ADAM DOCKER

Bloc 2012

2012-01-18T10:32:00.000-08:00

A Falkohaus Production : facebook.com/falkohaus
This is a film I shot for Bloc Festival. It was directed by my brother David Terranova : blog.davidterranova.com

Music : Extrawelt : 'Was Übrig Bleibt' : New album 'In Aufruhr' out now on Cocoon Recordings

Art Direction : Stuart Hammersley : giveupart.com

Filmed on location at London Pleasure Gardens : Royal Victoria Docks : New Venue for Bloc 2012
blocfestival.com

Music : Extrawelt : 'Was Übrig Bleibt' : New album 'In Aufruhr' out now on Cocoon Recordings

Mood Film

2011-10-30T14:12:00.000-07:00

We were asked to pitch for a commercial for Dove Men Care, so we decided to pop down to Scooterworks in South East London and film a quick mood film. Shot on the Canon 5D.

ECO CRIME INVESTIGATORS Trailers for National Geographic

2011-10-01T11:10:00.001-07:00

We produced three one hour programmes following the Environmental Investigation Agency as they uncovered wrong doings in the "Ivory Trade", "Illegal Timber Trade" and "Whaling" for the National Geographic Channel. These are the three trailers.

Hunt for the Whalers Trailer from Red Earth Studio on Vimeo.

Blood Ivory Smugglers Trailer from Red Earth Studio on Vimeo.

The Real Chainsaw Massacre Trailer from Red Earth Studio on Vimeo.

This is the TX Card for the US screening.

Kenya

2011-04-22T10:05:00.000-07:00

Programme #4 and the final shoot for National Geographic and this time we headed to Kenya to follow the Environmental Investigation Team as they tried to uncover some facts on the illegal ivory trade.

Nairobi skyline. We didn't stay here long as we headed north past Mount Kenya to the dry and arid landscape of Samburu National Park.

We met Ian Douglas Hamilton founder of Save the Elephant foundation who have been working tirelessly protecting these amazing animals in Samburu National Park.

He took us out to go and see the carcass of Resilience, a matriarch shot by poachers 3 weeks before our visit. She managed to escape them and stumbled around the bush for two weeks. She was eventually found lying on the ground in convulsions and it was decided the kindest thing to do was put her out of her misery with a gunshot. The poachers never managed to get her tusks which in a twisted way makes her killing even more pointless.

Filming Resilience's carcass.

The evening of our second day in Samburu and as we relaxed chatting away to Sir Ian and his staff a message came over the radio that an elephant had been shot. It was too dangerous for any of us to go and find out. KWS were informed and they sent an armed patrol. Early the next morning we headed deep into the bush and found the mutilated body of "Hope" a 40 year old matriarch. She was riddled with AK47 bullets and her two front tusks had been hacked off with a machete. David, the head ranger, started asking around the local tribes and they all said the same thing, Somali poachers.

Hope had two small calfs who ran off into the bush during the attack. Luckily they have since attached themselves to another group and fingers crossed they will survive.

By the afternoon poor "Hope" was easy meat for the local villagers.

Adam, (left), and producer Nick Courcoux, (right), filming with the Kenyan Wildlife Service anti-poaching team in East Tsavo National Park.

Filming a drive by shot of the EIA vehicle near the stunning Chyulu Hills National Park.

Amboseli National Park

Mother and calf

A matriarch and her calf dig for water in the dry riverbed in Samburu National Park.

A giraffe in the setting sun in beautiful Samburu National Park.

Columbus, North Dakota

2011-04-21T11:37:00.001-07:00

What happens to a dying town when it discovers oil? Welcome to Columbus, North Dakota, a tiny prairie town with a shrinking population in the low 100’s.
This is a story that was brought to us (Red Earth Studio) by Kelly Neal. An American living in Glasgow at the time, she had directed a short film in Columbus back in 2007 about ice fishing called "How to save a fish from drowning", (winner of a Scottish BAFTA).
When we saw the stunning landscape and fascinating characters we all came to the conclusion that there was a bigger story to be told.
Filming started in June 2010 and we have been back and forth five times over the last year. The production is self financed and therefore the field crew has been small, just myself and Kelly. It is filmed on a Sony HDXDCAM700.
At present we are at the rough cut edit stage and have just signed a contract with Channel4 and More4. YLE (Finland) and DRK (denmark) are also going to put pen to paper in the next few days and we are waiting on a few more European channels to come on board and most importantly a US broadcaster.
It is Exec Produced by Mark Wild, Producers are Ces Terranova, Julien Mignonac and Myself (Adam Docker), Production Manager is Joanna Ford. I am also the DOP and Kelly Neal is the Director.

A once booming community, these days Columbus’ liveliest parties are funeral processions. Columbus’ youth and small-hold farmers have fled to the bright city lights of Fargo. This has resulted in a quiet disappearance, a withering away of the landscape until all that is left are vast swaths of lonely countryside peppered with abandoned farms and ghosts of the past. This is about to change. In the next 6 months the sleepy little town’s residents will have their lives turned upside down in a modern day gold rush, in this case black gold.

Sitting atop the Bakken formation, Columbus’ elderly residents are unwittingly the owners of part of the biggest oil find in the lower 48. Drilling has just begun, bringing with it a steady stream of out-of-state oil workers and a chance for wealth beyond their wildest dreams. Columbus is about to get a new lease on life.

Meet Wiley Post. A wise-cracking, sly old dog with a limp and a ready-grin, Wiley is the voice that guides us through the story of Columbus. At 76 years old Wiley was born and raised in Columbus. He’s seen it through its good days and now through the bad. A grumpy old man with humour in his heart, he reveals much of the information that drives the story ahead.

He leads us through a tour of the town, limping his way along the barren Main Street that’s awash in memories for him. We learn of the town’s former glory, its population of over 800 people and the hustle and bustle of abundant local businesses. But as Wiley says, “that’s all gone now. We got 1 café and 1 bar. And by God I never thought I’d be mowing grass on the sidewalks of Columbus North Dakota. But that’s what I’m doing.”

Filming started in Summer 2010 and we return every 3 to 5 months.

