Quadcopter!

One of our latest equipment additions has been a remote control  quadcopter [scaled down helicopter with 4 props], a brilliant tool for achieving aerial footage and POV’s in locations where a full-sized helicopter cant operate…or when the budget doesn’t allow for it!

Our heli-system can pack down into a couple of Pelican cases for transport and is quickly set up; – it is quiet, extremely manoeuvrable, stable, hovers well, and will be ideal for remote location aerial filming or acquiring footage in built up areas.

I’m still learning to fly it at the moment, but I’m sure it won’t be long before we are regularly using this cool [-if slightly ugly!] filming tool on our location shoots!

Boot it up

Hi Tecs latest flagship boot; 'Rainer Event Ion Mask'

I finally had to retire my well-worn Hitec ‘Altitude’ boots a few weeks ago, and it wasn’t easy to part with them as they have shared hundreds of tough miles on trips around New Zealand, Alaska and Arctic Norway. Unfortunately 2-weeks of 10-hour days hiking the steep rock and sharp scree of Alaska’s Wrangell Mountains on my last filming assignment really finished them off!
The silver lining to retiring my well-thrashed boots though was getting to buy a new pair of boots, and given that a lot of my filming assignments are to remote wilderness locations around the world where beating the feet is the only way to get around, boots are an important purchase!
I have been using Hi Tec boots now for nearly 20 years, first in adventure races like the Southern Traverse, and later on filming assignments around the world from Canada and Alaska to Africa and Outback Australia…not to mention all over NZ.
In that time I’ve only been through 4 pairs, so they are pretty damn hard-wearing, and in my opinion the best value boot around. They are also incredibly comfortable right off the shelf so don’t need ‘breaking in’, and the Hi Tec range cover everything from lightweight adventure-racing shoes through to quality leather boots suitable for tough bush and alpine use. I loved my ‘Altitudes’ which were Hi Tec’s top of the range boot when I bought them, so I checked out Hi Tec’s latest flagship boot; the ‘Rainer Event Ion Mask’, liked them, and bought a pair.
These are a waterproof, full-grain leather boot with a breathable membrane, grippy Vibram sole, protective rubber toe and heel rands, rust-free brass eyelets, well cushioned foot bed and sock-liner, and are bloody comfortable right away; in fact a couple of days after getting my new boots I flew to northern Turkey for 3-weeks [in winter] and spent half that time tramping around in thigh deep snow chasing wild boar. The temperature was between -5 and -17C, but I had warm dry feet the whole time, which I was pretty happy about!
I know it may seem a bit weird talking about boots on a filming and production web-blog, but when your assignments frequently involve getting dropped off by bush plane in the middle of nowhere for a couple of weeks, and you know you’re going to be packing everything you need on your back 10 hours a day, what you wear on your feet can become as vital to getting the job done as your camera equipment!

Filming with Infrared & Night-vision:

I’ve been trying this technique out for the first time while on assignment in northern Turkey – attempting to film wild boar at night, – the special IR spotlight throws out a beam of infrared light that is invisible to the naked eye but which can be picked up by the ‘Nightshot’ function of single-chip Sony camcorders. It is quite amazing how even when viewed straight on, the only indication the light is switched on is a small, unobtrusive red filament glowing through the nearly black lens cover!
The Nightshot setting on the camcorder sees this infrared light very well though, and it extends the night time range of the camera hugely. The main limitation seems to be the ability of camcorder to focus at longer zoom settings, even when using manual focus [I have been using a Sony A1]. The effective ‘useful’ range of my particular IR light [75W] seems to be about 40M. It also takes a little while to find your subject with IR light as it takes coordination to align the beam and the limited FOV [field of view] of the camera when unable to rely on peripheral vision, then still more time to focus on the subject. Offsetting this however is the fact that this setup allows you to film ‘light-shy’ creatures in complete darkness…pretty damn cool! Now I’m looking forward to trying it out on other nocturnal critters!

The next step after this is to try and get hold of a ‘Starlight’ camera, even better!

Filming in Turkey

Turkey a very cool place! Cold in fact, ..was -17C last night while we were out in the forest wading through knee deep snow trying to film wild boar with infrared light and nightshot cam! Wish I’d brushed up on my Turkish, our local guide doesnt speak any English and he’s not that great at sign language either. Very strong coffee here….still trying to unstick my cheeks from the cup I had an hour ago!

Off to Turkey

heading off tonight on my first overseas film assignment for this year, – Hongkong – London – Instanbul/ Turkey, -then up into the mountains near the Black Sea filming Russian Wild boar. Back to Instanbul afterward, so should be able to squeeze in some kebabs, turkish coffee, turkish delight, turkish wrestling and maybe some turkish turkey…

OCEANZ 2011

Just got back from Oceanz 2011, – a national two-day diving and marine themed event in Tauranga. It was a bloody good event with a range of interesting speakers and presentations on marine topics, and some spectacular underwater photography on show. I had been asked to give a presentation on my work filming great white sharks for our current documentary, – as well as talk about white shark research.  Despite public speaking not being my thing, I ended up quite enjoying it!   We got some great feed back, [- I was asked to do an encore presentation], so may even give it another shot to promote our doco’ when we are ready to launch!

