Flat Creek Inn

The story behind our latest video of Grand Teton National Park and Flat Creek Inn

Grand Teton National Park

capturing Jackson Hole on film

[As you may know Flat Creek Inn is a family owned and operated business and each member of our family has had something to contribute to the success of our motel. Recently 3 family members--all teenagers--created a new video, shown below, and here are the details behind it written by one of the creators, Landon Bagley. Check out their YouTube channel here.]
Most 15 year olds plan on spending their summer making their fortune off of doing yard work for their neighbors, but not us.  My cousin Quinn and I spent the whole school year discussing what we would do in the summer.  We decided that we could use our knack for photography and video-making to start a small business making promotional videos for small businesses.  In our brainstorming sessions we talked about making a video for our family’s motel in Jackson. We got an okay and started writing and planning. We felt very professional when we packed up all of our camera gear and headed out to Jackson to film.  As independent as we felt, my aunt was still driving us around. [caption id="attachment_1310" align="aligncenter" width="480"]Grand Teton National Park Getting the cameras ready[/caption] The first day in Jackson we woke up extremely early so that we could catch the sunrise on the Tetons.  We dragged ourselves out of bed and headed out into the cold Wyoming morning.  We set up our cameras and tripods in a drowsy state.  We were the first people that arrived at this scenic overlook but it got very bright very fast, not because of the sun but because of the large amount of headlights that came streaming down the road.  What we thought was a scenic overlook soon became a haven for photographers who were racing each other to stake out their perfect spot to capture the sheer beauty of the Tetons in the rising sun. Grand Teton National Park Luckily, we didn’t get trampled by any of the passionate (and aggressive) photographers.  We cruised around the park the rest of the morning eying down places to get good shots of the majestic landscape.  We were so sleepy after that excursion we headed back to the motel and took a nap. [caption id="attachment_1309" align="aligncenter" width="480"]Grand Teton National Park The scenery is the gold at the end of the rainbow[/caption] When our team was writing the script we really wanted to film some wildlife, in particular a bear.  Bears are a little tougher to find and you have got to know where to look, and when to go.  Luckily, we have a secret weapon, Connor Kunz.  Connor has been working at the hotel for several years now and is an amateur photographer.  He has spent a lot of time learning how to get the best shots of the Tetons.  He took us out to the park to his favorite spots to find wildlife.   If you are ever a guest at the Flat Creek Inn, be sure to ask the front desk for some tips on finding wildlife they are sure to help you out. It ended up being surprisingly easy to find wildlife because there are always herds of tourists and cars parked on the sides of the road with flocks of people setting up their tripods trying to get the best shot.  We arrived at the right time to scout out and find several sites to view bears.  That's how Quinn Kunz got that great shot of the bear in the video.  When I edited the video I ended up getting only a few seconds that actually worked for the final video because there were so many cars in the way, and the bear was moving.  Luckily, Quinn got a great shot that worked really well with the script. We came across an interesting challenge when we were filming the Flat Creek Inn rooms.  The rooms were very nice, and we wanted to capture the whole room in a single shot.  It took us about an hour to figure out where we wanted to walk, how to hold the glidecam, and what to set the camera settings to.  We eventually figured it out and got the shot we wanted, and gained the valuable skill of filming motel rooms. Overall, filming this was a blast, and a great opportunity for us to get more experience filming for people, and to explore beautiful Jackson Hole and Grand Teton National Park. Elk antler arches in Jackson, Wyoming Landon Bagley Special thanks to Korinne Nelson for giving us this opportunity, Connor Kunz for the guidance, and huge thanks to the Kunzes and Bagleys for driving us around.  

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