New Video Captures the Spirit of the Mountains

Above:

Alpine flowers in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado.

Right:

Sprague Lake captures a perfect reflection of the Rocky Mountains.

Spirit of the Mountains

By Rick Padden, Estes Park Trail Gazette, July 29, 2003

Estes Park’s familiar scenery is once again gracing the big-screen, in a cinematic marvel that is guaranteed to draw huge crowds and enjoy a long, long run.

Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) has premiered a new Park video for visitors to its Beaver Meadows information center just outside Estes Park, replacing a 20-year-old orientation movie with a visual and audio thriller called “Spirit of the Mountains.”

Three years in the making, the 23-minute “short” is conceptually unique in national park circles, technically as hip as it gets, and extremely accommodating for the center’s half-million annual visitors.

The vision of former Park superintendent Randy Jones, “Spirit” opened officially last month in the center’s revamped, octagonal auditorium, where 180 movie-goers can be quickly transported into the sights and sounds of the Park in comfort.

“Jones didn’t want a traditional video,” said Larry Frederick, chief of interpretation for the park. “He wanted to set a mood for visitors, get them excited about the area – let them get a feel for it.” According to Frederick, the intention was more to inspire visitors than to orient them, recognizing that there were ample written source materials available for details on Park facilities and events.

And inspire it does.

The movie opens with rugged edges of Longs Peak rock catching the orange rays of sunrise, and music fit for a Spielberg production kicking off a soaring aerial journey over the Park that will cause shortness of breath in even the most acclimated Coloradoans. The cinematography is crisp and professional, filmed in all seasons, and smoothly mingles wide mountain panoramas with tight, brilliantly lighted detail shots of trees, flowers, streams and wildlife.

The springtime east-west runoff of the Alpine Tundra provides a convenient segue into a mini-explanation of just what the Continental Divide is all about, and how it gives birth to the mighty waters feeding both oceans.

Woven into the poetically descriptive narration is a brief history of the Park’s earliest Ute settlers, the arrival of Europeans, the town of Estes Park, the growth of tourism, and the Park itself – a must-see, entertaining lesson for locals as well as visitors.

A dozen specialized audio components compliment a $25,000 computerized DVD video projector, flooding the room with high-definition images, powerful, realistic sound, and the music of an original score. A custom, perforated screen allows the narrator’s rich voice to seemingly emanate directly from the scenery, and two sub-woofer base speakers let the rumblings of waterfalls be felt as much as heard.

“Spirit of the Mountains” is ultimately not so much a guide to the Park as an enjoyable tribute to its natural variety and majesty.

The show runs automatically on the half-hour, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day.

For those with hearing impairment, the video is equipped with unobtrusive captioning – tastefully illuminated below the screen. For those with vision trouble, a special descriptive narration is delivered via wireless headsets (which can also carry a Spanish-language version).

The award-winning video was produced through the Harpers Ferry Interpretive Design Center, and filmed by a National Park Service crew on the ground and in the air. Funding came through a congressional incentive that allows parks to keep 80% of admission fees for reinvestment locally, which amounts to about $3 million a year at RMNP.

Copyright © 2003 Estes Park Trail Gazette

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HFC Audiovisual Arts »

Rocky Mountain National Park »