BIOGRAPHY


Borneo

 “Keen, creative eye…”       

“Strong feel for the subject…”     

“Technically superior…”

Just a few of the ways Mark Falstad’s work has been described. He is a seasoned veteran of network documentaries and news magazines. Falstad has won two national Emmys and earned five Emmy nominations for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Electronic Cinematography. In addition, he received an Eastman Kodak award for Outstanding Photographic Achievement and an Emmy citation for his coverage of 9/11 in New York.

Falstad started as a news cameraman/editor at KMSP-TV in Minneapolis. He later joined WCCO-TV’s nationally recognized public affairs unit shooting and editing long-form documentaries.

His work caught the attention of CBS News in New York, which hired him to shoot exclusively for their documentary unit. There, he shot over a dozen prime-time specials for CBS News along with countless stories for Sixty Minutes and other CBS News magazines.

After three years at CBS in New York, Falstad left his staff job to start freelancing. Based in Minneapolis, he continues to work for network and corporate clients. Adventure stories are a specialty, often done under extreme conditions.  Falstad and his crew have filmed grizzly bears in Yellowstone at -45˚ and orangutans in the tropical heat and humidity of Borneo.

His assignments have taken him to all 50 states and over 40 countries, making him an experienced international DP.

Falstad is versatile in a variety of styles from hand-held verite to complex multi-camera production shoots. He has spearheaded several technical milestones during his career. He shot the first network documentary produced on Betacam at CBS News, resulting in his first Emmy. At Dateline/NBC, he was the first to use both the CineAlta 24p high-def camera and the Sony XDCAM Optical Disk camera. In March 2006, Sony chose Falstad to field test their new XDCAM HD camera at the Iditarod in Alaska. His experiences with this new format made Falstad the subject of numerous articles in a variety of trade publications.

In 2003, Falstad was named adjunct professor in the MFA Program in Science and Natural History Filmmaking at Montana State University in Bozeman. There, he shares his 30 plus years of experience with budding wildlife filmmakers.


Harvard Bound

Superior Lighthouse

Iditarod

Zurich Train Station

Recife, Brazil

Ready to Roll