered and all of the work will be personally supervised.
Modesty aside, my team and I are uniquely qualified to undertake this prodigious project. Over half a century, we have amassed this unique Collection and it now has immense scientific, educational and historical value, which we will do everything in our power to preserve and protect.
There is simply nothing else like it in existence and so, for example, it is now stored in an absolutely fire-proof and water-proof concrete Vault. Having been carefully produced and painstakingly protected, it is now time to share it with all Americans in the recently developed 4K Ultra-High-Definition Video Format.
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Funding period
- (30 days)