A big advantage to working with story-driven clients is getting the opportunity to travel the world and illustrate the impact of their brand across the globe. Over the past few years we’ve toured with a world-famous rock-band, sailed to a remote island off the coast of Vancouver, hiked up snowy Washington peaks (with way too much camera gear), driven into an Icelandic hurricane, and snuck camera gear into a 3rd-world country in the middle of a civil war. That’s just the short-list. Through it all, it’s safe to say we’ve made first hand discoveries about what it takes to execute a high-quality production when conditions aren’t exactly ideal.

Many of our recent travels have been for branded mini-documentaries. Proper commercials are a different animal and usually afford the luxury of (some) additional time, crew, equipment, etc. We’ve discovered the importance of being flexible so for one, we could accommodate our client’s budget, but equally as important, move quickly in service of the story. It is exponentially more difficult to call a massive audible with a crew of 25 people than with 3 people in a rental car. In many of our travel shoots, there have been plenty of situations where all the crew in the world wouldn’t have made a difference.

One time this rang very true was during our trip to Iceland in April 2018. We made the trek there to film a mini-doc with Olympic athlete Asdis Hjalmsdottir. The hope was that the beautiful scenery would provide an epic backdrop to a touching story. Except it didn’t. Early on, we went to film Asdis’ training session on the type of majestic sea cliff you’d see in an episode of Game of Thrones. It was gorgeous. Insert 70+ mph winds that shake the camera uncontrollably, no matter how steady I tried to hold it. A tripod offered no better solution. Not to mention how miserable the conditions were for her to train in.

“No sweat, we’ll just go somewhere else.” 

We then find a lake to shoot at. Ten minutes in – it downpours before we get any of the shots we need. The next day we go to the iconic black sand beach. As we try to get setup, the car door nearly gets RIPPED OFF due to the wind. We run down to get some footage, but each particle of sand becomes a pellet flying through the air, hitting us and the camera from all directions. Another swing & a miss. On a mini-doc like this, we don’t have contingency days to rely on. We have to find a way to tell the story a bit differently than we planned. In this case, the solution was to shoot what we could in each spot as quickly as possible, then find another spot, another, etc. Combined with shooting interiors a bit more than we initially planned, we were able to get solid content in the can.

A later trip to Nicaragua in August of 2018 presented a very different set of challenges. A few days before we were set to go, we found out that the country’s civil war had escalated, and all cameras & related equipment were banned from entering the country. Goodbye to all the bells & whistles we usually take. We decided we would try to sneak in a smaller bodied camera, a couple small lenses, tiny house lights, and “music” microphones. While we love to use our proper cinema equipment to make our documentaries look & sound as big-budget as possible, this smaller footprint was our best chance at being as discreet as possible. It not only kept us from getting caught, but ironically it was the perfect solution for working with Nicaraguan locals, many of whom had hardly seen a modern video camera before. We hid gear in shoes, socks and glove compartments. Whatever we could. With a little help from a local fixer, we got the gear into the country without a hitch. We didn’t expect the lack of clean water & air conditioning to be the LEAST of our concerns.

We’ve been able to acclimate to the idea that anything can happen. Challenges can compound on top of each other, but instead of feeling defeated, we’ve gotten accustomed to letting them shape the story we’re there to tell. After the initial “oh crap,” we begin moving forward with the new parameters that have been set for us. As much as we like to polish the look of our branded documentaries, sometimes you have to roll with the punches. Content is king and capturing the essence of our characters and their stories is possible in almost any circumstance.

It would be a stretch to say we embrace these issues with open arms, because of course we’d like everything to go according to plan. At the end of the day, we’re still there to tell a story, and we can’t put a disclaimer at the front of a video saying “We would’ve liked this film to be different but we had some complications. Sorry.” 

Adapting on the fly is one of the most important tools for location based filmmaking, and having to do it when miles away from home (and sometimes from civilization) is a crucial skill we’ve learned to develop. 

Start with the story and stay open to creative opportunities. They will come.