Kelly Neal Director

Winters in North Dakota are harsh. It was a new experience for me and for my trusty Sony HDXDCAM 700.
Average temperatures were around -20c so I decided to take a jacket and heat packs for the camera but it was cumbersome. It meant unzipping to set it on the tripod and a hassle to change discs and to film on the shoulder, the access for the hands wasn't easy and I couldn't get good maneuverability with it on, so off it went. We drove everywhere, even from our rented accommodation to the cafe which was about 50 metres and the engine was always left running to keep it warm. Shooting outside was so cold that we limited it to around ten to fifteen minutes max. Nostril hairs and the cables on the camera would freeze. The 700 was robust and trusty as ever and we didn't have one single problem arise from the extreme conditions.

Spoken Word

2011-04-13T06:35:00.000-07:00

Spoken Word artist and Chill Pill founder Raymond Antrobus performs one of his poems "Have You Heard?"
Filmed on a Canon 5D at the Dean Street Theatre in London.

Canon 5D Test

2010-12-20T10:26:00.000-08:00

Testing the Canon 5D. Thanks to Joy from Models 1, James Mountford for production and Holleigh Gallon for Make-up, music David Terranova

Vet Adventures Promo

2010-08-11T07:27:00.000-07:00

Vet Adventures sees the return of Dorset vet Luke Gamble (founder of wvs http://www.wvs.org.uk/) as he continues his travels across the globe treating animals in need. You can watch his exploits on Sky1 HD, Sky1, Discovery Animal Planet Europe and Discovery Animal Planet Asia.

We filmed the series over the whole of 2009 and visited ten countries. Series one saw Luke visit India, Grenada, Malawi, Thailand and Mexico. Series two sees him travel through Zambia, Peru, Nepal, Costa Rica and Uganda.

Sky Rainforest Rescue 3D - Behind the scenes

2010-06-21T14:23:00.000-07:00

When Sky asked my company Red Earth Studio to produce a short 5 to 12 minute 3D film of the Amazon for their Rainforest Rescue campaign, I could see we were in for a challenge. The fact that Sky was aiming to showcase this in an interactive pod around the UK in an attempt to raise £2 million to help save one billion trees in the Brazilian rainforest, whilst also promoting awareness of environmental issues and sustainability, made this a creative, worthwhile cause that I felt privileged to be involved with.

The general consensus is that 3D is limited to controlled, set-up environments due to the size of the equipment and the complex workflow. But Sky, keen to push these limits, wanted a hand-held feel for this film and therefore approached us as a production company specialising in observational documentaries. We were undoubtedly excited as this would be our first foray into 3D filming and, as commissions go, this had to be one of the most demanding. Having spent the previous few months noticing the buzz and excitement around 3D in the TV industry, it was great to be able finally to get our hands dirty and find out what all the fuss was about. And the best part? We had just one week to organise it!

Originally it was planned to film in the region of Acre, which is where the Sky Rainforest Rescue sponsorship programme operates. However, situated to the far west of the Amazon, near Peru, the logistics and costs of this location made it impossible, so we relocated the shoot to the district around Manaus. Here there was plenty of forest, a rich variety of animals plus indigenous tribes to be found, while still being close enough to civilization should anything go wrong. We had just five days to film everything so couldn’t afford any serious delays. Nevertheless, the location would throw up plenty of challenges for both people and equipment, being both a yellow fever and malaria area, intensely humid, and prone to torrential rain every day for six months of the year, which would include the time we were there – a testing environment indeed for the array of electronics we would be relying on.

On a previous shoot in Los Angeles, we had met Bruce Austin (3D stereographer) and Sean Coles (cinematographer) from BAP and 3Rive Productions, respectively. They had built a clever little prototype Si2k beam-splitter 3D rig that was small and light and worked with Schneider 8mm wide angle Cinegon lenses. The feed from both cameras was perfectly synced and they were able to output into one single QuickTime file onto a Cinedeck unit mounted on the back of the rig. We had evaluated all the options prior to the shoot, from REDs to EX3s, but all were too big, heavy and/or clunky. The Si2K ticked all the boxes; it was slimline, very easy to handle and operate, and made ENG style filming in 3D a reality.

Bruce and Sean decided to throw in a second Si2k side-by-side camera with XA4x7.5DA-1 (7.5 to 30) Fujinon C-mount lenses for the close-up shots. This recorded onto a 1 Beyond hard drive unit, just in case the Cinedeck failed in the notorious Amazon humidity.

The flamboyant Richard Rasmussen is one of Brazil’s top wildlife TV presenters whom we had worked with on previous projects. He spends most of his time travelling around the wildlands of Brazil and was an ideal candidate for this production. His English was a little rusty, but it was good enough and his engaging style of presentation more than made up for any slightly odd grammar. The plan was to show Richard walking through the forest, pointing out all kinds of creatures – monkeys, snakes, tarantulas, lizards, parrots, insects – as he encountered them, while at the same time informing us about the trees and climate of the rainforest. In other sequences, he would dance to the strains of panpipes with local tribespeople, feed pink river dolphins and climb high above the forest canopy on a huge tower. Richard’s walkabout was to offer visitors to the pod a rich and varied experience of this part of the Amazonian rainforest.

First day of the shoot and it pours with rain. Because of the humidity, one of the recording units shuts down resulting in filming coming to a worrying halt.
L to R Sean Coles, Pedro Guimaraes (asst camera), Tiago Bittencourt (soundman)

Every shot had to be meticulously studied after every take to check for any raindrops or humidity on the lenses, insects and lens flare. It is definitely a slow process and it felt like working with a complicated film camera, probably a little more slower because there are so many factors to take into consideration that don't exist in 2D.

Freeman White, 2nd asst. camera.

Filming a scene with Richard Rasmussen dancing with the Dessana tribe

The Cinedeck is an incredible piece of kit. As well as serving as our recording unit, it allowed us to replay footage back and to check the images coming from both lenses. We were also able to view both live pictures, as well as rushes, in anaglyph mode. This is not a perfect image, but it did allow us to check whether the I/O (interocular), or 3D effect, was too much or too little. Bruce, the stereographer, was very rigorous in looking after this. Because there were lots of trees and branches appearing in the foreground, we kept the I/O – or the distance between the two cameras – to a minimum (between 1/4 and 1/2 inch), so that it wasn’t too disturbing on the eye.
http://www.cinedeck.com/

Viewing the rushes on the Cinedeck with my anaglyph glasses.

Filming the Chief of the Dessana tribe playing his drum

Despite the dark interior the Si2K read it really well and we were able to push the picture in post without it breaking up. The Off line edit was done at Red Earth Studio and all post was done at Prime Focus, London.

