James Meyers, a 2011 alumnus, directed a documentary with a lasting effect on Columbia. His film, “Past the Painted Desert,” is about Arizona’s Petrified Forest National Park.

To research for the film, Meyers went to an old dig site with a team of paleontologists and scientists in hopes of capturing the art of digging up fossils, he said in an emailed statement.

“The film is about paleontology,” Myers said. “As generic as that sounds it’s pretty spot on. When I went, I was relatively new to most of the practice in the field. This was a great chance for me to get a keyhole view into it, and that’s how I approached it in the documentary; a peek into a great world of science.”

Because of the educational value of the project, Columbia’s Honors Program is offering a five-week summer course, “Paleontology Field Observations & Methods: Honors,” for students interested in paleontology and who want to creatively fulfill a science credit. The course will consist of three weeks of in-class studies and two weeks at the Petrified Forest for a hands-on educational experience.

Robin Whatley, coordinator of the trip and an associate professor in the Science & Mathematics Department, said the trip to the Petrified Forest was exciting because they found rare objects.

“It’s kind of like looking for treasure because you are looking for things that have never been seen before, things that have never been held by human hands,” Whatley said. “[Meyers] was great. He was incredible. He carried all of this camera equipment around the entire trip, this huge backpack just filled with film equipment. He followed us up and down every single one of those hills. He was totally unintrusive and fun to be around.”

Whatley said the main goal of the documentary was to deliver a message about what paleontology is and the significance behind looking for fossils.

“James and I talked about the things that we wanted to get across in the documentary,” Whatley said. “A lot of those things were about paleontology, what it is, what it’s like to look for fossils, especially the types that we would be finding in the Petrified Forest and what it is like being out there.”  

Meyers said he was pleased with the outcome of his film, adding that working with the film crew was unforgettable.

“It was a lot of fun getting to know [the paleontologists] in a setting like that,” Meyers said. “We were miles out into a desert, and it was just us in a small camp. We played hearts every night together, then we would get up early and walk for miles only stopping shortly for lunch. We would split up partially during the day, and I would try to run around finding the few groups, which allowed me to get to know each of them pretty closely.”

Although there were weather-based risks involved, such as skyrocketing temperatures and limited access to running water, Meyers said it did not discourage him from pursuing the film.

“The biggest challenge would have been the physical aspect of the trip,” Meyers said. “I was one of the youngest ones there but I was always exhausted, and I thought that I was in good shape at the time.”

Although the stress of the two-week excursion was intense, the quality of the video and Meyers’ expert eye made for an interesting, educational and inspirational video.

“So many things could have gone wrong,” Meyers said. “I would charge the batteries from a solar panel, which I wasn’t sure would work. I would have to completely cover my camera to keep out the sand. I was worried that the equipment would overheat.”

Jake Hughes, a junior cinema art + science major, has one of the seven spots available for the summer course. He said he and his classmates will be looking for dinosaur fossils.

“For a long time, til I was probably 10 or 12, I was very interested in paleontology and fossils. It was so exciting to me,” Hughes said. “Signing up for this class really rekindled that love of it I had as a child—6 year old me is jumping up and down inside.”