City's video drawing lots of online hits

A promotional video about Columbia Falls has proven very popular, although saying it “went viral” might be a stretch.

Members of the city council expressed positive remarks about the new video at their Feb. 4 meeting. Some of them were featured in the 10-minute video linked to the city’s Web site. Councilor Doug Karper said friends and relatives were linking it to their Facebook sites.

Mayor Don Barnhart noted that his daughter had called from Missoula to congratulate him on becoming a movie producer. He and the council are credited as producers at the end of the video.

The biggest promoter for the video was councilor Dave Petersen, who believed a video in DVD or online form would work wonders in getting the word out about Columbia Falls.

The city first turned to Today In America, a Florida-based video production company that used former NFL quarterback Terry Bradshaw to narrate their promotional videos. The cost for a 5-7 minute video that would be broadcasted on the Discovery Channel, the Fox network and other channels was $19,800.

Instead, the city turned to Badfritter Films. The council approved an $8,140 contract with the Whitefish-based company on Aug. 20. One of Badfritter’s three founders, Adam Pitman, has Columbia Falls links — his father Doug Pitman worked here as a doctor with Chet Hope.

Pitman was surprised by the impact the city’s video has had so far.

“It had more than 4,000 views in just the first four days,” Pitman said. “That’s the most we’ve ever seen.”

Pitman was in Los Angeles where he was meeting with Cinipix, an independent film production and distribution studio interested in Badfritter Films’ second film project, “Paper Dolls.”

The 2006 horror flick featuring a sasquatch was shot around the Flathead, with recognizable views of Glacier National Park. Badfritter’s goal was to transfer the 35 mm film to high-definition quality digital video for distribution to theaters, video rental stores, Netflix and even TV, Pitman said.

Pitman and co-founders Adam Stilwell and David Blair first teamed up in 2005 when they created “Roulette,” a ghost story shot with a handheld DV camera purchased at Costco. Both “Roulette” and “Paper Dolls” won numerous film awards.

The Badfritter boys also shot a 15-minute high-definition video in the Montana wilderness in 2011 called “Cliff Lake.” Pitman’s solo work includes a documentary about the 50th Whitefish Winter Carnival and a promotional video about a children’s camp in Wyoming.

Pitman was really happy about how the Columbia Falls video turned out and the number of positive comments it got on YouTube. Many viewers said they couldn’t wait to go back to visit Columbia Falls.

“”It was a great project and lots of fun to do, a good time,” he said. “We wanted to showcase how beautiful the town is.”

Stillwell and Badfritter composer and sound editor Adam Cotton wrote and played the soundtrack music, but the narration was done by community members, including city councilors, city manager Susan Nicosia, school superintendent Mike Nicosia, business leaders and other community leaders.

“It was cool how the community narrated the video,” Pitman said. “We usually provide a narrator.”

While Badfritter Films is working on getting “Paper Dolls” into distribution and converting “Roulette” to high-definition video next winter, they also have 190 hours of footage to edit down for a feature film about a shadowy rogue community in the Montana plains. That film will be called “Ragnarok.”

The company is also interested in creating more promotional videos for communities. To learn more, visit online at www.badfritterfilms.com.