Michael Floyd figures he has helped students create more than 200 films since he established Windsong Pictures in 1975.

His documentary and docudramatic productions have visited all of the lower 48 states plus Hawaii, Jamaica, Mexico and Canada.

Floyd’s latest project has taken him somewhere he has never been before to shoot a documentary in a way he has never shot one before.

As you read this, Floyd is north of Great White North in the great state of Alaska.

He and three of his former students are shooting a documentary on how climate change has affected the indigenous peoples of the state.

Usually, when Floyd develops a documentary, he leaves little to chance. As he was preparing for this trip, however, Floyd had to admit the existence of numerous unknowns that were just going to have to remain unknown for the time being.

“When I did (the American Indian-themed film) ‘Sacred Journey,’ I had a whole script written, which I made adjustments to when I got back,” he said. “On this one, I started writing and then thought, ‘No.’ So I just outlined things instead. We’ll pull all the information together when we get there.”

First stop on the trip, Floyd said, was slated to be the Alaska Native Heritage Center in Anchorage.

“This stuff is very foreign to me,” he said. “I am very familiar with the Native Americans of the lower 48. We are going to take a crash course (at the heritage center) and get a thorough grounding.”

Floyd said he and his crew planned to visit at least nine different indigenous groups, including the Yup’ik, the Tlingit, the Haida, the Alutiiq and the Aleuts.

Indigenous peoples have been hard hit by global warming, Floyd says.

Their lifestyles and livelihoods are threatened by melting permafrost, coastal or river erosion, fish-killing water temperatures and increased vulnerability to storms due to sections of shoreline having thawed.

Floyd describes himself as an environmentalist, but he says the documentary won’t have a doomsday pall.

“No scientists are saying the world’s about to end,” he said.

“They’re just saying there’s cause for concern.”

The documentary should cost a canny $5,000 and will be paid for through grants and with money collected from Windsong’s wedding and commercial work.

Floyd said the crew will scrimp on the trip by camping and traveling in an economy car. He hopes to get PBS interested in the documentary.

Whether or not that happens, the film will – like most Windsong productions before it – be made the focal point of numerous educational materials.

Floyd said Windsong’s previous film, “The Boyhood of Abraham Lincoln,” may have been its most successful ever in terms of how many times it was used in classroom settings nationwide.

Speaking of classrooms, former Elmhurst High School teacher Floyd said he now knows he will be occupying one in South Side High School in the fall.

He just doesn’t know what subject he’ll be teaching.