Award Winning Filmmaker Shares Career Advice with UF Students


Award winning filmmaker Eric Flaggs shared career advice with UF students Monday based on his own experience. Flaggs graduated from University of Florida Documentary Institute where he received his Master's degree in 2005. He majored in ecology for his undergraduate studies and later took his interest into film to showcase his investigative work.
Flagg said having a niche is important when creating content for a mass audience. Environmental education became his focus after analyzing human's impact on ecology.
"People will look to your work," he said. "Having a focus on what it is you do and letting everyone know your expertise is extremely important."
 After working as a wetland scientist for many years, Flagg said he noticed a need to document what he was learning.

At UF's Documentary Institute, Flagg met Isaac Brown, who became his partner in a new project. They both founded Jellyfish Smack Productions in 2005 to create films focusing on social and environmental global issues.

In order to truly find one's passion, Flagg advised students to travel and volunteer as much as possible. He said that by networking and trying new things, one can truly know what they like and dislike.

Flagg said he created "Gimmie Green" an environmental educational film to shine light on the impact residential lawns have on the environment. He admitted it is a peculiar and unique topic that actually resulted in outstanding facts. According to the film, American households use about 50 percent of their water on their yards.
"GIMME GREEN is a humorous look at the American obsession with the residential lawn and the effects it has on our environment, our wallets, and our outlook on life."

Creating an educational film can be a challenge, Flagg said. For this reason, he said he wanted to make sure it was informational and still humorous to grasp the viewer's attention while still respecting the seriousness of the issue. He said often times, these types of films inform the viewer of dangerous human practices on land but forgets to include solutions. Flagg said he made sure to mention a list of ways the viewer can do their part in being sustainable.

Flagg also explored other ways in which humans are affected by their own harmful unsustainable practices in his film "Terra Blight." The life cycle of a computer was traced down and the end result was far from what was expected. Ghana receives electronic waste from the U.S. and most times the waste is thrown in a toxic landfill and not used commercially.

"From a 13-year-old Ghanaian who smashes obsolete monitors to salvage copper to a 3,000-person video game party in Texas, Terra Blight examines the unseen realities of one of the most ubiquitous toxic wastes on our planet."

Inspirational and cultural films also became part of Flagg's objective in film making. He portrayed the life of a man known as SiDiKi, who struggled from physical deformities after suffering from polio. Despite the challenge and negative comments made by his community in Guinea, SiDiKi stayed with a positive outlook in life.

Flagg told students, film making is an art that can take many forms and tell many stories. From documenting water crisis to inspirational stories, Flagg said film has allowed him to follow his bliss.

 "Storytelling can make your life worth living."-Eric Flagg


To follow more of Flagg's work, you can visit http://www.jellyfishsmack.com/documentary.html .

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