About Compass Light Productions
Compass Light has a commitment to science and history non-fiction content revealing the wonder of our natural world. Our programs often focus on the discoveries of people in intellectually-challenging and value-forming situations, primarily outdoors. We’ve developed a new format of television, called EXPERIENTIAL TV, which is a radically observational and carefully crafted aesthetic.
The company grew out of the 20+ year career of producer and director David Conover, and draws on a broad assembled network of outdoor production personnel.
Formats shifted from S16mm film to High Def almost ten years ago. We have three HD edit suites: two AVIDs and one FCP.
In 2008, we built our own color grading capacity with Apple’s latest and greatest… and are pleased to announce the arrival of a skilled and dedicated colorist, Russell Kaye. We offer this service to our production colleagues world-wide, and send out calibrated monitors for cost-friendly supervised sessions. more on color grading services >>
David Conover
Executive Producer/Director
David Conover was born and raised in a New England family with strong ties to the sea and a tradition of active storytelling. Both grandfathers were amateur filmmakers in the 1920's and 30's. Upon graduating with a degree in comparative religious studies from Bowdoin College in Maine, David worked as a professional seaman—he has extensive experience in the Atlantic and Pacific, which includes two transatlantic crossings in small boats. He spent five years designing and teaching sea courses for kids age 14-18 at the Hurricane Island Outward Bound School in Maine and in Florida. This was followed by a Master's Degree in Education at Harvard, where David studied moral development and then a second year as a Kennedy School teaching fellow in leadership studies. In 1987, he directed and produced his first documentary, OUTWARD BOUND, which aired on National Geographic Explorer.
David's subsequent early film experiences took him to a river in Kamchatka on a project for Channel 4/PBS, and he also worked on a film about measuring Mt. Everest for PBS NOVA. An additional early project for PBS NOVA introduced him to the changing commercial fisheries, an interest he maintains to this day. His relationship with PBS programming continued with a six-show stint as a producer on the outdoor how-to series TRAILSIDE.
COMPASS LIGHT grew out of David's early work mentioned above, and the studios were moved to the seaport of Camden, Maine in 1994 in order to be closer to the ocean and the stories being produced. The company has now produced over 80 films for broadcast and educational clients. Awards include the National Outdoor Production Award, a Blue Ribbon by the National Educational Media Competition, and a nomination for a National Emmy as Outstanding Director. Beginning in 1997, Compass Light expanded upon its production services to distribute marine stock footage, featuring the Nick Caloyianis underwater stock collection. For several years David has also taught documentary film courses at the International Film and Television Workshops in Rockport, Maine.
In 2007, David co-founded BlueMarvel in Rockland, Maine, an aggregator and distributor of the EXPERIENTIAL TV format.
Darryl Czuchra
Producer / Audio
Darryl joined Compass Light in Nov of 2003. His past specialization has been outdoor adventure programming. A native of Connecticut, and a performing musician during his formative years, he eventually turned his creative energies towards visual storytelling. After two seasons of organizing and leading wilderness filming expeditions for the PBS outdoor how-to series TRAILSIDE, he moved to the coast of Maine to help develop another PBS award-winning series, ANYPLACE WILD. As Senior Producer for the 50 episode series, he took the production team into the world’s wildest locations, surviving killer bee attacks in the jungles of Belize, piloting outrigger canoes in the ocean swells off Hawaii, and scaling the lofty peaks of New Zealand’s Southern Alps with Peter Hillary, among other highlights.
In the past few years, he has also produced stories on the world record long distance paragliding flight (TNN & 2003 Banff Mountain Film Festival finalist), and a NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC caving expedition into CO2 filled virgin cave passages in Thailand. He spent October 2003 with the US Coast Guard on the Bering Sea, producing 3 hours for Original Production’s highly acclaimed DISCOVERY CHANNEL series on Alaska’s wild and wooly crab fishing fleet.
darrylczuchra@compasslight.com
Josh Povec
Editor / Associate Producer
Josh is responsible for editing and organization of field production. Previously a producer and editor with Chedd-Angier Production Company in Boston, Josh has worked on hundreds of educational media projects around the country. His past work includes interactive museum exhibits and the PBS series SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN FRONTIERS.
