I don’t often use the word ‘crazy’ or any of its synonyms, for fear of offending the genuinely insane. But the last few days have been very much a psychological minefield, simultaneously launching Karun: Misadventures On Iran’s Longest River, doing podcast interviews, switching continents (again) from Armenia to the UK, presenting at the Royal Geographical Society, […]
Tomorrow is, in many ways, the culmination of years of work and preparation. The project began as a desire to explore Iran (my wife’s homeland) in more depth, brewed steadily while I learned to speak Farsi, and came to fruition in a journey along the Iran’s longest river, the Karun, last year. Now that journey is about to […]
Several big pieces of news this week on the subject of A Tale Of Two Rivers, my ongoing crowdfunded filmmaking project to produce and release two new adventure films: A big achievement in the production of our Patagonia film – we have finally achieved picture lock. Yeah! We’ve also decided on the final title for […]
Last weekend saw the first ever private screening of The Last Explorers and Karun. A theatreful of Kickstarter backers joined us for the evening to enjoy the fruits of our labours, and to offer feedback and suggestions for improvements before the films are finalised. The event was a resounding success, and Leon and I would like […]
UPDATE: We’ve had an utterly amazing response to this call for translations. Nearly 100 people have volunteered their time in less than 24 hours! Thank you, thank you, thank you – it’s fantastic to see and hear how many of you are on board with what we’re trying to do. The result is that we […]
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 […]