“Filmmaking is very similar to the Block Plan, where it’s an intensive deep dive into a subject you may or may not have expertise in, and you have to understand it, digest it, experience it, and then share it,” observes Travis Rummel ’01.
When Rummel attended CC, there was no Film major. He majored in International Political Economy and took a block abroad on sustainable development in Zimbabwe. “It was pretty life-changing, honestly. My core group of CC friends all did it at the same time. I ended up writing my thesis on the AIDS pandemic impact in southern Africa.”
After graduating, Rummel stumbled into filmmaking, inspired by the Mountain Film Festival in Telluride, CO, and taught himself the craft. It was perfect timing, as non-linear editing and higher-quality digital cameras made it possible to create professional-level videos at home.
In 2005, Rummel co-founded Felt Soul Media, a production company that he describes as adventure conservation filmmaking. “In the beginning, we would find ideas that we found compelling and then go out and make them. We had a lot of success with that, winning awards at different film festivals,” he shares. Their work caught the eye of outdoors brands like Patagonia and YETI, who enlisted their talents early on in the branded content wave.
“Filmmaking is very similar to the Block Plan, where it’s an intensive deep dive into a subject you may or may not have expertise in, and you have to understand it, digest it, experience it, and then share it.”
Travis Rummel ’01
Most of Rummel’s films involve sending a small crew out by plane, boat, or helicopter to film a story. For instance, he recently completed a series about extreme uses for YETI coolers. He filmed a transplant team flying a liver from Denver to Omaha for a lifesaving transplant, a brown bear hunting guide throwing coolers out of a float plane onto the Alaskan tundra, and a woman bringing breast milk to her baby in the NICU.
“I really appreciate that I can show up with a purpose and be immediately put into these people’s specialty worlds. You have to fall in love with your characters and then get the audience to fall in love with them too,” he shares. “Getting to go to some of the most remote, pristine places left on Earth with people at the top of their game is so compelling. It’s a little addicting, and it’s hard to imagine not doing it.”
Rummel is one of the mentors for CC’s Documentary Exploration Grant, which awards $25,000 per year for student film projects.
“The intent is to get kids out making films and pair them with mentors. It’s been super fun for me to engage with the community and see what the students are pitching,” Rummel says.
Across the film world and through the outdoors brands he works with, Rummel encounters CC grads frequently. The first year he showed a film at the Banff Film Festival, he counted four decades of CC alums presenting films.
“I’ve actually become friends with a lot of younger and older CC grads through the film world,” he says. “The community and friendships that I made at CC have truly stood the test of time, and my closest friends are all CC grads to this day.”