People keep asking me for camera recommendations for travel videos and adventure films. Here’s one: the Canon XC10. (With a few accessories, on which more later.) Both Leon and I are shooting on this camera right now. Indeed, we’ve both worked our way through the exact same progression of cameras over the years. First came the Sony HVR-A1E, which […]
A couple of weekends ago saw the 2015 edition of Kendal Mountain Festival, which started with a bunch of mates in the back room of a Lakeland pub and is now the most well-known celebration of mountain culture, outdoor sports and adventure in the UK. Its remit is broad: while climbing, mountaineering and other activities involving […]
Last weekend, on the way back to Armenia from a final film editing stint in London, I stopped over in Bucharest, Romania, for a long weekend at the Hip Trip Travel Film Festival. The festival was organised by a small team of Romanian travellers and film lovers. In 2014 – their first year – they’d […]
After several iterations of increasingly detailed tweaking of the edited form of the footage, there must come a point (else the film would never be finished) where you say, “OK – this is it”. From this point forth, the visual and audio clips are set in stone on the timeline, never again to be tampered […]
Sometimes, when you’re working on a creative project, the way forward is not at all clear. And sometimes it’s impossible to see it at all. As you may remember from the last update, this is where we found ourselves with the still-untitled Patagonia film project. What do you do in this situation? Go for a […]
There comes a point in any major artistic endeavour when you have to stop what you’re doing, take a few steps back, and take a dispassionate look at what you’ve got. After 4 weeks (already!) of full-time editing work on the Patagonia film, this is where we’re at. Scott, Leon and I went through the process […]
Leon and I have rarely argued on our expeditions and film projects together. Last week, however, we ran into a bit of a disagreement. Specifically, we disagreed on how the Patagonia film should end. With a week to kill before flying home, after completing the horseback journey up the Rio Santa Cruz we had embarked […]
In my previous adventure filmmaking update, I ran through the process of whittling down the raw footage from an expedition to a manageable amount with which we could begin crafting the story. This specifically referred to the film we shot in Patagonia, journeying along the Rio Santa Cruz on horseback; the film for which we’re taking the […]
It’s a deceptive beast, making a film. Because if you do it well, the result is an effortless and immersive experience. It totally engrosses the viewer. And it belies the amount of time and work that goes into its creation. The viewing experience can also somehow give the impression that a film emerges fully-formed from […]
“Will you continue travelling? And are you planning any more films?” These questions always came up after screenings of Janapar. And I always answered them… vaguely. I replied that I’d keep travelling regularly – but only while it remained relevant to my life. And I replied that I’d definitely consider making another film – but […]