Posts tagged Discovery Channel
Adam Savage from “Mythbusters” talks about the show’s 10 Year Anniversary and more
If you ever have watched “Mythbusters” you know that the show’s co-host Adam Savage has a deep passion for science. He and his partner in crime, Jamie Hyneman, along with the rest of the “Mythbusters” crew is celebrating the show’s 10 year anniversary this season.
Savage is a modern day “Renaissance Man.” Not only is he heavily involved in science, but Adam had a love for the arts. In his free time he sculpts and has had his work on display in San Francisco, New York and Charleston, West Virginia.
Adam has done special effects work from notable films and TV shows. He has worked on props for films like “Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace,” “Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones”, “Galaxy Quest”, and “Terminator 3.”
I was able to chat with Adam about the longevity of “Mythbusters,” sculpting, and his work on film sets.
Art Eddy: First off I have to say congrats to you and the rest of the crew on “Mythbusters” for celebrating the show’s 10 year anniversary this year. I know the cliché is time flies when you are having fun, but do you feel like the show has been on for that long?
Adam Savage: No. Not at all. We kind of joke about it. When we go back through the stuff that we have done the thing that lets us know that it has been that long is that it is kind of an unbelievable mountain of things we did when we start to review for new episodes. We would be like oh I think that we already have done that.
We will remember a whole bunch of things from that episode we did seven years ago. For the most part we are having so much fun that I can’t remember what we did a couple of weeks ago.
AE: Do you have a favorite all time episode?
AS: It is impossible to choose. There are so many categories of things that were great to do. I love “Duct Tape Island” and “Duct Tape Cannon”, escaping from the Grand Canyon with Duct Tape. I think that these are really wonderful stories that were fun to tell.
I enjoyed very much the hybrid storytelling of jumping outside the standard “Mythbusters” format to still tell a story that was a true story in terms of the physics and in terms of the materials. I also love shows where we have done research that was genuinely part of some actual scientific published paper.
When we did “Drain Disaster” where we had manhole covers being blown off from the sewer. That was actually part of a published scientific paper that researchers helped us with that and we helped them. They were the leaders in their field of investigating the composition of gases at near supersonic speeds in sewer explosions. They never had the ability to build an experiment as large as the one we were able to build with their help. We were really proud that we were able to contribute to that.
All told with the storytelling and the problem solving in the science, really a high point and a great example of the highest ideal for both me and Jamie is “Lead Balloon.” We really feel that “Lead Balloon” shows this beautiful balance between taking something that is essentially mundane like building a bag that holds air that is made out of rolled lead. It demonstrates how difficult the process is, how much you kind of have to see into the future to understand on how to solve that problem. The way that Jamie and I worked together in a kind of unique way in which the participation of the two of us exceeds what one of us could do on our own.
AE: Was there ever a time where you went back after the show and did an experiment because you didn’t trust the results the first time?
AS: That is an interesting question. There are times when we are trying to do something sensitive. We actually might send the crew out so that we can really concentrate. When it is really working we are able to film everything that we are doing all at the same time.
There are times where we need all of our concentration on the experiment itself and not be thinking about the storytelling. We might send the crew out while we fix it or figure out what’s wrong. Wrap our heads around what is happening. Then bring them back and backfill what happened. No one ever made a lead balloon before.
That’s another thing that I am quite proud of over the years. I know we have done several things on this show that no one has ever achieved before. Most of those thing are quite mundane, but it is lovely to be first somewhere.
AE: At what point or which season did you and your co-host Jamie Hyneman feel like you had something special in “Mythbusters?”
AS: That all really happened quite slowly for us. We were originally hired talent on “Mythbusters.” We learned how to be on television while being on television. It is actually the same way both of us learned most of our professional skills over the years. We call it “the learn while you earn program.”
Given that it took us a while to really understand that the show’s structure and story was based on our enthusiasm. The best episodes were the ones where we were having the most fun. Not necessarily the genuine fun, but the ones where we were most involved. The science was really interesting to us or the experimental methodology, or the build, or the mechanics or the physics, those were the ones that sang.
I guess it was about two and a half or three years in that we really started to understand that. I feel like that was right around “The Hindenburg” episode, which I think is episode 60, where we really genuinely began to feel like the show was ours. We had a handle on it. We knew how to approach these problems.
AE: You are also are a sculptor. How did you get into that form of art?
AS: That’s interesting because it’s something that I have been thinking about a lot right now. I grew up with a father who was a working artist, a painter. He engineered his whole life so he could work for three or four months of the year and pay for his mortgage. He would spend the rest of his time painting full time. I mean like four to five hours a day every single day.
I grew up with a lot of artists. Art is a conversation. It is not just a conversation between the artist and the culture. I think that at its best it is a conversation between the culture and itself. The artist is a conduit to what the culture is thinking about itself. So there is a wider consciousness there.
