MEDIA
A-maze-ing
IBT Media Films Rats for Modern Marvels
Apr 7, 2008 - 1:01:58 PM

IBT Media, shooting for the popular History Channel series Modern Marvels, spent a day with faculty and students at Nebraska Wesleyan University in Lincoln, Nebraska, home of Xtreme Rat Challenge. A 33-year-old tradition, the event is the capstone project to a psychology course in which students train white laboratory rats for athletic events including hurdles, rope climb, tightrope walk, long jump, swimming, and lever press.

In Modern Marvels: Rats, viewers learn about the history of and technologies related to the rat. Topics for the show include cultural significance, intelligence, training, and groundbreaking experiments.

Students (and their rodent companions) showed off for the cameras. The rats learn physical feats during a Basic Behavior Principles class offered by the Department of Psychology. The training culminates in an annual event, Xtreme Rat Challenge, at the end of the semester.

Despite their training, the rats were rather unpredictable in front of the camera. At times, the Varicam HD camera and boom microphone were close enough for the rats to jump onboard and, more than once, they did.

In addition to unfamiliar lighting and crew, the "rat cam" (another camera inspired by Modern Marvels producer Kaylan Eggert) captured the action at rodent-eye level as they climbed, crawled, jumped and swam through each challenge.

In the end, it was another successful video production shoot by IBT Media for Modern Marvels. Watch for Rats to air April 28, 2008 on the History Channel.