DVX Does Guatemala!

Sean Michael

Sean Michael

Well-known member
Just got back from a week of shooting an American TV show pilot in Antigua, Guatemala.

Most of our gear we carried in a Kata Panda pack--highly recommended.

The DVX performed flawlessly! We got some great stuff.



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NewYorkLion said:
ahh, antigua. I love that town. what kind of show is it? travel?
Click to expand...
Yep, 30-minute travel.

Antigua was wonderful. We'd been once before for a quick weekend, but this time we stayed the full week of Semana Santa (Holy Week). Met lots of interesting people, saw some amazing rituals... Antigua is definitely a fascinating and beautiful place.

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Funny,

I just got back from twelve days shooting for a Spanish language travel show in Guatemala too.

I spent Easter weekend in Antigua with all of the holy processions.

I saw The Discovery Channel had a crew in town shooting on what looked like a DVX-100A or B with a six person crew.

We were only a group of four, including talent.

Antigua is a beautiful town full of pictures and sound. Especially during this time of year. Plus, no rain!

The down side was the pickpocket who snagged our producers wallet, took out the cash and then dropped the wallet for him to recover. I warned him about the crowds and risk but...he wanted to learn the hard way.

I also saw some amazing mini DV rigs. Folks with all the toys hanging off and under their cameras. I stayed simple and enjoyed working and playing for a paycheck!

Maybe we should have had a DVX User meeting since so many were there!
 
Lensmith, we departed Guatemala on Saturday. But we were in Antigua a full week, and were working Friday from 4:30 AM until midnight!

Were you perchance at La Merced at 6AM Friday morning? We were there for the procession. I saw one fellow with a DVX and a monopod.

I also saw the Discovery crew, but believe they were shooting with the Sony HDV cam. Those bastards. :kali: (just kidding!)

A DVX User meeting would've been fun. We had a great time, and it would've been enjoyable to meet other DVX owners. Maybe next time I will post here a few weeks in advance of our travels.
 
Hi Sean,

I was there from Thursday to Sunday. No mono pod. Just my little Sachtler tripod which, in those crowds, didn't get used as much as normal.

I must admit I was surprised at how many folks were there with good mini DV cams.

I like your photos by the way. Did you chat with the local Guate TV crews at all? It's always fun for me to see how local news will cover their own event.

I know the DVX is not known from being a good low-light camera but I was very happy with most of my night time images. I bumped up the gain a couple of times but, overall, left it alone and worked various pools of lights.

The sawdust "carpets" were a treat to shoot for me. Lots of color and action, mixed with art and culture.

I think I overdosed on incense a couple of times though.:eek:
 
I didn't really chat with the Guate TV guys, mainly because my Spanish is really bad.

We were fortunate to garner permission to film from the 2nd floor (above Inguat overlooking Parque Central). But our best procession footage came from ground level. The incense, colorful costumes, funeral music, and pagentry make for an unforgettable experience!

Glad you like the pics. I shall post some more. :beer:

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I was wondering how much "permission" cost you for your shooting location?

Antigua and most of Guatemala's well known tourist locations, are known for wanting payment to allow crews to shoot events.

The producer I was working with spent over two grand on fees. Not just in Antigua but during our whole 12 day shoot. A thousand of it was for permission to shoot at Tikal.

Did you run into much difficulty with people wanting to be paid?

I just pointed people to my producer and kept rolling tape but some people got rather pushy...even though they had no right to be.

I love the day time wide shots from above. Did you move from that location or was a majority of your material shot from that high location. It's a good one.

Were you the only camera on your travel show shoot?

I ended up having to do a lot of ground level crowd work. Some nice images but I'm always a fine of a quality, high, wide shot.

Nice stuff.
 
As far as filming permission goes, I've probably said too much already. But yes, some Quetzales may have changed hands.

The practice of charging for permission is an unfortunate one. I can understand paying a nominal fee for a permit, but 1 grand? Ultimately this discourages filming in Guatemala, and adversely affects tourism. Heck, they really should be paying us to film--the results are great advertising and a boon to their economy.

Yes, we used only one camera on the shoot; perhaps that helped us "fly under the radar."

We did move from the 2nd floor spot, although we shot there both day and night. The location was useful for capturing images of the processions, as well as faces in Parque Central (though a little extra optical zoom on the DVX would've been nice).

Most of our nighttime images also turned out fine--the processions were brightly lit. In a few of my shots we employed gain, and they are pretty noisy. I'm going to try and clean them up in post, if possible.

Don't fret about the high location, because the most compelling procession footage we shot was at ground level. Not at La Merced, but later in the day as the same procession was winding through side streets. Ground level shots really place the viewer in the thick of the action.
 
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Hey guys,

having worked on a few travel shows, with big and small budgets, I learned one thing that is EXTREMELY useful as far as budget is concerned. If you have a good outlet(like discovery or travel vhannel), and a producer who can talk the talk, have them contact the country you want to shoot in's board of tourism. Many times, the BOT will cover ALL of your expenses, including local giudes, film fees, FLIGHTS!, limo service, top notch hotels, etc. Also, the guides they provide are usually great. Guatemala set us up niclely in Tikal, as did Belize, the DR, singapore, thailand and many others.
 
Contacting the Board of Tourism is a great idea.

We contacted some hotels & restaurants in advance of our trip, and that also proved useful. But the BOT would've been even better.
 
Hi Sean,

The thousand dollar fee for Tikal was absurd in my opinion. There is a ministry of tourism in most countries which can be useful. Organizations without government connections have less affect and, I've found, waste too much time.

There are a few exceptions...but they are exceptions, not the rule.

We had to get permission when we shot in Honduras at the Copan ruins a few months back but no money changed hands. It was just bureaucratic paperwork. No friendly bribe.

Guate is such a pretty country but sometimes the demand for payment for a photo on the street gets very old fast. I work in all of the other Central American countries quite regularly and never have that problem anywhere else.
 
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