At the gate and ready to go.
I am about to depart on a three month trip to India to help make a film about the Monsoon, one of the archetypal weather events in global and human history.
I'm pretty sure this project will bring many challenges I havn't yet experienced in my young but eventful cinematography career. One of the most fundamental challenges seems pretty obvious from the get go. RAIN! and lots of it. And in between Im sure the air we'll be pretty wet too. We all know how much electronics love the H2o. However, I'm not going completely ill-prepared as I have stocked up on the gadgets and knowledge my modest means have afforded me. Despite the notion that the internet is the great repository of all human knowledge I havn't found a lot of wisdom about shooting moving images in extreme weather events. Cinematographers, whether by circumstance or design, arn't the most generous group of professionals when it comes to sharing knowledge of their craft. It seem to prefer to trade their experiences and technique through whispers in the darkened corners of film studios like schoolboys sharing dirty stories . Maybe there is certain wisdom to this mummery, .... but its one that it seems I about to disregard, if only for the certain fame to be found in exposing all my miscalculations and fools-errands with the world.
In the accompanying photo you'll see the proverbial proverbial Tickle Trunks I have assembled to slog around the sub-continent for the next 3 months. Foolish - maybe. Worth it- certainly. For as many times I might curse a seldom used case, it might be just one image taken with that piece of gear that will make me bless it eternally. Not that I'm still not going to curse a lot.. Thus in the boxes we will find the tools and toys which I've managed to convince the documentary executive are absolutely essential in creating the very ' visual' documentary that is expected.
Here is a general list of what I am bringing along with me on this shoot....
1- Red Epic MX kit with lots of accesories and back-up parts.
2- A Canon-Eos 1Dc camera (capable of shooting 4k Canon Log images)
3- A plethora of Canon glass (mostly L). I will be using these lenses for both the Epic and the 1Dc. I'll go into details later on my equipment choices.
4- A Spintec Rain deflector.
5- Miller Solo Tripod with an Arrow 25 head.
6- A Kessler Cineslider.
7- A Kessler Shuttlepod with the new Cinedrive remote head system.
8- A couple pocketfuls of GoPro Hero 3s
9- Some general lights, grip and computer equipment etc.
post 1 complete....