Pyke focuses on life through the camera lens

Life seen through the penetrating lens of a video camera is a familiar view to Sisters filmmaker/producer Sam Pyke. 

For the past two years Pyke has been documenting the world with his Hill Shadow Pictures, an independent, full-service video production company, targeting a variety of creative projects, from scripted shorts to professional commercial spots and educational documentaries.

"Ever since I was a kid my brothers and I have been doing these fun or scary little films," he said. "It started with my dad, he's a huge sci-fi buff, and from there we picked up one of those big VCR cameras and started doing talk show films starring ourselves and celebrities we'd dress up as. 

"In middle school and high school we'd spend our time doing full-length video movies in the summer. One of them was called 'Mortal Wombat,' a goofy takeoff on 'Mortal Kombat.' We wrote a whole script and did storyboards, filmed and edited it. We were inspired by movies with good narratives, good drama and good cinematography."

He credits much of his vocational direction to one of his brothers, Eli Pyke, whose Zion Pictures has produced several regional and international documentaries, commercials and outdoor instructional videos featuring local businesses such as Sisters Coffee Company and Rescue Response Gear. Eli and his wife have relocated to Colorado Springs to pursue creative opportunities amid the Rocky Mountains.

"In 2010, my last year fighting wildland fires, I was over at OSU in Corvallis and Eli called and asked if I wanted to intern for him on an outdoorsman TV show," he said. "I had four days to decide whether I'd move back to Bend and totally change my school campus and major. Loving film and video, I decided to jump in and from then on, I buried myself in work and practiced my craft."

Pyke took on some independent projects and eventually picked up a Canon 550D, the first fully manual digital SLR camera, and did a few random jobs doing time-lapse experimentation, small events and weddings. Last summer he traveled to Ecuador for an independent study and created a 45-minute documentary film about pre-med students working and learning in a foreign hospital.

"I'd drawn up a proposal for my professor, and what came out of it was a film called Cascade Medical Ambassadors, about this non-profit endeavor highlighting learning struggles and inspirational drama in the medical field. It was received very well and had two showings up on the OSU Cascades campus."

Pyke graduates this June and is going to be busy with the Gary Lewis Adventure Journal, a locally produced storytelling outdoorsman show told through the medium of hunting and fishing. The program is broadcast to six stations in four states in the Pacific Northwest and has a loyal following.

"We add in a lot of history and geography to appeal to those not interested solely in the outdoor world," he explained. "I'm also getting a lot of proposals to produce a piece for some manufacturers of products. I do mostly commercial productions and promotional films for businesses and organizations like Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Running Y Resort in Klamath Falls and Guides Choice clothing and active wear."

Hill Shadow Pictures is hoping to produce a pilot for an entrepreneurial television show for Fikkes Fly Hiker, a custom trekking pole that breaks down into a fishing rod.

"Right now I'm trying to put together a film project based on the Oregon Range Wars, depicting the violent history of cattlemen and sheep herders fighting in the late 1800s. I've fallen in love with the Western genre and see a lot of potential there in telling folks a little-known period in Oregon's past. The hardest part is finding the funding. When you ask for money the people want to make sure you're not wasting their money. Working with Zion Pictures, I developed a strict business model to ensure optimum quality and legitimate, qualitative use of all resources, whether it's equipment, actors, props and volunteers. That's extremely important

to me."

For more information, contact Sam Pyke at www.hillshadowpictures.com.