South Island shoot

..Just got back from a great 2-week shoot around the South Island, – beginning in the Marlborough Sounds and covering a range of locations as far south as Dunedin. We started out filming a salmon farming operation and talking to local fishermen and restauranteurs out of Picton, then down to Kaikoura to film a Paua diver at work off the coast [ underwater and topside], Geoduck and Paua culture, and Kaikoura’s spectacular coastal scenery.

Akaroa was our next stop, and sticking with the marine/ aquaculture theme we shot a story about Paua pearl culture and mussel farming, – meeting some really interesting and colourful characters in the process!

Next we filmed at Moeraki Boulders, still on the East coast, then on to Dunedin for the inaugural 2011 Seafood Festival. This was a cool event, busy, bustling and alive with colour and characters….not to mention some awesome seafood which we had to sample of course!
Heading inland from Dunedin we shot stories at Middlemarch and Alexander, – filming the rugged landscape from a little R22 chopper and hunting Fallow deer in the rocky hills of Central.  We also shot some great sequences down the Clutha river for a story on the early gold miners who lived along the Clutha Gorge in tiny stone bivvy’s and caves, – a tough lot who endured all sorts of hardships to chase their fortune. After a bit of trout fishing we headed back north again, and finally flew out of Blenheim; – a nice way to ease back into New Zealand assignments after last month’s Alaska shoot!

Latest Alaskan shoot: Wrangell Mountains

Mountains, Alaska

Alaska is one of my favourite places and I always enjoy filming assignments that take me to this part of the world, – the landscapes are vast and breath-taking, the wildlife is varied and interesting, and the people of Alaska live and breathe the outdoors! They’re generally strongly individual characters; quirky, practical people with a good sense of humour and a zest for life!

This latest trip was no exception, – I was filming for another episode of ‘Adventures in Wild Places’, – a show we are working on that takes us to remote locations around the world experiencing the lives of the people who live and work in these wild places.
After driving 580km from Anchorage to Fairbanks [with a side trip to Denali on the way], then a further 320km to a tiny town called Tok, we flew by bush plane into the Wrangell Mountains to a remote hunting camp called Snag Creek. It actually took three attempts before we could fly in though, – in Alaska the bush ‘airstrips’ are often just a gravel river bar with the biggest rocks cleared out the way, and are usually very short! This one was no exception, and after two attempts in a [Cessna] 206, we had to do it in two Super Cubs, tiny 2-seater bush planes with massive tundra tyres fitted and a very slow stall speed.

From base camp we loaded packhorses with our small amount of gear and rode a couple of hours upriver on horseback to our fly-camp in the mountains; – no room on this type of film assignment for fancy production equipment and crew! Over the next 10-days our ‘working day’ went something like this: up at 3am, wolf down a bowl of oats by the fire, saddle up and ride further into the mountains [in the dark to begin with], choose a valley to hunt, tie the horses up and start walking. The terrain was very steep, usually involving a hard climb out of the river onto a tundra shelf, then up into the really steep scree and rock where the Dall sheep live. We would spend 10 or 11 hours exploring these high areas up to the snowline, then ride the couple of hours back to camp on the horses, light the fire, wolf down a freeze-dried dinner then crash in the tents about 9pm ready to do it all again the next day!

As always, every day brought new adventures and filming challenges, – from dicey traverses on high, loose rock and scree to Grizzly bear encounters …some too close for comfort! In fact on one day we had three separate bear encounters, with the last being a heart-pounding touch and go moment at 10 yards! We also saw wolverine hunting [a rare sight], moose, caribou and Dall sheep, – and always we were in the midst of a breathtakingly vast, all encompassing and soul-satisying wilderness landscape. These are the assignments I love!

Grizzly bear foraging for berries

In total we were away from New Zealand for 3-weeks, and I think this will make another great episode to accompany the other eps’ we have filmed in Africa, Outback Australia, Arctic Svalbard, Norway, New Zealand and other areas of Alaska; now the editing begins!

Filming in remote locations [and underwater] brings with it difficulties and challenges that I enjoy having to meet, – it helps you realise what equipment you can do without, what equipment is absolutely essential, and what needs modifying to be practical on assignments where weight is a real issue! If you have to fit everything you need in the tail of a small bush plane, – strap it into a saddlebag on a horse, and carry it on your back for 10 or 12 hours – it soon strips away any ‘equipment snobbery’ you may have! If you are a hundred miles away from the nearest power source you need to take a solar charger for your camera batteries, and you cant drag around a Miller tripod, a crane, a dolly and studio lights! When you are filming people in the outdoors who are actually at work, you cant keep asking them to ‘”do it again, but like this” or you are not showing their life as it really is, [.. and an Alaskan will soon tell you to piss off and let him get on with it anyway! ]
To me this type of documentary filming is the real ‘reality TV’…not some hand-picked ‘celebrity’ contestants in a choreographed situation !

Alaskan bush plane - Super Cub with tunra wheels

 

Back from Alaska!

Just back from our latest filming trip to Alaska, – another awesome adventure…will post some pics later!

Past season’s White shark Doco’ shoot [Liquid Action Films production]

A couple of shots from this season's filming for Liquid Action Films shark doco'