I thought I would take my director's hat off and give filming a go. Here I am filming some monkeys up in a tree.

The style of the film is ob-doc, handheld and we predominantly used the beam splitter camera using Schneider 8mm Cinegons, wide angle fixed lenses. When we needed to film close up shots we would use the side by side camera with XA4x7.5DA-1 (7.5 to 30) Fujinons as well as the Linos 30mm lenses. All of the lenses were c-mounts.
As the lenses were independent from one eye to the other, it meant every time we changed frame on the Fujinons they required calibration, thus slowing down the shoot. We resolved this by shooting as much as we could on the wide and then repeating the scene again on the tighter lenses.

A Bald Ukari monkey, also nicknamed "english monkey" by the locals because of their red face, gives Sean a hard time and like everything else in the forest, demands some form of payment before being filmed.

Tiago getting friendly with a monkey.

Looking for tarantulas.

Filming in the forest is dark! And there is only a short window to film in it, between 10am to 3pm, which doesn't leave much time to get everything done. Dark rain clouds make it even worse. Why didn't we film with a portable light some have asked. We did think about it, but on top of all the equipment we had to carry as it was, an extra battery pack and lights would have been a burden on the small crew that we had and on excess baggage as well. We wanted to keep the scenes as natural as possible and a light would have created shadows and an unnatural look. When it got to dark to film one of the scenes with a tarantula, we took the spider on a short walk, took some leaves from the forest floor, had a couple of the crew hold them behind Richard as a prop and filmed the scene on the road, away from the shadows. Two minutes later the heavens opened and an almighty deluge forced us to rush back to our cabin.
And yes, we returned the spider where we found it.

Richard doing a piece to camera while walking through a stream.

We happened upon this enormous Bird Eating Tarantula by chance, unfortunately it never made the edit.

The massive Bird Eating Tarantula.

Filming pink river dolphins in the Amazon river. One of the challenges we faced filming on water were polarisation issues, meaning one eye would see reflection on the water, whereas the other eye would see through the water. In a more controlled environment we would have played around with polariser filters, but we didn't have the time, so we positioned the camera where it had the least amount of reflection.

Richard feeding the dolphins. They would bump into you, nuzzle on your legs, jump out of the water and splash you, making filming difficult and perilous with the expensive camera. Should Sean get hit and slip in the water, it was up to me and my deft reactions to save it.

That's a wrap.

Together With Richard Rasmussen and some dastardly snake!

The Crew. From L to R: Adam Docker (Director), Carlos Campos (Richard's asst.), Tiago Bittencourt (Soundman), Pedro Guimaraes (asst camera), Sean Coles (Cinematographer), Freeman White (2nd asst camera), Bruce Austin (Stereographer), Pedro Neto (Fixer) and Richard Rasmussen (Wildlife TV presenter).

Inside: The Tiger Trade

2010-05-24T00:51:00.000-07:00

My company, Red Earth Studio, produced and filmed a 1 hour documentary for the National Geographic Channel following the Environmental Investigation Agency as they uncovered the illegal tiger skin and bone trade in China, India and Tibet.

With 2010 being the year of the tiger and there being only about 3000 tigers left in the wild in the world today, the story was crying out to be told.

Tigers are killed for their valuable skin and bones. Nothing is spared and the culling is fueled by an insatiable lucrative market in traditional medicines and their skins are considered a status symbol in China and Tibet.

Our task was to document the hard work, passion and effort that Debbie Banks and her team at the EIA put in to saving the tiger from becoming extinct.

Keeping up with the investigators and capturing the action whilst not getting in the way can be pretty tricky. The EIA investigators that feature in the film had never worked with a TV crew following their every move like this and it took a while for everyone to adapt.

Even though we used small cameras, it was often difficult keeping out of the investigators way. Trying to be ‘fly on the wall’ in tense and risky situations is not easy.
Filming must never jeopardise anyone’s safety. In Tibet, pointing a camera at the ‘wrong people’ can land you into all sorts of trouble.

We had to be careful that communications weren’t being monitored and so using hotel phones was a big no-no. The investigators suspected that our rooms were bugged, so all investigation meetings were all held on the hotel roof terrace.

Documentaries of this nature are sensitive on various levels and a lot of care has to be taken to ensure that the content does not cause unjustified offence and that it is not libelous. You have to get the facts right.

Whilst filming at a horse festival in Nagchu, Tibet, the investigators suspected that we were being followed by government agents. To avoid blowing the cover of the covert investigators, we took a deliberately long detour back to our tents and managed to lose them in the crowd. Luckily this unwanted attention happened on the last day and we managed to leave the festival without jeopardising the investigation.

Tibet, in general, was nerve wracking and remaining under the radar was a constant challenge. The constant stream of Chinese officials driving on the roads even made filming the stunning scenery difficult. We would hide the camera every time so as not to risk any unwanted attention. There was a big police presence in Lhasa and the general atmosphere there was very tense. As foreigners we stood out like sore thumbs so we had to act as inconspicuously as possible.

We ended up filming on so many formats. In India and Nepal we used the Sony PDW XDCAM 700 to film the core of the interviews, the tigers in the park and general views.
In China and Tibet we didn't want to draw too much attention to ourselves, so the cameras we used had to be small and the best quality was the Sony EX1, although filming on the streets of Lhasa was deemed too risky as security was high so we had to use the smaller Sony HDV A1's instead. We had an array of undercover cameras so all in all with all the different formats the edit process became a bit of a nightmare.

Filming in the restaurant car on the 24 hour train journey from Xining, China to Lhasa in Tibet.

I have since read an online article by Radio Free Asia that the Chinese authorities are now demanding that all guests registering at Lhasa hotels and guesthouses will have their details stored in a police database, their movements monitored by staff and that controls on foreigners had been tightened up. Sounds like things are getting worse in Tibet.

This is the trailer produced by NatGeo

Up and down the Amazon

2010-05-04T10:06:00.000-07:00

Some pictures taken during filming of "Rainforest Rescue 3D" for Sky in the Amazon.

Tribe

2010-04-15T07:54:00.000-07:00

During shooting of "Amazon 3D" we filmed a scene in a village belonging to the Desana Tribe, not too far from Manaus.
They were so friendly and lovely to work with and they also have to be one of the most photogenic people I have taken pictures of.

