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"I decided the
next morning to shoot
digital on my own." Photo / Stephanie
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Hired by a major TV network
to shoot in the Egyptian Desert, I knew what to expect.
I was born and raised in Egypt. Winds strong enough
to knock an entire film crew down with their tents
and gear. Flying sand specs that would attack every
crevice of the camera.
Minor hazards like desert
Jackals that would eat anything that smelled good,
no cologne please. The infamous desert viper whose
venom would kill a man in less than five minutes.
But those were the least of
my concernsÉ
It was the bureaucratic nightmare
of shooting in North Africa with a film crew that
bothered me. You can simply get arrested if you don't
have the right permits and possibly charged with spying.
Outside the USA, you are guilty until proven innocent.
On another North African trip, I was detained for
a few hours in a police station for videotaping in
a subway station. But the fact that I had a video
camera made me pass as a tourist!
Time was not on our hands
to obtain all the necessary permits needed to shoot.
The answer was simple: "Go digital." As a Cameraman,
I knew the advantages and disadvantages of going digital
and this desert situation called for lightweight portable
DV gear.
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"Our desert guide
did not want to
take the risk of overloading the Jeeps." Photo
/ Raouf Zaki
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But the client insisted: "Thou
shall deliver on film, thou shall pay bribes to get
our 11 person film crew with their fifty metal cases
inconspicuously out of the airport into the desert
and a few days later back track your footsteps!"
Well, a few days later, I
was in Cairo in an outdoor garage, with fifty metal
cases, four jeep Cherokees, a portable kitchen, seven
tents and enough water to last us for two more trips
and we are now twelve. A local deaf and mute grip
had joined us. Our ambitious producer decided we needed
a dolly with tracks. And not because we wanted to
hire a local deaf and mute grip to operate it but
because the local company that referred him did not
think it would matter anyway since it was an international
crew! He turned out to be the sweetest guy to work
with.
The packing took a few hours.
Our desert guide did not want to take the risk of
overloading the Jeeps to avoid being stuck in the
sand. To avoid that, we left the dolly and its tracks
behind with a rented van and the grip with the promise
of returning back to get him.
We arrived at our destination.
We set-up our camp in the dark in the barren desert,
tried to ignore any hissing sounds. Everyone went
to sleep except I and the desert guide drove back
to the grip, a three-hour drive in pitch-black desert
to save the day. We saw a figure jumping up and down
in the dark. Judging from the grip's jolly face he
was seriously happy to see us back.
I remembered my suggestion
to shoot this project on DV and scratched my head.
But staring at my global positioning satellite for
directions was my only concern at that point.
I decided the next morning
to shoot digital on my own. I had my digital camera
that I brought along. Each film set-up would typically
take one hour while DV set-ups would take roughly
ten minutes, a considerable difference.
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"Hand-held digital
shots as I had anticipated were rock solid despite
the unsteady pavement." Photo / Hana Zaki
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I shot rehearsals with my
DVCAM when the talent thinks we are not shooting.
A luxury that you are not allowed to do on film because
of the prohibitive costs of processing. That technique
however achieves more relaxed and natural performances.
I would shoot in lower angles and zoom in for cutaways
of the talents' faces. I was not using a tripod and
all my hand-held digital shots as I had anticipated
were rock solid despite the unsteady pavement. The
flexibility of the format had my imagination running
wild. I was even able to catch the Jackals at night
strategically gathered around our camp waiting for
us to fall asleep. Not that capturing that had anything
to do with the actual story we were filming but if
we ever wanted to incorporate it, it was simply available
on archive.
We had perhaps with the same
story but from two different perspectives. The station
told me the Sahara Footage was the most breathtaking
of the entire show.
Days later, I was back in
Cairo to catch-up with some old friends. I met with
SAMIR BAHZAN, a renowned Arabic Cinematographer. He
had just finished shooting EL MEDINA (THE CITY) which
was one of the most beautifully photographed films
I have ever seen. I saw most digital films that made
it theatrically like TIMECODE and DANCER IN THE DARK
but EL MEDINA looked so good that never for a moment
did I doubt it originated on film.
"What was the budget of EL
MEDINA I asked Samir
"$700,000 US dollars. We shot
it on Digital." He said
"You had that kind of budget
and you shot it on Digital?"
"We wanted to experiment.
It did not matter whether we shot it on Digital or
Film. What really mattered to me was the story"
Back in Boston, I was sipping
Arabic Coffee reflecting on my experience in the desert.
A US crew so determined to get this footage on film
in the most remote of all locations, while on the
other hand, SAMIR, the Egyptian Cinematographer and
his digital masterpiece. His final words.
This Journey, as ironic at
it may sound, reminded me of my experience emigrating
to the US from Egypt sixteen years ago. You leave
the Old World and embrace the New World with its advantages
and disadvantagesÉ
As a Cameraman, embracing
the digital world feels like the immigration experience.
You embrace the new technology but you never forget
your roots.
Raouf
Zaki has experience shooting with various DV outfits
on features and documentaries. Visit him at www.filmondigital.com
or email him at ravision@hotmail.com
