Film Courage: Just a few days ago Christopher you had a piece published on No Film School
which was “10 Production Saving Tips for Filming in a Remote Location.”
It was excellent advice and I was just wondering if we can talk about a few of them?
Maybe some of which you consider the most important?
Christopher Smith: I think the most important thing (hands down) is just the need to do
your homework and prepare before your trip because information that you get from that
process informs all of the decisions you are going to have to make throughout the whole
production in terms of what’s the climate like?
What’s your resources there?
Where are the emergency facilities?
What’s the culture like all?
Of those things, they inform everything from what kind of equipment you bring to what kind
of clothing you bring (like all that stuff).
But also logistics in terms of transportation and I think it just really informs it all,
you know?
I think another one might be just the safety issues in terms of preparing with getting
the right insurance in place just in case of unforeseen circumstances.
And what you need to take with you in terms of your well-being and what information you
need in terms of being evacuated or something like that should something go wrong.
So yeah, I think those are the two obviously big ones.
And then there’s lots of follow on pieces of advice just about gear and what to consider
with that.
Film Courage: I thought what was interesting was that you said don’t have your gear in
bags that scream “Hey I’m a filmmaker!
And I have expensive gear!”
Maybe can you talk about some ways to downplay the fact that you are essentially wearing
thousands of dollars worth of gear on you?
Christopher Smith: Right…That’s a really tricky one because at times you just can’t
hide it but definitely I opt to not take Pelican cases or any sort of hard case.
And for carry ons, well I carry on my camera always and I’ll just have like a soft backpack
camera bag.
And I think that’s actually way more practical than a Pelican case anyways.
But it also tends to look like just a big backpack (which is nice).
And for checked stuff I opt for really large, rolling luggage like you would normally see
with a traveler and I just get one that is long enough to fit my tripod and I make it
all fit into those basically and will pack in clothes around it to help pad it and then
I’ll use an approved lock to it up which when you get to developing countries and I
don’t really know how risky it is but I’ve heard of people who work at the airlines stealing
things out of bags or not even them, just like hotels or anywhere else it’s a thing
that can happen so I have a little bit of security with the lock so at the very least
gives you piece of mind.
Film Courage: That’s great advice.
And also to when you mentioned, it’s 2017 and getting through the checkpoint is probably
even more stringent than ever before, what are some tips on protecting what’s going
through and what if your bag is opened up?
My bag has been opened up and I didn’t even have gear in it.
Christopher Smith: I mean if you have gear, they are always going to open your bag.
Particularly I’ve noticed tripod bags have been opened every single time this.
And I traveled a lot with my gear over the years, not just for this project but for another
film I am working on and also back in the Tiny days [his movie with co-filmmaker Merete
Mueller TINY: A Story About Living Small] I was sort of splitting my time between New
York and Colorado.
And there was a time where I brought literally everything I used to make movies with me everywhere
I went including my computer and hard drives (to edit on), so I have a fair amount of experience
doing that.
And my experience is, they always check your bags.
The only thing I’ve ever really run into was I’ve had some Allen keys and I guess
the largest size of that Allen key set wasn’t approved to be carried on so they confiscated
them.
Your carry-on is the think you have to worry about so having these sort of sharp objects
or tools, put those in your checked luggage and you won’t risk having the confiscated.
Film Courage: What about [what he said previously] “Look like you belong.”
I know that probably varies and I’m not even sure if I’m paraphrasing for one of
the tips you mentioned, but you know, fitting into the culture of a place.
Like if you are somewhere in Venice Beach (California) you want to look the part like
you’re going to the beach not in full regalia.
Christopher Smith: I mean it’s sort of impossible particularly in Cambodia to really look like
you belong but looking like you’re not fresh off the boat, you know?
You are aware of your surroundings at all times.
You basically want to make yourself look like not an easy target, rather than a tourist
who doesn’t sort of know any better.
But it looks like you are knowledgable about how things work in the country and you’re
aware and that’s when I think people are aware and that’s when people are going to
say “Oh that guy’s a little too difficult” Or that girl and instead go after the tourist
(not that they should go after them, we don’t want that).
Film Courage: Right…well you can always tell even in Los Angeles who is a tourist
and who is not by how they are kind of looking around in awe like we’re animals in a zoo
sort of thing.
You always talked about riding in taxis and where to put your bags.
Christopher Smith: Definitely.
Everything you do in foreign countries is going to be more expensive because you have
considerations which you don’t when you’re just traveling which is way more luggage and
expensive gear.
So I usually end up taking single taxis which in Cambodia is pretty uncommon and reserved
for people who have a lot of money.
Normally they share taxis or tuk-tuks or they ride on the backs of motorcycles and I’ve
done all of those things in Cambodia.
What I normally do when I arrive with all of my gear in bags, I take a taxi to the hotel
where I drop it off and if I don’t need it then I’ll tuk-tuk or ride a motorcycle
around.
But when I’m going out on a shoot I bring what I need for that shoot and because this
is a verite shoot oftentimes I don’t always bring my tripod with me because I do a lot
of mostly handheld stuff.
So in that case I can just bring my backpack and get everything there that I need for the
day.
And a lot of my additional gear is more for interviews and things like that, like lighting
or cables or hard drives that I can offload later (that I don’t really need for the
shoot).
And then when I ride in tuk-tuks with my gear or bags, I make sure to keep them in the middle
of the tuk-tuk because people will ride up next to them and they will have one person
on the back of the motor cycle reach over and grab your bag and then ride away and your
tuk-tuk will not catch a motorcycle.
So you just kind of want to be aware that this is a possibility, keep your hand on your
bag and just keep your eye out for suspicious motorcycles who might be trying to take your
bags.
Film Courage: Well last but not least what about making polite conversation and someone
asks “Hey, what are you doing here?
What are you up to?”
Do you disclose “I’m a documentary filmmaker” or do you just say “I’m traveling and
want to try out my new camera.”
Christopher Smith: I think that really depends on who is asking.
Little kids particularly in these developing countries just like love not only Westerners
but when you have a camera and you know about TV and cameras and what that means and they
get really excited and they want to come over and see what you’re doing.
And I love to show it to them and let them play with it sometimes if I have time.
If it’s somebody who looks like they are in a place of authority I do tend to downplay
it a little bit because you don’t want to call too much attention to yourself.
You never know who is legitimate, who is not.
Because you can’t help but not know those things in a country you are not familiar with.
Just like you wouldn’t do that here if you didn’t know why somebody was asking you
questions in a part of town you are not normally in.
You would probably kind of keep it close to your chest.
But I just say like “Oh, I’m filming…”
Actually, I don’t actually say what the project is, I say what I’m filming.
So if someone says “What are you doing?”
I say “Oh, I’m filming this fisherman.”
Or whatever because you are answering the question but it is not giving away too much.