Uganda

2010-03-20T15:31:00.000-07:00

I came to Uganda to film the 9th episode of The World Wild Vet. What a country! totally undiscovered. if you want wildlife and feel that Kenya and Tanzania is overrun with tourists, then this is the place!

Filming the railway line. Kampala

Filming at Ngamba Island at the Chimpanzee Sanctuary

Luke Gamble and Rambo, a chimpanzee rescued from the pet trade

A video still from my little camera just before it was snatched out of my hands by a very curious chimpanzee...

...who managed to take a photo of himself before smashing my camera to pieces. One of the rangers offered the chimpanzee a banana in exchange and he fell for it, thankfully.

When filming with apes and monkeys its very important that you protect them from possible flu or colds that you can transmit to them.

From L to R Nathan, Marc, Luke and Myself

A shattered crew leaving Ngamba Island over Lake Victoria.

Aerial filming on Rupert Everett's brothers chopper

David the cineflex operator

David and the cineflex kit

Directing the aerials

Aerial of Kampala

Aerial of a village

Filming at the rhino sanctuary

Great Health and Safety!!

Elephants in Queen Elizabeth National Park. Absolutely stunning!

Puncture!

A major road accident which meant that we had to make a 4 hour diversion, adding our 9 hour drive to reach Bwindi

Filming Luke driving through the park

Bwindi. In the horizon is the Congo and Rwanda.

Kids in a banana plantation.

Our porters took care of our filming equipment as we go trekking in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest.

Filming Luke trekking.

Filming during our 5km killer hike!

Close to the gorillas

Filming Luke doing the most amazing piece to camera which will be used as the last shot of his ten part series.

The rangers who protect the gorillas from poachers

A weary foursome after our amazing 10 km trek.

Showing off my footage!

Delhi

2010-02-19T14:32:00.000-08:00

America's Cup

2010-02-17T14:58:00.000-08:00

Just got back from an intense 20 day shoot in Valencia filming a feature-doc for Oracle as they competed and eventually won the 33rd America's cup.
We filmed on 2 Sony PDW - F800's at 24 fps, a Sony EX3 at 25fps and we had two cineflex's one on a chopper and one on a boat, both recording at 24fps on SR decks.
We had a mixture of lenses: 2 x Canon HJ22, 2 x Canon HJ11, 2 x Canon HJ40, 1 x Schwem and 2 x Pro35 with various sets of prime lenses.

All pictures courtesy of Mike@HD-SKYCAM.TV

Some of my favourite clips from the cineflex both on board and aerial. There some Schwem shots in there as well. Music is by http://www.yanntiersen.com/

The Cineflex mounted on the rear of a chase boat

Christian setting up his workstation

Monitors and recorders

Filming the Oracle during practice

It was amazing to be able to film with the cineflex on water. What an experience. Rough waves, smooth waves. It made no difference. The pictures were steady as a rock and we could film from an extraordinary distance. Its an expensive toy to have compared to the lens usually used when filming on water, the 'ol Schwem lens, what a difference in quality!
The Schwem is a bit of a dinasour, but there aren't any alternatives, they are to expensive to produce. It was designed during SD times and with all the years of its life on water, salt creeping into the glass and all the elements meant that used on HD a camera the pictures turn out a little soft and murky.

The second cineflex on the chopper

The Rising Sun. The 4th largest private yacht in the world, owned by Mr Larry Ellison

Me driving the private yacht...erm, I mean the chase boat!

Larry Ellison gave us his private cat from which to film the race from. The set up wasn't as easy as the original chase boat we had; it was an open hull and everything was exposed to the elements which meant at the end of the day we had to take everything off and annoyingly would have to put it all back again the next time we went out.
The positive was that with the camera on the front of the boat we had uninterrupted 220 degree views.

After a particular heavy session of filming in big swells, sea water managed to get into the little nooks and crannies of the cineflex casing which caused major problems, a steamed up lens and some kind of kink in the calibration.
Christian and Mike from HD-Skycam.tv went out of their way to replace it with another camera which they had someone drive over from Germany!

Christian, the operator and Mike, the technician, work as a fantastic team and I can't recommend them highly enough, they are absolute pro's!
Christian is one of the best Cineflex operators I have come across and has a great photographic eye. Mike is superb with technical solutions. He is able to mount camera's in the most extreme situations and positions!

the weather changes from bright and sunny to gusty, wet and cold!

The Oracle, eventual winner of the 33rd America's Cup

L to R, Simon Burles (soundman), Myself, Larry Ellison and the America's Cup

Morning in Beijing

2009-12-29T01:57:00.000-08:00

Despite a gruelling two weeks of intense filming, myself and producer James Levelle had a morning off in Beijing before flying back to London; so we decided to get up early and visit the Forbidden Palace and experience it from a tourists perspective.
These photos are just quick snaps, i never intended to show them off, quite the opposite; but a little bit of inspiration, a nip and tuck in photoshop, a white border and all of a sudden they took on a different meaning.

India - Tigers

2009-10-21T10:56:00.001-07:00

As part of the documentary we were making about the tiger skin trade, we went to Ranthambhore National Park, Rajastan, to see if we could film some tigers in the wild.
Our journey started at Delhi station. We had some time to spare and it was fascinating to watch the hustle and bustle of life on the platforms.

Lackeys at work at Delhi station

Seeing them carry the most enormous packages and cases on their heads is incredible. They do it all day, all for a few rupees!

Waiting for our train to Ranthambhore.

First class from Delhi to Ranthambhore. James is carrying an injury caused only a few days before after falling off his bike while heavily intoxicated!

Slumdog kids showing off to the camera at Ranthambhore station.

Two lackeys crossing the tracks at Ranthambhore station.

Dog waiting for the express train to Delhi at Ranthambhore station

Hanging out at Rathambhore National Park.

Rajhastani's have some of the most fascinating photogenic faces

Gypsy woman and child.

Gypsy painter.

Filming with the Ranthambhore Park Guards

Group picture

Filming the guards act out a poaching arrest.

As a little surprise, the guards wanted to show us an orphaned leopard which they had reared from a cub. It lived in the forest, but at night time it would come and sleep near their base for protection.
It was beautiful, though filming a leopard at such close range was frightening. Despite it being used to humans, it was still a wild animal. I took the fluffy of the top mic of the camera and just went with it, captured as much as I could without disturbing it too much, hiding behind my viewfinder I crossed my fingers hoping he wouldn't swipe me if I got too close!

