production diary: Nuba moutnains - Sudan ( part 2 )

With a little bit of a delay, the micro doc that we shot is now online.

And while we are at it, i will deliver the 2nd part of the production diary. Last time i gave a quick roundup of how it was to work with the 5D Mark III in a challenging environment. Now i want to go more into the details.

Overheating: While i had some 2 weeks holiday back home in germany, i put my 5DMIII into the service after the battery compartment cover broke ( a little bit of a weak spot of the camera it seems ). So i put my old 7D back into action when i shot some small little piece to test a new tripod setup ( Induro AT213, with Novoflex MagicBalance and a Manfrotto HDV 701 head ). I realized pretty fast that even during a normal sunny afternoon in central europe, my 7D showed the "overheat" warning pretty fast. My 5DMIII is much more enduring, even during 50 degrees heat ( celsious that is ). Both of them have not active fan ( like the C100+ cameras).

Reduced equipment: Again and again i promised myself i will forcefully downgrade my gear. And i was always remembered why when walking up and down steep slopes under scorching sun.  A small mic, a good alround lens ( maybe tele additinal), a leightweight tripod is all you need in the end when you know what you are doing ( a radio mic is so small, i would not even put that into the count ). Especially when working in Video, a lot of people tend to carry far too much stuff into the field. Especially since we can now leave DV tapes at home, we can really travel light. Never understimate advantages to travel light. You are less exhausted, you can't lose or break so many things and for outsiders you look less threatening.

Edelkrone Pocketrig: I made the mistake of taking the Edelkrone Pocketrig with me, just to give it a proper field test. I have to admit, it pretty much failed me. Although i first had a positive view of the design etc. it turned out that it was just so annoying to set up and not very reliable that i put it back into my bag from the 2nd day on and never took it out again. I rather shot with handheld and tried to keep it steady with good breathing techniques.
I know its not a professional tool, but the LACK of "fix locks" for all the hinges and moving parts rendered this tool really useless in demanding situations. You end up adjusting it more then actually filming.

Sound: Next to the on-camera recording, my production partner Tristan, used Zoom recorder to record some natural sound and things that he encountered. That was very helpful in the end production to fill some sequences with better atmosound.

image by Tristan McConnell