Kamloops outdoorsman Marshall Krasser creates video content about backcountry survival.

(SHANNON AINSLIE / iNFOnews.ca)

Kamloops resident Marshall Krasser knows how to survive in the backcountry after growing up in the Ozarks in Missouri, learning how to hunt, fish and be self-sufficient in the wilderness.

“I was a Missouri hillbilly as they say, being outdoors was a way of life,” he said. “My grandparents took us out camping all the time and taught us a lot. I never wanted to work inside or live in a big city but that’s what happened.”

Krasser went to university to study music, art and graphics and ended up spending two decades working in San Francisco at Industrial Light & Magic, the world’s leading company for visual effects founded by filmmaker and director George Lucas who created Star Wars and Indiana Jones.

He has done computer graphics for movies like Avatar, Harry Potter, Galaxy Quest and Titanic, and even some movie set work for the likes of Steven Spielberg and Frank Marshall.

Now 61, Krasser is combining his knowledge of the outdoors, his knack for videography and his computer graphics experience to create educational backcountry survival videos.

“I think right now there are so many people that have lived their entire lives in cities and have no understanding of what it’s like to live and do things on your own in the bush,” he said. “There’s a very big disconnect, big city dwellers don’t understand a rural B.C. resident."

“You drive so far north in B.C. and you see how vast it is. I want to show some of the scenery. It’s showing people what’s out there, and get them out there.”

Krasser moved to Canada when he took a supervisory position with a visual effects company in Vancouver.

In 2012, he purchased 23 acres of forested land far into the backcountry outside of Kamloops.

A few years ago, he moved to Kamloops to be closer to the property and continues doing his job virtually.

“The property is really remote up a forest service road,” Krasser said. “There I’m closer to hunting and fishing areas. I always need the outdoors to reset and refill.”

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Along with his friend Marc Gilbeau, Krasser is making educational content on survival skills, hunting, cooking on a wood stove and even doing reviews on tools from a little cabin on the acreage.

Krasser is using a similar format to American outdoor shows he watches to create his own version called Canadian Mountain Men. He is also using forms of artificial intelligence to create content. He tells ChatGPT what information he wants and what he wants done with it and then edits the response.

He narrates the videos, but sends the audio through an AI tool that changes his voice. Instead, the audio is read by a bot named Brian.

“I got tired of listening to myself talk and don’t have access to a voice over person,” Krasser said. “Sometimes there are problems. I’m doing an episode on bows and bow hunting we just filmed for a few days ago.

“Brian kept saying ‘bough’ so I tried spelling it out phonetically and then he tried to say it phonetically.”

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He has been experimenting with AI applications and said AI is a tool, just like anything else.

“It’s like a pencil,” he said. “You give a pencil to a little kid and you get a drawing but you give it to Da Vinci and you get a masterpiece. It’s a matter of how you implement it.

“I treat it as someone I’m giving direction to that has a difficult time understanding what I’m asking them to do. You have to be very specific in how you ask for it.”

Krasser is currently working on a hunting video where he used fake blood to make a fake knife cut on his hand. He plans to make an educational video on foraging soon, including mushroom foraging. He is still experimenting with the sound and design of the videos. 

“It’s like a full circle in my life, coming back to the outdoors,” he said. "I hope this helps reconnect people to the backcountry." 

Go here to follow Krasser's Canadian Mountain Men videos.

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