Filming a panorama of Ranthambhore park. Stunning.

Next it was off to see if we could film some tigers. We spent 5 full days filming in the park, which is not ideal as we had arrived just after the monsoon season and the park was lush with waterholes, which made it difficult finding tigers.
We would arrive at 6am before the tourists and leave at dusk.

Eventually as we were driving through a back route, a tiger popped out of some bushes right in front of us!

It casually strolled along the path, without a care in the world marking its territory.

We followed this tiger for about 10 minutes.

Further down the road we came across a grown up cub lying down in a creek.

Seeing animals in the wild is a truly amazing experience. It leaves you in awe of nature and makes you realise how insignificant and small man is in the wild.
I can't wait to be able to film them again.

Zambia

2009-10-05T13:49:00.000-07:00

Filming in Kafue National Park, roughly 250km west of Lusaka, I got the chance to direct an aerial shoot for our upcoming series of Vet Adventures. It was an amazing experience, I was so wrapped up in what I was seeing that I forgot to take any pictures of the wilder beasts, the herds of buffalo or the hippo's.

There aren't any private helicopters in Zambia so we had to hire one from Botswana, which is approx a 5-6 hour flight to Kafue National Park. The next day we filmed aerials over Lusaka, the capital.
We paid for about 15 hours of flying time, so after you deduct flying to and from Botswana and from Kafue to Lusaka we had a total of 2 and a half hours left for filming, not much, but absolutely worth it, the results were stunning. I felt like I was watching BBC's Planet Earth.
The ball mount on the front of the helicopter is a Cineflex mount, that's where the camera sits and it provides motion stabilization for rock solid aerial shots. The operator sits in the back and controls the camera movement on a couple of joysticks and lots of buttons. There is a picture of Dave operating further down.

The land has recently been burnt by poachers who then place traps for the escaping animals.

Flying over the bush.

The helicopter could only go so high with all the equipment and three people in it which unfortunately meant that the elephants got a little bit stressed by the noise, so we tried to stay as far away and be as quick as possible.

Really tiny, tiny elephants!

As we drove to the airstrip to head back to Lusaka, this young elephant decided to charge towards the vehicle. This photo was actually taken by Luke Gamble who was sitting in the back of the jeep.

A wide of Kafue National Park. Its twice the size of Belgium and it has only 250 people to look after all the wildlife!

Implala in the distance

Dave the Cineflex operator and all his gear spread over the whole back seat of the chopper. Pretty amazing equipment. It requires more dexterity than operating a playstation console.

Right to left: Annie (Pilot), Dave (Cineflex Operator), Myself (Myself)

Impala running away from the helicopter as we make a quick landing to clean the lens on the cineflex (the camera mount which is on the front of the helicopter)

Filming at the David Shephard Elephant Orphanage Project, a great charity based in the heart of the park. They look after orphaned elephants which they eventually release back into the wild.

Absolutely adorable as one elephant scratches its bum on the other one's back.

Smelling my feet

Filming a shot of Lusaka from the top of The Intercontinental Hotel

Albino boy

Albino boy and his two brothers

Engines on from Adam Docker on Vimeo.

About to fly to Kafue National Park in a very small plane. Luke, Brendan the Irish Pilot, Myself, Nathan, Nick and James.
Before landing we hit an air pocket and we all banged our heads on the ceiling. Luckily we were all fine, but not a very pleasant experience!

Safe and sound on the ground.

The Law

2009-10-04T13:14:00.000-07:00

The Law "Don't Stop, Believe" from Adam Docker on Vimeo.

I was asked if I could pop up to Dundee over a weekend and direct a couple of videos for The Law, a new band popular on the Scottish music circuit.
Saturday morning, I met up with the band in their rehearsal studio and together with their management we went scouting some locations around the city, but none of them were as good as the lock up the band used as their rehearsal rooms.
With a a couple of red heads, some disco lights, baby oil, water, a Sony EX3, a Letus and a choice of lenses, we got the job done.

Despite the hard days work the day before, we all met up the next morning bright and early. I had a basic outline of what to film but we were minus the drummer Marty. He hadn't shown up. So the management and the rest of the band got on their mobiles calling everyone they knew, hospitals, police stations and even ex girlfriends (!!) all to no avail!
Panic set in as we headed to the first location, Law Hill.

The Law Hill really is a hill, it takes its name from the Anglo-Saxon hlāw (modern Scots law) meaning a (grave-)mound or hill, it has 360' views of Dundee and at the top is a TV tower. It ticked all the boxes

We couldn't wait all day for Marty and so it was decided to make changes to the original script and turn it to our advantage. The song is about a "friend" who as soon as he gets his Sky box sacrifices his social life and disappears for months staying indoors watching TV and in this instance I thought it was quite apt as Marty had similarly put his social life ahead of the film shoot as well; we all agreed to make the video a tribute to Marty and should he eventually show up, as a penance he was to run all the way up the Law hill and around Dundee.

Eventually at about 2pm, Marty was found alive. The girls from the record company went to pick him up. He had gone to a party, passed out, had woken up in a strangers bed and had completely forgotten about the video shoot. I went to the bottom of the hill to meet him and tell him what was in store. The look on his face said it all, I felt sorry for him, but it was all for a good cause!

Marty dutifully ran all the way up the hill. The poor guy was so hungover I was afraid he was going to pass out. As soon as we had finished filming he got down from the tower and vomited. It was all too much for him. I think the rest of the guys had had their revenge!

It was great fun making this video and I thought despite everything, Marty was a real star!!

The bands third video "The Chase" was filmed at M&mD's theme park just outside of Glasgow. They were kind enough to give us a 5 hour window after the punters had gone for free . It was a hardcore shoot! Trying to fit it all in in such a short amount of time. I used a PDW700 (HDXDCAM 700) with a Pro 35 adapter and Ultra Prime Zeiss lenses, predominantly the 50mm.

This an EPK for the band.

China and Tibet

2009-08-23T08:01:00.001-07:00

Just got back from China and Tibet. Strange experience. Not sure how I feel about it. I spent a week in West China, Lanzhou, Linxia and Xining and then took the train to Lhasa, where we spent another ten days travelling around Lhasa, Xigatse and Nagchu. As a "ShangriLa" location it is anything but. Despite thousands of years of history, art, philosophy and culture, the decision by one man made sure that in 70 years of cultural revolution, China saw the destruction of everything that its culture stood for and in its place they created "Bland".
With their petty childish colonial mentality in places like Tibet and the subsequent wipeout of Tibetan culture, Tibet is fast becoming an extension of "Bland China".
So, if you plan to go there, do it asap, before its wiped out!! Not long to go!!

