First Snow in the Woods (2010)

The Movie

Winner of 12 awards, including the Parents' Choice Gold Award for DVDs AND Best Original Music at the International Wildlife Film Festival! From wildlife filmmakers Laura Sams and Robert Sams, First Snow in the Woods is the third movie in the award-winning “In the Woods” series. Set in the vivid fall season, the movie is a heartwarming, hilarious tale filled with stunning wildlife footage and original music (including a groundhog, chipmunk and woodpecker’s ode to fall). Based on the book First Snow in the Woods, by Carl Sams II and Jean Stoick.

In a pumpkin patch surrounded by the reds and golds of fall, a worried scarecrow watches the animals prepare for winter. “Soon I’ll be put back in the barn all alone until spring,” he sighs. And he worries another season will pass without scaring a single crow – or meeting the beautiful lady scarecrow across the field. A mouse moves into his straw-filled heart, tells him the story of First Snow in the Woods and helps him trust the changing seasons.

   

The Book

The book, by Carl Sams II and Jean Stoick, is a photographic fantasy about how the forest animals prepare for an early winter. The great gray owl flies down from the north with a warning: “Creatures of the forest, prepare! The first winter storm is here!” Featuring 48 full color pages, the book has won 16 awards, including a Mom’s Choice Award.

The Music

The music is now available on itunes! Click on the itunes link on the left to get the First Snow in the Woods song (featuring the groundhog) and more!

What was the most challenging part of making the movie?

Laura: First challenge: The book was made way before the movie, so our job was to film animals to match photographs that already existed. For example, we needed to find a chickadee in front of red oak leaves, and we needed to find a groundhog emerging from a hole at the base of a tree, etc. That takes a lot of time, a lot of research and a lot of patience. The second biggest challenge was filming the fall season. Fall is such a finite season, and you never know how bright it will be or how long it will last. We filmed over the course of a couple fall seasons in Michigan, and we wrote a script with a scarecrow character (that wasn’t in the book), so we could have more control over filming something, even if the fall season wasn’t as bright as we hoped.

 

How is this different from the other two “In the Woods” movies?

Laura: This movie has a higher production value. There was more storyboarding, planning and research. We also had a few more cameramen in the field, to be sure we could catch good animal behavior against Michigan’s brilliant fall colors.

How do you get the wildlife to do what you want them to do?

Robert: We don’t, really. We film animals doing what they naturally do in their ecosystems and try to craft those behaviors into a story. We do write a script first, so we know what kinds of behaviors we want to film. If we want animals to look like they’re singing, we film them eating, since chewing food looks like singing.

What is your favorite part of the movie?

Laura: I really like the happy ending with the Scarecrow Love song, as well as the scarecrow’s dream sequence in the movie. It is so absurd, and I love that. I hope it reminds people a tiny bit of Kermit and Miss Piggy.

How did you find the farm in Michigan where you filmed the scarecrow?

Robert: A teacher from an elementary school where we once did assemblies - She volunteered her family’s hobby farm in northeastern Michigan, and it was perfect. While we were filming, the farm’s horse and donkey would stand near us to watch what we were doing.

How long did it take to make the movie?

Robert: A year and a half, from the script writing to the final product. We filmed over the course of two fall seasons. Although we had been really thinking about how to adapt the movie into a book for several years. It took a few years for us to come up with a script that we really liked. Creativity certainly can take a lot of time.

Where is the easter egg on the DVD menu?

Laura: For those of you who can't find the easter egg hidden on the DVD menu, go to the English Subtitles menu page. While you are on that page, move your cursor until the main menu leaf is highlighted (but don't press it). Then click the left (or up) arrow and you should see a little icon appear in the upper left part of the screen. Click it and watch the clip!

 

 

Special Features on the DVD are:

• Woodpecker Knock-Knock Jokes
• Behind the Scenes Stories with the Directors
• Robert and the Butterfly - behind the scenes of filming the monarch butterfly
• Easter egg (hidden clip) - Read above to find out where it is hidden

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