It was my first attempt at a production of this magnitude. I say "magnitude" because everything I've shot since then has been anywhere between 1 minute and 15 minutes; so, a 90-120 minute piece is significantly larger in scale than anything I have done.
I am going to try to tell you all as much as I can about the process of putting together this film without actually spoiling the documentary for you. I will give you an insight on my thought and organizational process and hope that this will interest you all as it is as much a part of the creative process as actually framing, picking and choosing shots.
One of the things I learned about documentary filmmaking was that as much as I can be a bit of a control freak, as almost all directors are, that it was just as important to be malleable as it is to be rigid in decisions. For example, I KNEW from the moment I decided to shoot this documentary that I was going to shoot it on an Canon EOS 7D - an HD-SLR. I specifically chose this camera for the purpose of maneuverability and sturdiness, despite the fact that it is a stills camera. Artistically, I chose it because I wanted to have the options of swapping lenses. One of the things I STRESSED the most going into this documentary and talking to my director of photography (James Hellyer) is that I want this documentary to be CINEMATIC. He did a wonderful job of getting all the shots I specifically wanted and did a great job of lighting interviews as well. I had worked with James on several occasions and I knew he would pull through as always. I want want to tell a story as cinematically and as artistically as my abilities will let me. It was a wonderful choice and I love my Canon 7D - I pushed that camera to the limit. So, for the camera, we had 2 Canon 7D bodies and 7 (yes, 7) lenses in our kit.
So, the camera was something I was NOT going to compromise on no matter what anyone said and it paid off.
Anyway, going back to being malleable... Originally, I had all these plans to shoot these spectacular motion/dolly like shots the way I would on a narrative project. It just did not work. We did not have the time or the logistics to put these kinds of shots together, so I rolled with it. I, instead, picked shots I could do in motion with a car and really made an effort to sharpen my skills with static, panning and tilt shots with a tripod. In the end, I think the shots look beautiful and it was a great way to continue to exercise fundamental filmmaking movements.
Another part of the project that took planning and I am really glad I did not try to skimp on was SOUND. My sound recordist Scott Brachmayer was amazing. He was patient, technically sound and always kept an ear out for issues. Let me tell you, for all those out there making documentaries, commercials, narratives: treat your sound man well, he will make or break your film and sound is the most important, yet most under appreciated job on the set. Because I chose to go with the Canon 7D HD-SLR, I knew I would need quality sound and it paid off. The sound coming off of the sound device was amazing compared to the on-board mic on the camera for obvious reasons... I don't think anyone has really used the 7D to this extent on a documentary shoot.
I now had quality footage and quality sound coming out of the documentary.
Of course, months before actually flying out to the Philippines I had to plan, plan, plan... I believe the saying is: Prior Preparation Prevents Possible Problems... the 5 Ps in filmmaking. I was not prepared to let anything go wrong during principal photography because I was lazy before the shoot.
So, I spent countless weeks awake up until 3 or 4 in the morning here in Toronto because I was getting in touch with people in the Philippines. For those of you who do not know, the time difference is twelve hours, thirteen during daylight savings. That meant I was receiving important emails between midnight and 4AM which I would need to respond to immediately. I worked and planned this shoot between the months of January and April.
It was difficult and stressing. I put together a huge binder with 5 redundancies (one for myself and a bunch for my crew). In that binder I put my interviewees information, my general and pre-planned interview questions for every single person, locations I wanted to shoot, budget and, of course, schedule. I had one month of scheduled shooting and almost every day was full. I broke down every day to what we were shooting and left a bit of wiggle room for problems and adjustments.
One of the biggest blessings was having a good crew on hand. My DOP and Sound Recordist did a great job and when you're working with people day in and day out for a long period of time, you better get along, if not, it will be a LONG and painful production. Luckily, I had two great teammates for this documentary. So if you are planning a long shoot, choose wisely and do not compromise the quality of your production for anything and the quality of your personnel.
I could go on forever wit this post, but I will stop here. I have much more to write about from planning to my unbelievable rediscovery of my homeland, from technical problems to lessons learned.
For now, this will do. I leave you this first video we actually did while we were there. It just shows us getting to the Philippines and shots at the airport. Here are some photos from the trip as well.
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| The Arena |
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| C5 Highway |
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| Mount Sinai |
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| Best Friends |
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| Prisoner of Poverty |
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| Gathering Sound |
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| The Crew |
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| The Aftermath |