Potala Palace...Not long before its The Potala Palace Hotel!!

Just another Chinese city. View of Lhasa from the Potala Palace

Prayer flags overlooking Xigatse

A drunk monk

A happy man in Linxia

Linxia

filming prayer flags high up in the foggy mountains somewhere between Linxia to Xining

Filming with the EX1 as using the bigger camera would attract too much attention!

This monk was brilliant. Bumped into him on a path on a hill overlooking Xigatse. As I took pictures of him, he started posing for me. Better than any model.

Walking through the streets of Lhasa you come across big open doorways leading into courtyards, hidden from the real world, with their own busy little communities.

Lonely woman

Idle chat

The herb woman

While the women prepare the evening meal, the boys are on the roofs playing with their kites!!

The kite runner

Jokhang Temple in Lhasa

On the road to Xining

On the road to Xining, stopped off at this "eatery"(!!) It was a cute little rotten thing; filthy dirty with lots of character. The mother made the bread, the father cooked the omlettes, while their daughter picked the short straw and washed up the dishes on the kitchen floor. It was a lovely omlette by the way.

The latest craze on the streets of Lhasa....

...Breakdancing

On the road to Xining, passed by these group of "biker monks" having a picnic

Xigatse

Goat Billtong in Xigatse

While in Lhasa they take their lambs out for walks!

Storms over the Potala Palace

Taking the 24 hour train journey from Xining to Lhasa

Seeing these beasts spew out tonnes of coal smoke makes you appreciate all the hard work one puts into recycling and not driving your car to work!

Here is another, not too far from the one above!!

Vast and expansive....

Yaks

More yaks crossing the road on the way to Nagchu

Picnic area.

Cafe life, somewhere between Lhasa and Nagchu

Wild Brazil Pilot

2009-07-13T07:39:00.000-07:00

I went to Brazil to film a pilot with Richard Rasmussen, Brazil's most famous wildlife TV presenter.
We headed to the Atlantic Forest, about a 3 hour drive from Sao Paolo, to film Richard searching snakes,. spiders and all creepy crawlie things!

India

2009-06-07T01:39:00.001-07:00

Filming the elephant arriving in Salem

Following and filming the transportation of an elephant from the Nilgiri Hills to a sanctuary in Salem. A 300km drive that took 12 hours.

Look up at the building, top left corner...yep...just there...those little figurines...that's us.

Waiting for the truck carrying the elephant to drive into Salem.
Very tired and very groggy!

I do tired and groggy very well, especially after having just stepped in human shit!

Filming outside Mysore Palace

Luke sawing off a Buffalo's horn.

Gory stuff!

Luke, Marc and Myself. Nathan is taking the picture.

Believe it or not am actually filming a donkey in a rickshaw here!

Luke and the donkey in the rickshaw!

Puttarpathi, or put more frankly Sai Baba Town

We went to a little village where every year thousands of storks come and nest so we decided to film the guys that go there to rescue all the chicks that break their legs, wings or have bad falls.

Watching Luke operate on a dog. Notice I am the only one not wearing a gown or mask. Funny that!

Accident with a rickshaw.

Self portrait with a Nikon D200 and a 50mm f1.4 lens

Malawi

2009-05-04T10:26:00.001-07:00

Malawi - Kung Fu

2009-04-29T02:10:00.000-07:00

On our epic tour of the globe, we stopped off in Malawi for a couple of weeks.
While filming, crowds would gather and the kids would shout "Chucky, Chucky, Chucky" and do kung fu impressions whilst pointing and laughing at Marc the producer.

We got to the bottom of it. All the kids thought that Marc was Chuck Norris!!! How strange, obviously they still watch all the old 80's episodes.
Taking an arty picture was near on impossible as all the kids would jump in front of the camera and start their kung fu moves.
I have never been to a place whose people love having their picture taken so much!! Kids and adults alike would fight to be filmed or have their pic taken!!

I decided to line all the children up against a wall and get them to pose their favourite kung fu move while maintaining some kind of order.

There is always one that escapes!

Grenada

2009-04-28T08:47:00.001-07:00

Filming sea turtles in Carricou, a little island off Grenada.

These are the Real Pirates of the Caribbean!! These pirates from Petit Martinique found the turtle, pictured above, brought it to the KIDO foundation who pay the local fishermen, pirates or sailors a certain amount to save the turtles rather than hack them up for soup so that KIDO can tag them and release them back into the sea.
Dario from the KIDO foundation, called us immediately to come and film it. So we grabbed a water taxi and went over to the other side of the island of Carricou to film the turtle as it rushed back into the sea

Getting ready for a dive

Going overboard

This is the first time I have been diving. JP from Lumbadive in Carricou patiently gave me my first lesson. I went down to four metres and considering it was my first time I was quite chuffed about that.

Pokot Tribe - Kenya

2009-04-26T12:26:00.001-07:00

WARNING! Please refrain from stealing these pictures and putting them on your blogs!

Its hard to film and take pictures at the same time. There are so many moments during filming where you think "Damn, that would have been a great picture!". For many years I used to carry a Nikon 601 around my neck while I was filming and then after a while I stopped as it just got on my nerves and impeded on my work.

We filmed a promo film with Luke Gamble, following him around Kenya and one of the places we went to was the remote region bordering Sudan inhabited by the Plains Pokot Tribe.
The lush green valleys of the Rift Valley quickly gave way to a hot and arid landscape full of scraggly bushes and ant hills.

We planned to sleep in the village for one night but the local tribe we had visited were going through a period of violent unrest with another nearby tribe; they would each steal each others goats and little cattle they had and happily shoot each other for the fun of it.

It was very difficult to take pictures of them as they all wanted to be paid for the privilege, so it took a lot of persevering and snapping away while they weren't looking. Bit naughty, but I didn't want to pay.

Before filming could begin, we had to attend the village meeting which took about two hours. All the men from the village sat in a circle while the leaders were introduced to us. We would then show our gratitude and thanks for their hospitality and they in turn welcomed us amongst them. Really endearing, but a bit tiring, especially when you have lots of filming to do and an 10 hour drive back to Nairoibi!

