Before transitioning to documentary filmmaking, Noel grew up in Southern California, living in Los Angeles as a professional photographer for 15 years. Noel eventually chose to leave Los Angeles in order to travel full time, living remotely, staying on location for his first documentary project, called The Bears on Pine Ridge. Filming the documentary covered an extensive period of time, covering individuals on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, during a State-of-Emergency suicide crisis. The mental health crisis on Native Reservations is a subject that has not received the media attention necessary to provide resources for assistance. The goal of Bass' documentary project is to reach a wider audience about the issue, hoping to ultimately bring change to the lack of assistance and inadequate response to the crisis by government officials and agencies. 

   In 2021, Noel released TBOPR as a short film, winning several awards for best short documentary, including the Phoenix Film Festival, South Dakota Film Festival, and earning an award nomination from the prestigious Big Sky Documentary Film Festival. The film drew the attention of Vision Maker Media, who partnered with Bass to help create a longer feature film version, to be released in Fall 2023.