Filming in Taiji, Japan.
In 2010, I got an opportunity to DP a passion project for a very dear colleague. While the project was pitched as a reality show, the 'reality' was that it definitely was NOT a run-of-the-mill reality pilot. The show was called Green Challenge and it's goal was straight forward: Travel the world in search of global troublemakers and film a celebrity host picking a fight with said troublemakers. Brilliant!!!
For the pilot the creators decided to spotlight the 1000 year old tradition of dolphin poaching. The concept had all the ingredients of a great show that obviously NO network in their right mind would touch. It was parts extreme travel - - parts adventure - -parts investigative reporting- - and tons of unscriptable drama! The show's host was race car driver and eco-activist, Lalani Munter.
The show went better then expected. Shooting was unnerving at times but totally exciting! Although Green Challenge never caught on, it was one of my most memorable professional adventures. There is no greater feeling then using one's talents to make the world a better place.
Although we definitely weren't the first, the last, or the best to shoot this type of content - - I like to think our little project was an important bench mark for what I like to call 'tele-activisim'! Interestingly, thanks to technology, every day people are using their cameras to pick fights with bad guys all over the globe. Now that's pretty cool!
From the Do-It-Yourself perspective, here are some of the crew/gear we used to pull off our pilot:
Crew:
- Producer/Field Producer
- Editor/AP/Camera Op
- Editor 2/DIT
- DP/Camera Op
- Camera Operator/Still Photographer
- On Camera Talent
Cameras:
- Sony Ex-3. (With Sony Wide Angle Adaptor)
- Sony EX-1. (With Sony Wide Angle Adaptor)
- JVC- HD100.
- Canon 5D For Stills
Camera Support
- Sachtler Dv-6
- Sachtler Dv-8
- Redrock Micro Mattebox (ND .6, .9. ND Grad .9, EFX Blue Grad .9,)
Audio:
- Lectro-Sonic 200 series systems
- Sennheiser 416 for boom.
- As always - we use Sachtler DV-6 and DV8.