It always surprises me how humans are able to survive in the most extreme conditions. How do they live in places with no water, where nothing grows and where all there is to eat are goats.

I'm sure they all smoked a lot of pot, chewed khat or something similar.

A local school hut.

Women relax in the shade while all the men gather for a meeting.

He sold me his hat for $20!

WARNING! Please refrain from stealing these pictures and putting them on your blogs!

HD XDCAM 700

2009-04-06T14:32:00.000-07:00

Am out in Grenada on stage two of the VET ADVENTURES series and thought I would write a quick report on the camera we are using on this project: the Sony HD XDCAM pdw700.

Most of the filming on this new project is hand held which makes for really hard work. As much as I would like to use the tripod, the style, look and feel of this programme dictates that it has to be dynamic and there isn’t a minute to spare as the presenter darts around from one place to another. It can go from a close up to crash zooming out and off on a chase.

Am really happy with the results, from the workflow down to the picture quality.
Prior to buying the camera, we at RES, were mulling over which camera to go for. The Panasonic Varicam, the Sony HDCAM 750 or the Sony HD XDCAM 700.
So many things to weigh up, tape, tapeless or disc, different Mbits, variable frame rate or not, digitising requirements and above all cost of the camera as well costs of the various workflows.

We decided on the 700. We needed a quick and cheap work flow as well as good quality pictures.
At the end of each shooting day we digitise all the footage onto an external hard drive and that allows us to study the days filming and story lines. Should we be missing any particular cut away, I'd rather notice it on the shoot rather than in the edit suite back in London!

We purchased two inbuilt radio mic receivers together with the camera body, a third independent radio mic, a matte box and filters (an ND .9 grey grad filter and Polariser), a Teletest RX transmitter and a remote monitor. Lots of great gadgets, but it means am also having to use two IDX V lock batteries as the camera sucks up so much juice and adding weight to an already heavy camera. I think it comes in at nearly 13 kilos.

The lenses I use are the Canon HJ11 and the HJ22.

I find factory settings on Sony HD cameras to be extremely contrasty, with no latitude to grade when it comes to post, so in the menu in the gamma page i have set it on a cinegamma 2, which flattens the blacks and the whites.
My only concern is the viewfinder, its not quite true to what I get at the other end. My whites seem to be hotter in the VF. I keep calibrating it, but it just doesn't seem right.

Filming a piece to camera in St. George's, Grenada.

LG

2008-11-12T13:54:00.000-08:00

I directed, filmed and edited 5 videos for LG and the launch of their new mobile phone, the Renoir.

The budget was low I decided to go for the Sony EX1 with the Letus adaptor and a range of Nikon Prime SLR lenses to get that "short depth of field" look that you only ever get with film cameras or with the more expensive P+S technik.

It was the first time I had used this set up, I had seen and read so much about it, so I decided to give it a go. I always had my reservations about shooting tapeless and shooting with a 1/3" camera, but I was mightily surprised by the results and despite it being fiddly especially when filming off the cuff, it was really good fun to work with. The workflow was brilliant, to slip the card into your laptop and drop the video files onto your hard drive for instant editing is a dream, but it still doesn't solve the problem of where to store the files when the job is finished.

Music is by blog.davidterranova.com

Nathan Gallagher is a pro winter sports photographer (www.nathangallagher.com) and does a great job as a presenter, showing us the workings of the new LG phone

Ben Radford is a football photographer I have known for over 10 years. I used to film (many moons ago) football stories around the world for Futbol Mundial and Trans World of Sport and would bump into Ben in various exotic locations and tournaments.

Publicis, the advertising agency, asked if I knew any football photographers that could add some weight to the campaign, so I gave them a couple of numbers of who I thought could do it and Ben was chosen.

The original idea was to film Ben inside a stadium during a game but the Premier League don't allow anybody, apart from the rights holders and possibly a lot of cash, to film during a match day, which meant being a bit more creative.

The other problem was which football club and what stadium to film outside of. It was between Arsenal and Fulham. Arsenal, I think, have a mobile phone sponsorship with LG and Fulham have a club and shirt sponsorship.

It was decided that Fulham was the best option.

We filmed outside their stadium on a saturday during their home game against Newcastle Utd and then came back a couple of nights later to film inside the ground. We payed 10 extras to "dress up" as Fulham fans for a bit of atmosphere.

Everything had to filmed quite tight and low, so as not to show any empty stands.

Fimed with the EX1 with Letus and various Nikon prime lenses.

General Pictures

2008-07-13T13:00:00.000-07:00

Between 1997 to 2003 I filmed a hell of a lot of sport. As well as the year long series "The History of Football" produced by Freemantle Media, i freelanced for Futbol Mundial and Trans World of Sport, part of the IMG group which took me around the world countless times. I filmed all kinds of sport, football tournaments and most of the worlds top sportsmen. These are some of my pictures and videos that don't have a category in my blog.

Some shots I did in Iran a few years back for "The History of Football" a 13 part 1 hour TV series. While filming the "large mural of soldiers with traffic in the foreground" a secret police vehicle spotted us and had us arrested by the local constabulary. We were held and questioned for six hours to make sure we weren't spies! It wasn't a pleasant experience, but that didn't change my feelings for the country and its people, some of the friendliest and hospitable on this planet.

Some clips from my journeys around Mali, Burkina Faso and Ghana.

Cuba and an interview with Maradona.

2008-07-13T12:56:00.001-07:00

In 2000 I was working on "The History of Football", a documentary series that took me around the world filming interviews with many greats of the game, both the past and the present.

Of all the interviews Maradona’s was the most difficult to pull off. At the time he was convalescing in some rehab sanctuary in Havana, Cuba, with a lot of negative press around him, so the last thing he wanted to do was give an interview, let alone with a "British" production company.

The Executive Producer of the series, Guy Oliver, through past contacts, finally managed to get hold of Maradona's agent, Guillermo Coppola. They wanted to be paid and paid BIG, so a fee of around £30,000 was agreed. We were all very paranoid as we’d heard on the grapevine a story where the BBC paid Maradona a similar amount for an interview, sent a crew to Buenos Aires for a week’s shoot only to find Maradona had skipped town thousands of pounds the richer, whilst the Beeb were left with egg on their faces.

Being half Italian, which I speak fluently, it was decided that I should be the one to film the interview in Cuba, together with a Spanish producer; it was important that Maradona feel comfortable with us so the crew was Latino mix.

