Studio Brief: 'Software Workshop- InDesign' Research

For this brief, I was randomly given the topic of the animal, Wolf. I felt that a good starting point for research would be to watch a BBC documentary on Wolves as they are usually well informed and factual. From this, I went onto making notes of important facts based on that within the 2 part documentary.

"Land of The Lost Wolves- Ep 1" (2012) by BBC Television

SaveONWidlife (2012) "Land of The Lost Wolves- Ep 1" [Youtube] 9th April Available from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COiskamvoOY (Accessed 15th February 2013)

Episode 1 Notes:

Watching Documentary and Taking Notes

• Deep- seated hatred of wolves divides public opinion within North America
• Is North Americas Top Predator- was chased away into Canada but are now beginning to return to North America near the Cascade Mountains, Seattle
• The Wolf's return will have far-reaching consequences- keeps deer population down, controls grazing and allows for brushes to grow
• Can smell humans from over a mile away
• Wolves have huge territories and use their scent to mark them
• They are sensitive and protective of their territory from other wolves, especially during mating season
• Wolves can travel more than 50 miles a day
• Example of 'Lookout Pack' - named after the 'Lookout Mountain' that they have been spotted on
• Wolves will defend their territory against rival packs
• A Valley is a good wolf habitat- Plenty of Prey and large open spaces to chase them down
• Wolves prefer to travel on ridges when there is less snow, however, wolves are easier to track in snow
• Wolves are built for speed and stamina
• Example of Yellowstone National Park introduced wolves to improve habitat structures- growth to bushes, additional habitat for other creatures- improved the restorative balance
• Wolves are wary- they will only show up if there curiosity is arose such as by smell and sound
• Wolves are protected by law in Washington State but people don't like them being in the same vicinity as humans for safety of the family
• Wolf Den- this is the home of Wolf Pups for the first 6 weeks of their life (April and May) where they depend on their mother, safe from predators and the dens are not abandoned without good reason
• Wolves can survive on their own but can only thrive if they are in a pack- they are a social animal that live in family groups. This is usually made up of the Breeding pair and pups, raised and living in a social setting. Without pups, they cant be recognised 
• Some people hate wolves for the way they hunt
• Ron Gillet wants them exterminated for the way they attack animals, he is a passionate defender of the hunting culture and having big game hunts. He declares that the idea of the Wolf balancing the ecosystem is 'Baloney'

                                                    "Land of The Lost Wolves- Ep2" (2012) by BBC Television

SaveONWildlife (2012) "Land of The Lost Wolves- Ep2" [Youtube] Available from http://www.youtube.com/watch?             v=x_pWCffeIWI 9 (Accessed 15th February 2013)

Episode 2 Notes:

