After this paragraph, close your eyes for a second, and picture yourself travelling around the world filming street performers for a documentary. You have little experience and few contacts, and your team consists of just three people. You are limited to five days in each city, with about two days of travel in between. What would you spend your time doing? What’s your schedule like?
Okay, you probably have some idea: filming, editing, walking, eating, sleeping (in that order), resting, computer stuff and odd jobs. A year ago, I thought the same thing. In fact, I thought this trip might actually be fun. I was wrong. I can’t imagine a more boring subject than time management, but in case you’re thinking of doing an on-the-road “run-and-gun” documentary, here’s what to expect…
PRE-ARRIVAL
• Debrief previous destination
• Identify immediate issues to deal with on arrival
• Research next destination *
• Homework **
• Admin ***
DAY 1
• Find our couchsurfing host, dump main kit, give them a present
• Shop for groceries
• Pack some food
• Scout—find performers and locations
• Come home, research people we met on the day
• Plan interviews
• Admin
SHOOTING DAYS
• Daily brief ****
• Admin
• Pack lunches
• Go out and film!
• Debrief
• Tech stuff (clean lenses, charge batteries, deal with new footage)
• Admin
FINAL DAY
• Daily brief (what’s missing)
• Buy/find present for next host
• Thank performers
• Update hard drives
• Lessons ****
• Pack
• Admin
• Chill out!
I don’t know whether the magnitude of the work comes across in that list, so there are some more in-depth notes below. We wake up, turn on the computers and start working, and continue until we sleep. Perhaps I should say that after a month and three days of near non-stop work, we’re all showing signs of fatigue. Almost every day I get to do something I’m proud of, which is as brilliant a state of work you can hope to be in. But I also wake up knowing that I won’t have rest until I’m asleep, and this will be the case for the next nine months. Phew!
Wish us luck,
Nick x
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* Country Research
Where to find buskers, which ones we should be looking for, where are good spots to film, what’s the history of the city, and how good is its welfare system. Where are the hospitals, the universities, the pedestrian zones and the camera shops. Is it legal to film?
** Homework
Anything documentary related, like writing a synopsis, filling out a treatment, practicing filming and editing techniques, or reviewing footage to find mistakes.
***Admin
There are more issues that crop up along the way, but here are the daily tasks: reviewing tech/filming issues, writing blog and performer posts for the site, downloading, transcoding and renaming footage, editing movies, uploading others to vimeo, booking transport (a huge headache), social networking, staying on top of the budget, doing research, writing the newsletter and other forms of PR, replying to emails, finding future couchsurfing hosts, contacting local universities and newspapers, making site updates, and researching fundraising avenues.
**** Daily brief
Not to be underestimated, the cornerstone of every day’s operation. Normally takes at least half an hour, sometimes 2!