Importing a camera kit from Britain was complicated with lots of red tape, so we decided to fly a cameraman from Argentina to Havana with a full kit, as a treaty exists between those two countries. So, we met up with the Argentinean cameraman in Havana and then had six days to complete filming.

We called Guillermo, Maradona's agent. No answer. Eventually after a whole 24 hours, he picked up the phone and said he was waiting for the money that been wired to a Swiss bank account to clear, then he would call to let us know when and where to meet.

Talk about nerves on edge! The BBC rip-off flashed through our minds. “He’s going to do the same to us”, we thought.

There was nothing to do but wait, kind of. Although we did manage the usual touristy stuff around Havana, marveled at the architecture, the beautiful 50's cars and trucks and the complete lack of advertising or billboards. No corporate branding to flood your senses, which was refreshing. I suppose that’s one good thing to come out of a communist/ socialist state, however, once we set one foot outside the hotel we were pestered by touts, drug dealers, pimps offering anything to suit our tastes: capitalism at its best! The locals were hungry and they had nothing. Shops had one price for locals and another for tourists. Considering the Cubans couldn't afford anything it really made no difference. Apparently every Cuban receives a daily food allowance from the government: eggs, flour, bread, sugar, salt and milk, It felt like being back in another time, another place during the cold war.

A barman told us that Maradona had been sighted in a hotel gym downtown, so we drove the tiny little hire car over bumpy streets as fast as we could and eventually found the place. But there was no one there, it was just a sad-looking, empty hotel where bored staff watched us searching around as if we were aliens from outer space.

One evening we went to a restaurant suggested by the barman and like most places we had been it was empty. We seemed to be the only customers that evening and were served a scrumptious dinner then, during coffee a scruffy ugly-looking man with a limp walked in with two really stunning Cuban girls dressed up to the hilt in latest fashion. The three of us sat there open-mouthed while the waiters ran about, fussing over them. It didn't make sense. They had a quick dessert, coffee then got up to leave. As they walked past our table the scruffy ugly limp of a man, with a woman on each arm, turned and gave us the filthiest sneer and walked out. The waiter came over to our table, "Who was that?" we asked "That, was Fidel Castro's son"

Nerves were on edge, we’d been hanging around for five days and were bound for London the next day; still we had nothing in the can. The phone call came like manna from heaven. The money had cleared and Guillermo was going to meet us at the hotel around lunchtime.
Guillermo Coppola was in his fifties, tanned with a thatch of long grey hair, he resembled one of those 50+ models that Armani uses, almost a Silvio Berlusconi look-alike, (President of Italy - look him up). He had the same fake grin and the charm to pull off whatever he wanted. He told us to jump in our car and follow him. He bombed it through the streets of Havana, down to the coast along the riviera at 70 miles an hour, through red lights, without a care in the world and without a care for us either as we tried to keep up with him in our crappy hire car overflowing with camera equipment and three burly men.

On the outskirts of the city in a quiet, affluent suburb, just past Fidel Castro's villa, sat the famous rehab hospital, which had become a sanctuary for Maradona while he kept away from the limelight after his coke and alcohol problems.

It was a very basic row of around twenty unkempt small villas with an empty hospital reception area and two British ambulances parked outside (still with their British number plates). Weird!

We waited in the kitchen of Maradona's villa while Guillermo faffed around. Lunch was prepared and served for us by the staff. We were joking and chatting as Guillermo suddenly left the kitchen only to return and tell us that Maradona wasn't in the mood, that he was tired and we’d have to postpone it until that evening. In the meantime why didn't we set up the camera and lights in a room of the villa next door, so as to be prepared for the interview. We were disappointed and thought it was a poor excuse by Maradona, we just felt like he was playing with us. I had filmed enough footballers over the years to know they got their kicks out of taking journalists for a ride. Guillermo apologized with a smarmy grin - and we could do nothing but head back to the hotel.

We bought some awful food from a little store and ate in our hotel room watching dreadful cuban television, patiently waiting and reliving that day’s events asking ourselves was this interview ever going to take place. At 10pm the phone rang: "Quick, come now!"

Easier said than done, most of the roads weren’t lit and it was pitch black as we tried to find the road back to the sanctuary. When we eventually arrived Guillermo excitedly shepherded us into the living room. There was a Boca Juniors game on the big screen TV. The room was anything but luxurious and you would think with all the money they had that they could decorate the place to a higher standard! A few photos scattered around the place of Maradona with his son, Maradona and Guillermo with scantily clad girls, Maradona with a notable Argentinean player who Maradona was in cahoots with during his coke snorting days.

Guillermo told us that the man himself was having a long hot bath and would be with us as soon as he was ready, which could mean early sunrise. Apparently he had become a night owl. Music was coming from the bathroom upstairs and someone crooning to it. Maradona! When the ballad came to an end we could hear him rewind the tape and play it again. The more he played it, the louder his singing got. It was difficult not to laugh at the absurdity of it all.

After half an hour Maradona burst into the room like a Tasmanian devil. His energy was incredible. Speaking non-stop: he asked questions, replied to our questions, talked about football, Argentina, women, all in the one breath. There are few people in the world who have such an indescribable charisma. The room was charged with his presence. He’d certainly put on weight since we last saw him play at USA 94, when he was subsequently banned having tested positive for drugs. After a brief chat we decided to all walk over to the other villa where we’d set up the camera and lights and get straight on with the interview.

It was now nearly midnight, outside was pitch black and you couldn't even see a hand in front of your face. We didn’t have a torch and had no idea where the other villa lay. I was talking to Maradona, we were, discussing the city of Naples, when all of a sudden there was this thumping sound and he screamed out and swore: he’d walked into a tree! We had to fumble around in the dark to make sure he was ok. Most celebrities would have had a dented ego after something like that but, to his credit, he saw the funny side.

The interview lasted over three hours then, towards the second half he started breaking out in serious sweats, having to disappear into another room only to return ten minutes later looking decidedly perkier and continuously sniffing!

He came out with some great quotes and despite the whole ‘Hand of God’ thing and all that, he is a bit of a cheat really. He was thoroughly amusing and polite and even posed for photos, then signed eleven Argentina football jerseys I had brought with me. Amazing what £30,000 will buy you!

Art of Combat

2008-07-11T14:48:00.000-07:00

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.

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.

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!

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