Watching Documentary and Taking Notes

• European settlers saw Wolves as a threat and waged war on them. 1 million of them were tracked and killed and Wolves became wiped out as America became colonised.
• "Lookout Pack" are the first pack to breed in 70 years
• Scientists had taken blood samples form wolves all over America and to trace the 'Lookout Pack' bloodline to the Great Bear rainforest
• Government scientists discovered and raided the den of a young female wolf and collared her to pin-point her location and plot her movements- DNA was taken and revealed that she is a direct descendant of the 'Lookout Pack'
• The source population (main wolf pack) feeds the rest of the wolf population back into the country
• Consequences of the Wolf's absence- wolves hunt elk and deer, which keeps the herd numbers low and on the move which, if not, the population over-eats bushes and young trees which damages the habitats for other animals
• Scientists have noticed that wolves are part of the American landscape- Doug Smith, wolf expert, stated that large carnivores effect the structure of the area around them for better or worse, it becomes very different without them and looses the ecosystem without them
• If wolves keep spreading south, it will help colonise the former range
• Wolves hide their pups in a 'Rendezvous' site- a place where the pups are hidden and can grow up with space to play. A pack can be placed at the same rendezvous site for days on end which makes them easier to track but more venerable to poachers. Adults come and go to hunt but always return to meet the pups there.
• The key to finding a wolf is to find its prey. rivers are full of salmon during the summer which coaxes out predators to feed off them- they bite the brain clean off
• Wolf 'Scat' is their waste which aids the mystery as to their movements, feeding habits and tracking them
• Wolves are incredibly adaptable, able to live everywhere from tundra to arctic conditions, feeding off small mice to large bison.
• A single Wolf is one of the most cleverest animals on the planet but when together, they can hunt the most formidable prey
• A coastal wolf has a very distinctive rusty brown colour
• Wolves can swim up to 7 miles at a time, catching salmon, seeks, snatching sea bears and foregoing mussels
• Wolves and humans can survive in the same areas and eat the same foods- they are feared and seen as competition which is why the european settlers had the mindset to exterminate them
• Young lone wolves will strike off into new territory to start packs of their own but this means they are likely to come across humans
• The wolves return is a conscientious issue in rural America, especially in Idaho- as an experiment, 35 wolves were reintroduced into Idaho and thrived under legal protection. When the ban was lifted by Obama, it allowed them to be legally shot
• Urgent problem for Wolves, no one wants them back- Idaho have an anti-wolf coalition with Ron Gillet as their leader- Members fear wolves will eat the cows and destroy the way they live their lives. Livestock are being lost. Respecting the ranchers. "They take its prey down and suck its blood out whilst its still alive. Get rid of them. The experiment has failed. Get them out. Get rid of them."
• The elk and deer hunting in Idaho is a million dollar industry as the return of wolves can effect the livelihood of families who run it
• Milton Turley, an elk and deer hunter from Idaho, feels that this livelihood is at risk by the wolves- "The elk is taking a hell of a hit.. its impacting everyone's lives. As long as they are kept in check a little bit. Everything has to be kept in check, Everytime I hear a wolf, it sends a shiver down my spine. Nature is a little sick because one creature is devouring the other set of creatures. There has got to be some middle ground here so that we can have so many wolves and still have the herd of elk maintain a lively number of animals"- co-existance and consideration of a middle ground where people and wolves can share the wild spaces
• Wolves are seen as an indiscriminate wonton killer but scientists believe otherwise. they are an effective killer but they are usually unsuccessful with there hunts as prey have developed self protection mechanisms from being targeted
• Wolves target weak animals as they are easy prey
• Pups head off about 2 years of age to make a pack of their own
• Doug Smith- In 200 years, they would like to see one vast connection between the wolves in the southern states, in habitats with low conflict with humans

From the information that I have gained by watching these documentaries and the understanding it has given me, I think I want my double page spread article to be about the challenge that wolves face against humans. The topic of being hunted for the loss of game and the livelihood of hunters is quite topical and I think a serious journalistic approach to an audience of well- educated people would be relevant to the brief.

I need to be able to collect some images that would potentially look fitting with this information.

"Timberwolfe In Bad Mergentheim"(n.d) by Cloudtail

Cloudtail (n.d) "Timberwolfe In Bad Mergentheim" [Weblog] Social Wallpapering Available from http://www.socwall.com/desktop-wallpaper/37924/timberwolfe-in-bad-mergentheim-by-cloudtail/ (Accessed 21st February 2013)

This image would be relevant to my article as it shows the closeness of the pack and how wolves live. I think it will illustrate visually the way that packs operate and the way they live and hunt, how they bring up the family and how alike wolves are to humans in regards to family.

"Wolf" (n.d) by Joel Sartore

Sartore (n.d) "Wolf" [Internet] Available from http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/wolf/?source=A-to-Z (Accessed 21st February 2013)

I felt it would be necessary to have a close up image of a wolf so that it was more of an intimate portrait of the wolf which would draw in the readership. The detail captured in the photograph and the way the wolf is looking into the lens feels like it is looking directly at the audience.

"Wolf Wars" (2009-2010) by Robert Millage

Millage, R. (2010) "Wolf Wars"[Internet] 3rd March Available from http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/03/wolf-wars/moyer-photography (Accessed 21st February 2013)

I felt this was a hard-hitting yet not too overtly graphic image of the harsh reality that Wolves face as they are hunted by humans who see them as predators who ruin thier livelihoods. This illustrates the message to the reader in a dramatic and blunt manner. In a sense, this image would be more sympathetic to the wolf than the hunter as the way the 'trophy' has been laid out shows the power struggle and desperation of the hunter. I think this would be an emotive image that would grab the readership into wanting to read on.

From the research that I gathered within the documentary notes, I will write up a 500+ word article on the challenges that wolves face to come back from extinction. I will use some of the quotes collected from the documentaries to include informed opinions as well as use some examples and facts and statistics:

Wolf Article Contents- Word Count: 628

I will include this within my design layouts so I can try different fonts and see the legibility of my contents.