One of the most rewarding aspects of working within the tourism sector is time is spent documenting the stories & products of the tourism operators that we are employed to support. The end result of these projects is typically a set of highly produced videos and images. And whilst these do a great job of capturing the idyllic scenario of a perfect day with perfect weather – for the storytellers behind the lens, it doesn’t always look quite so idyllic. We face all sorts of challenges along the way in telling these stories, and sometimes that in itself can provide quite interesting storytelling – so I have attempted to share that story through images captured on my iphone 5.
Weather is usually the most challenging aspect of preparing and executing film shoots, especially when you can be moving between 4 or 5 different outdoor locations per day, all that have required previous permissions to be granted to film there.
Film schedules are always very time critical as we are always trying to pack as many locations and products into the storyboard. So unplanned holdups such as getting one of the production vehicles stuck in a sand dunes, can really play havoc with scheduling.
On this particular day (above) in Port Stephens, although the skies on the previous day had been clear, we woke up to thick heavy ash cloud shrouding the entire region in a blanket of darkness. We were booked on a dolphin cruise at 4am which we attended, but when the sun rose it was clear that we would have to cancel the next 3 days of filming and head back to Sydney.
As the famous saying goes – never work with children or animals. I’ve tried to shoot scenes with dolphins numerous times over the years and it never gets easier. They are so fleeting and unpredictable that trying to have a production team and models at the ready for long periods of time doesn’t play nice with filming schedules.
The helicopter shoot above was planned to capture the Australia Day Ferry Race through the harbour. The weather in the morning was relatively clear, but changed rapidly as the morning progressed. We decided to try for weather gaps, but it was a bumpy ride through very heavy rain. Footage captured by one of the hornets (below) that were out about an hour after us shows how heavy the skies were on the day.
Another challenge of filming is sleep deprivation. The money shots are always sunrise and sunset, so its usually a 4am start and commonly a 9-10pm finish. Having a clear mind to manage large production teams (sometimes up to 20 people) can be a challenge when sleep is scarce.
But for all the challenges faced on set, it’s always the people that make these projects rewarding. The camaraderie that forms within the team as we all battle sleep deprivation and the many unexpected curve-balls that come our way is always incredible to witness and be part of.
And of course there are those rare days when things do go to plan. The weather shines bright, the schedule runs to plan and you find yourself cruising over our beautiful state in a vintage sea plane with a friendly local sharing amazing stories of the region – and you realise just how fortunate you are to be a creative storyteller.