Freud might have called it the oceanic feeling, but I think of the artist as a kind of conduit. I spent a lot of time in my early 20s in being an artist. There was a switch when I discovered these skills that led me so creatively as an artist also fed me creatively and professionally in special effects. I made a turn.
I don’t think that I have stopped being an artist. I don’t think that I have stopped having that conversation with my culture, but I put it in a different context. I am in the process of looking at the things I do in my personal life like replicate movie props that I loved, film things that I want to film, and try things that I want to try out. I am starting to think about them in the context of how they fit into the culture that I am a part of and how I might be a part of the conversation.
AE: I love the fact that you have done special effects for “Star Wars Episode I and Episode II.” What were some of the parts of each film that you worked on? 
AS: For “Episode I” I got to work with a wonderful longtime ILM employee named Larry Tan on Nute and Rune’s Neimoidian shuttle. So when it lands on Naboo and you see the shuttle on the deck in Naboo and the two characters get out, the home landing bay, the interior of it I got to build it. I worked on the design of it with Doug Chiang, the production designer, and I got to paint it and light it. It was really thrilling. It was one of my first big jobs at ILM getting to work on a spaceship which was all I wanted to do since I was 11 years old.
For “Episode II” there are a bunch of exterior close ups of Padme’s apartment. That was actually a model. My friend Fon Davis and I built a large six foot tall model of Padme’s apartment with the windows and interior all accurate so that they could match up the inside and outside.
I think one of the most fun things I have worked on the whole time I was at ILM is the space shuttle for Clint Eastwood’s movie “Space Cowboys.” That was a team about six of us that spent three or four months, maybe even longer, making what I think must be one of the most accurate models of a space shuttle ever built for film.
AE: Speaking of “Star Wars” I saw a video of you and Jamie talking about your favorite film characters. He said Chewbacca was like Jar Jar Binks. I have to say I was stunned when I heard that. How much “hate mail” did Jamie get?
AS: I have no idea. I just viewed that as so incendiary. I have to chalk it up to that Jamie was just merely in a bad mood and looking for a fight. I can’t accept in any way that a human can look at Jar Jar bouncing around the world and look at Chewbacca, this wonderful example of the ultimate right hand man and think that they are in all comparable in any way, shape or form.
To listen to the entire interview click here.
Jul 9th
Alison Teal talks about being “Naked and Afraid”….the new show on The Discovery Channel
Alison Teal, adventurer and filmmaker, who can be seen on a brand new Discovery Channel series “Naked and Afraid” where Alison’s survival skills are tested as she and a companion are left stranded, and quite literally, exposed to one of the world’s most extreme environments with no food, no water, and no clothes. They must survive on their own for a full 21 days, with nothing but one personal item each and their knowledge. “Naked and Afraid” is set to premiere June 23rd.
Alison’s Adventures, is a documentary film series created by Teal herself, to make the world a smaller place by sharing the wisdom of exotic cultures, showcasing authentic people, and entertaining the kid in everyone through storytelling that captures the mystery and intrigue of life’s adventures.
I was able to ask Alison about her unforgettable adventure on “Naked and Afraid,” filmmaking, and her love for the outdoors.
Art Eddy: You took part in the Discovery Channel series “Naked and Afraid.” For those who don’t know about the show two people, a man and woman are put in an extreme environment with no food, no water, and no clothes. This show looks very extreme and pushes the limits. How tough was it to be on this show?
Alison Teal: It was wild! One of the most challenging experiences of my life. It was literally life or death survival in the most extreme environments on earth. In my case I was on an uninhabitable island, almost on the equator in the Indian Ocean. I was dropped on the island with a man I didn’t know and we were completely naked and unfamiliar with our surroundings. For 21 days we have to try work together despite our very different personalities and backgrounds and create a “home away from home” with literally nothing to work with – plagued by misquotes, rats, sharks and the worst storm of the year!
AE: Tell me what were some of the major differences between your thoughts before you took part in the show to what actually happened to you in the show?
AT: At first when the producers contacted me I was like, “you want me to do what!!!” But then when I learned more about the show, and then actually went through the experience, I’m forever grateful to have had the opportunity to be a part of it – my life is changed forever.
“Naked and Afraid” basically takes a step back in time to showcase a sort of “Adam and Eve” concept of two strangers dropped into the wild and forced to work together to survive. There is no prize and it is not a competition. It is simply a challenge that I signed up for to test my own skills, perseverance, connection with nature, and ability to work as a team with a complete stranger. In our current day and age “Naked and Afraid” is the ultimate survival challenge, but at the same time it is an interesting study on how it must have been to live in an ancient primitive culture and an eerie look at what would potentially happen if a sort of Armageddon hit and we could no longer go to a drive through Starbucks.
Even though I was pretty nervous to take on the challenge I knew I would have a strong qualified male partner to help me out, BUT when he got injured the first day and I had to provide for the both of us, my skills were put to the test and I even shocked myself with my incredible ability to adapt, overcome, and survive the Island From Hell!
