“Lead me in Your truth and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation; On You I wait all the day.” —Psalms 25:5
Wes Olson
Wes took an interest in film production way back in the 1970’s when video was still recorded on reel-to-reel tapes. He attended the film school at the University of Southern California with the hope of getting into film production. After one semester, his life radically changed. Wes became a Christian, and God took him on a twelve-year “detour.” Video production faded far, far away and disappeared over the horizon.
In 1991, through a series of unexpected events, Wes began making corporate videos in Portland, Oregon, learning filming, direction, lighting, sound design, and editing. For the next fifteen years, he produced videos for local companies like Boeing and Portland General Electric. Corporate clients especially appreciated his ability to take complex subjects and make them understandable to their audiences.
Using his skills in service to God has long been a desire for Wes. Winning first place in the Creation Category at Vision Forum’s San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival was just the nudge he needed to shift his focus from the corporate scene to the production of Biology 101.
Wes Olson has been an avid student of the Bible since becoming a Christian in 1979. Born and raised in Reno, Nevada, he later moved to Portland, Oregon to attend Multnomah Bible College where he graduated in 1984—and where he met and married his wife, Tammy.
Westfield Studios
The objective of The 101 Series is to provide fascinating, visually–rich, and biblically–sound teaching, especially covering topics on which today’s culture and Christianity conflict. Biology 101 is the first in a planned series of Christian–based courses. The second one is in pre-production.
After Wes completed the script, Biology 101 was produced by the Westfield Studios three-man production crew. Wes was the on-camera talent, so the positions of camera operator, lighting, continuity, sound, music, script coordinator, and a dozen others were ably handled by his two sons, under his direction.
Lucas Olson
Lucas Olson focused on lighting and sound, and did some of the filming. A self–taught piano player, Lucas was also chosen to direct the music for Biology 101. He used a library of stock music accumulated during Wes’ corporate years and learned Acid Pro®, loop-based music production software from Sony, to compose and score all 4 ½ hours of Biology 101.
Micah Olson
Micah Olson was responsible for the bulk of the camera work, and also did some sound and lighting. In fact, Micah did all the filming for the film short “From Genesis to Genes,” which won the Film Festival award. The short was filmed in one afternoon—Micah was handed the camera at 10:00 am, given a one hour lesson, and by 5:00 pm, the filming was complete. However, it took 3 months to shoot Biology 101.