His passion for story telling, travel and the outdoors has sent him all over the world. Josh has lived in Colorado, Alaska, Utah, Nepal, Japan and most recently New Zealand. His Documentary Arts degree from Colorado College brought him to Nepal where he learned to speak the language and filmed in remote Himalayan villages seven days walk from the nearest road. A Maine native, Josh enjoys daily hikes overlooking Penobscot Bay.
Sian Evans
Writer / Consulting Producer
Sian has been making documentaries and media projects for twenty-five years. As a producer she has sent crews around the world for 35mm film commercial spots, corporate clients, 50 hours of outdoor science/history shows for PBS, etc. She has produced multimedia campaigns spinning off from a central documentary – coffeetable books, websites, DVDs and traveling exhibitions: “Legacy of Heroes” (personal stories of World War II veterans) and “The Straight Story” (the history of the accomplishments of orthopaedics). She has written and directed an Emmy Award-winning experimental documentary on what makes a sense of home; a 17 min. summary statement on the state of the environment of the world for the United Nations Development Programme and many other films.
In 2003 through 2005, she acted as supervising producer for Barbara Kopple/Cabin Creek Films on “Bearing Witness”, a feature-length documentary on women war journalists in Iraq and on “Mrs. Saddam Hussein”, a development project for A&E in Jordan and the U.K. Working most recently with Compass Light Productions, in December 2006 she finished “Secrets of the Sun”, a one-hour documentary on ancient land-based solar observatories and satellite-based observations of the sun.
Russell Kaye
Colorist
Russell brings to Compass Light twenty-two years of working photographic experience. Russell specializes and is well-known for his large-format color photography. He has worked widely for editorial clients as diverse as National Geographic Adventure and This Old House. Turning his attention from film to digital, he brings a master's eye and intuitive sense of color and light to the controls of our state-of-the-art Final Cut Pro edit suite.
Nick Caloyianis
Director of Photography/Stock Footage Collection
Recognized as one of the leading underwater cameraman and filmmakers in the world today, Nick's accomplishments are many. From a beginning as a cold-water diver and biology graduate student, Nick went on to apprentice for several years in Mexico with filmmaker Ramon Bravo, perfecting his craft with 16mm and 35mm formats.
Shortly after founding his own production company in 1977, Nick formed an alliance with the legendary Peter Gimble and was selected as a cameraman on the historic 1981 film expedition Andrea Doria: The Final Chapter. Although the subject of shipwrecks would continue to compliment his list of credits with such films as Bikini: Forbidden Paradise for ABC television, and the National Geographic classics: Kronan, U-Boats: Terror On Our Shores and Cuba's Lost Treasure, Nick equally pursued natural history subject matter ranging from humpback whales in Hawaii to orca whales off Norway to coral reefs in the Red Sea and the South Pacific. He has filmed one-of-a-kind footage of the Greenland shark under the ice in the Arctic and rare shark mating behavior in the Gulf of Mexico.
Nick has over 30 National Geographic documentaries to his credit, as well as numerous other satisfied broadcast and commercial clients. Nick's outstanding camera work has garnered numerous awards, including several Emmys, Cine Golden Eagles, an Oscar, and the Earthwatch Award.
Selected portions of Nick Caloyianis’ underwater and marine stock footage are available. Click on Stock Footage for more information.
Jason Mann
Editor
Jason Mann is a filmmaker and photographer from Rockland, Maine. He graduated from Tufts University in 2002 with a degree in English. His work as a cinematographer has taken him to Mexico, Uganda and Clarksdale, Mississippi.
In 2005, he produced, directed and shot a short documentary, Knockdown, on the life and times of former Squirrel Nut Zippers frontman Jimbo Mathis.
Other credits include work as a cinematographer and editor for filmmaker Monika Navarro on her feature documentary Animas Perdidas (Lost Souls).