I now have eternal appreciation for everything from a coconut to a supermarket to bottle of sunscreen to family and friends.
AE: Looking at your bio and your website Alisosnadventures.com you seem to enjoy the outdoors and living life to the fullest. Did being on this show make respect the outdoors even more?
Being in “Naked and Afraid” definitely gave me a deeper appreciation for nature and most importantly what nature can teach us if we listen and observe. Miracles are happening around us every minute, but we just have to take a moment to recognize them. Every time I thought to myself, “I don’t know if I’m gonna make it,” something magical would happen to ensure my survival. For example I spent forever watching the daily patterns of the eels and finally, when we are almost at the brink or starvation, I got one!
AE: If you could have taken one thing with you on the show what would it be and why?
AT: A chocolate bar. Oh and my pink surf board! I would lay in our shelter at night dreaming of a chocolate bar. And my pink surf board it one of my best friends and I think it would have been like ‘Wilson the volley ball’ in Tom Hank’s Castaway. My partner Jonathan got injured the first day and I had to take on a lot of the challenge on my own, so it would have been nice to have something else for moral support and a way to relieve stress! Although I was so weak from hunger it would have been more like floating then surfing.
AE: What was the biggest fear for you to overcome on the show?
AT: I have an extreme fear of eels after getting bit by one as a child in Hawaii…this was a fear I had to overcome as you will see it in my episode. Also, I’m not a fan of being naked in a close proximity with a man I don’t know for almost a month’s time. But luckily Jonathan was very respectful and even when I was freezing and we had to cuddle to stay warm he was a gentleman about it!
AE: On the show’s website I saw many fans, take a big interest in you. How was it to become a star and have people follow you on Facebook and Twitter?
AT: I’m a huge people person and I really love to make friends around the world! My Alison’s Adventures films series on my website is based upon teaming up with locals all over the word and sharing their stories in a way to connect everyone into a bit global family. Now with this Discovery Channel show, I’m excited to reach even more people and I hope that they feel comfortable to reach out to me on social media with any questions, comments, or ideas!
I love interactive media and how it is making the world a smaller place, and I believe this is a great opportunity to get involved! I’m blessed to have an incredible photographer Sarah Lee capture my adventures and the stunning images have really helped to grow my fan base by actually showing people what it’s like to grow up in some of the most extreme/fascinating places on earth and meet the primitive people who taught me my survival skills.
AE: You also are a filmmaker and you document your adventures. What made you decide to become a filmmaker?
AT: I’m a soul surfer, survivor, and adventurer and spent my childhood home-schooled in a whirlwind of high adventure by extreme expedition parents — my papa is a world-renowned photographer whose work has been featured in numerous outdoor magazines including National Geographic, Outside and Patagonia, and my mom is a legendary Yoga teacher. I grew up living in a six-foot by six-foot tent in some of the most primitive, inaccessible, and often dangerous mountains, jungles, and uncharted wilderness areas that cover the face of this planet.
What was and is normal family life for us is light years away from most peoples’ idea of normal, but for me it was the only life I knew from the moment I was born until I first saw the inside of a school room on the high slopes of the Himalayas in Nepal at the age of eleven.
A school with other children. And a teacher.
Inside a building. How strange. How weird. How exotic.
Dying to have an all-American college education, I received the blessing of a scholarship to the University of Southern California and after braving the jungles of Los Angeles and a real school, I graduated summa cum laude from its highly acclaimed film school. My thesis film Rita, a Himalayan adventure showing how I got my first taste of being inside a school won international acclaim at numerous film festivals including Telluride.
After graduating USC film school, I grabbed my surfboard, camera, and laptop and set off around the world to make a film series which would offer viewers a special passport into my global family and their mind blowing secrets of survival, sustainability, and happiness – through humorous and inspirational story telling. After eight years of filming I have just edited and released my first Alison’s Adventures films on my website www.alisonsadventures.com
AE: What is the next big adventure you are looking to set off for?
AT: Now that I have my first Alison’s Adventures films completed I’m excited to go on a, slightly less life threatening, “School Tour” adventure and inspire/educate kids across the nation on culture, customs, survival secrets, and dreams – fully clothed and happy of course.
My goal for my Alison’s Adventures film series it to enlighten and educate the kid in everyone through humorous entertainment that leads to action!
In each film, I team up with a local companion who will guide me through their universe, and offers you all a firsthand look into their culture, customs, and secrets to survival, sustainability, and happiness.
Each film calls attention to global, environmental, and human issues through entertaining story lines that educates and inspire viewers to be a part of the solution.
I’ve launched a crowd funding campaign to help me achieve this goal and I would be forever grateful to anyone who can donate to kick start my school tour! You will see the link on my homepage www.alisonsadventures.com
Jul 8th
