Madre de Dios Speleo 2008

Film-making Methods

Tim, Lou, and Ben have all been involved in making expedition films before (e.g. Banff Mountain Film Festival 2003). Madre de Dios, however, will present special challenges. A Sony A1 high definition video camera with waterproof housing will be the main tool used for documenting the expedition, with Tim and Lou acting principal camera operators. Two back-up cameras will also be taken, a Sony P9 and a Sony PDX10. We will also use a waterproof helmet-mounted pencil-cam, particularly for underground POV shots. Lighting will be using home-made hand-held 50w halogen lamps powered by standard 12v Yuasa lead-acid batteries. The aim will be an ultra-light-weight approach that minimises the dulling impact that traditional film-crew operations inevitably have on adventure film-making. The technique will be to use a mixture of set-up sequences, diary sequences, and fly-on-the-wall reality sequences to try and capture the essence of the expedition challenges as they unfold, and to try to represent the importance of both wilderness preservation and climate science in an engaging style. Material will be edited in Final Cut Pro with the aim of making a one hour film for the Festival Circuit. Wider dissemination through broadcast TV may be possible if the material is sufficiently strong, and we will use our media contacts to pursue this.