This promo was shot over ten days in and around Sao Paolo, Brazil. Filmed on a HD Sony 900, it was co-production between Red Earth Studio (my company) and a Brazilian production company called Canal Azul, who are part of the TRAFFIC Group.
Myself and Marc, one the our producers at RES who had developed the idea, flew out to Brazil to direct the promo, while Canal Azul helped out with production, crew, kit and post, which they had in-house.
We landed in pretty drab weather, actually Sao Paolo is always drab. It is when I'm there anyway, I always end up getting colds, flus or some sort of reaction to the pollution. Its not the greatest looking of cities, its skyline a jungle of tall buildings as far as the eye can see, covered in a strange gothic graffiti.
The production crew at Canal Azul were amazing and had organized some amazing locations and actors, so from the first day of the shoot to the end, apart from the post, but that story comes further down(!), everything went smoothly; I think they even had a hand in the weather, as the clouds dispersed and out came the sun tan lotion for the remainder of the time we were there.
Our first location was the beach in Guaruja, 100km south of SP, near Santos.
Our first location was the beach in Guaruja, 100km south of SP, near Santos.
It was a stunning morning with a beautiful pink sky as the sun rose above the waves of the atlantic ocean. We filmed a young girl performing Tai Chi with a sword. The sunrise and water in the background made for an amazing picture and a promising start to the shoot.
We have so much beautiful footage, I'm gagging to make a second edit. Hopefully sooner rather than later.
Marc resting during a short lunch break.
Later on that afternoon, a local capoeira club agreed to show off some of their skills, a mixture of dance and martial arts that came over to Brazil during the slave trade from Africa.
Marc and Joao discussing things during a break in shooting.
These two guys were pretty good. Especially the guy in red, he really thought he was a film star in the way that he carried himself.
The setting was amazing.
Brazil has the largest japanese community outside of Japan as well as a large chinese and asian community, which made filming in Brazil a hell of a lot cheaper than going to China and Japan.
With a great location like this temple, situated in the middle of a bush about 150km north of Sao Paolo, we couldn't go wrong.
The scariest part of the shoot had to be filming the scene of the Tai Chi guy on the rooftop of the Copan building, one of the tallest in Sao Paolo.
We have so much beautiful footage, I'm gagging to make a second edit. Hopefully sooner rather than later.
Marc resting during a short lunch break.
Later on that afternoon, a local capoeira club agreed to show off some of their skills, a mixture of dance and martial arts that came over to Brazil during the slave trade from Africa.
Marc and Joao discussing things during a break in shooting.
These two guys were pretty good. Especially the guy in red, he really thought he was a film star in the way that he carried himself.
The setting was amazing.
Brazil has the largest japanese community outside of Japan as well as a large chinese and asian community, which made filming in Brazil a hell of a lot cheaper than going to China and Japan.
With a great location like this temple, situated in the middle of a bush about 150km north of Sao Paolo, we couldn't go wrong.
The scariest part of the shoot had to be filming the scene of the Tai Chi guy on the rooftop of the Copan building, one of the tallest in Sao Paolo.
I don't know if you can see it in the photo, but there is a two foot wall around the edge, beyond that is a sheer drop to the traffic below.
It was harrowing and I had been worried about filming there for days. I kept having these nightmares of tripping over the edge.
I never did trip over the edge and after a while I got used to it; kind of!
This is where I forget the names of everyone and I am going to have to ask Marc who a couple of these people are. I'm crap with names!
I never did trip over the edge and after a while I got used to it; kind of!
This is where I forget the names of everyone and I am going to have to ask Marc who a couple of these people are. I'm crap with names!
Bottom right to left: Me, Marc, Grip
Top right to left: Joao (camera assistant-amazing, brilliant and a great guy), production assistant, Joana Fava, Lygia, producer and asst director (also brilliant and helped immensely) and the runner and general assistant
1 comment:
Wow, great blog, great pics and of course amazing film...
Well done docks, look forward to seeing more
x
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