David G. Conover

David G. Conover is an American documentary film and television director. His production company, Compass Light, based in Camden, Maine, is most widely known for producing Sunrise Earth for HD Theater.

Biography

David Conover was born and raised in a New England family with strong ties to the sea and a tradition of active storytelling. Both grandfathers were amateur filmmakers in the 1920s and 30's. Upon graduating with a degree in comparative religious studies from Bowdoin College, David worked as a professional seaman—he has extensive experience in the Atlantic and Pacific. He did a double-handed transatlantic crossing while filming Passage. He spent five years designing and teaching sea courses for kids age 14–18 at the Hurricane Island Outward Bound School in Maine and in Florida. This was followed by a Master's Degree in Education at Harvard, where David studied moral development and then a second year as a teaching assistant the Kennedy School in Leadership Studies. David now lives in Camden, Maine.

Compass Light

Conover's production company, Compass Light, grew out of his early work, and the studios moved to the seaport of Camden, Maine in 1994 in order to be closer to the ocean and the stories being produced. The company has produced over 80 films for broadcast and educational clients.

Awards include the National Outdoor Production Award, a Blue Ribbon by the National Educational Media Competition, and two nominations for a National Emmy as Outstanding Director & Outstanding Science and Technology Program. For several years, David has also taught documentary film courses at the International Film and Television Workshops in Rockport, Maine, is Coastal Studies Fellow at Bowdoin College for the 2014/15 Academic Year.

Experiential TV

Conover's team conceived and developed a new format of television, called “Experiential TV", in 2003. This is a radically observational and carefully crafted aesthetic, which makes the most of the HD format and is exemplified by the nature series Sunrise Earth, a 65 hour series that has aired two hours a day on domestic and international Discovery Channels since September, 2004. The series makes the claim to the only long-running broadcast series in which not a single word is spoken.

After the success of Sunrise Earth, Conover decided to focus on creating more productions in the same format. In 2007, Conover co-founded BlueMarvel, an aggregator and distributor of the Experiential TV format.

Conservation Media Group

In 2014 Conover launched Conservation Media Group, a Maine-based non-profit. Conservation Media Group trains and supports film and video activists to create and deliver compelling productions that make a measurable impact on today’s conservation issues, with a focus on energy and the ocean.

Conservation Media Group's pilot effort supported the campaign of the Appalachian Mountain Club and the Society for the Preservation Of New Hampshire Forests, in their "Bury or Stop Northern Pass." The campaign petition generated more than 10,000 signatures opposing the plans for a 187-mile overland power line from hydroelectric facilities in Canada, proposed by Northeast Utilities. A second effort supported the Ban Deep Sea Trawling campaign of Bloom Association.

Films by David Conover

• Behold the Earth (in production)
• Islands in the Wind 2011
• Creating Synthetic Life 2010
• Sunrise Earth (Series)
• Cracking the Ocean Code 2005
• Live from the ISS 2002-3
• Mid-Water Mysteries 2002
• Quest for Captain Kidd 2001
• Fishing for the Future 2001
• The Vikings 2001
• Uncovering a Pirate’s Graveyard 2000
• Search for the Giant Lobster 2000
• Coral Heaven 1999
• The Viking Saga: L’Anse aux Meadows 1998

Awards

• National Outdoor Production Award
• Blue Ribbon – National Educational Media Competition
• Nominated for a National Emmy as Outstanding Director
• Nominated for a National Emmy as Outstanding Science and Technology Program

External links

• Compass Light
• HD Theater's Sunrise Earth page
• David G. Conover at IMDb
• BlueMarvel
• Behold the Earth