C300: Jewels of Thane Creek

Hi Jim, cobzo1 and Ned,
I am happy that you all liked it.

Since India is PAL country, all the shots are in 25p. I used original C300 for all the shots except aerial.

The opening shot timelapse was done in the C300 itself. Have many timelapses with Go Pro and DSLRs etc but at the end selected this one.

Shot with all Canon lenses 400mm, 800mm, 24-105, 24-70, 100mm macro IS, 100-400, 70-200 f2.8 IS II etc. Also used 1.4x TC, 2xII TC and 2xIII TC.

There were a few shots from the boat. The wide angle shots from boat were with 24-105 IS lens handheld without any rigs. I was worried about stuff falling into water from the small boats. Rest all were shot mostly using the OConnor 1030 HDs fluid head and Sactler tripod. The Gitzo tripod with manfrotto head as well as a ball head were also used for some locked down shots. The OConnor Hi-hat also got used a lot.

The macro shots were painfully slow. Max 2 or 3 spider shots I could click in one afternoon. The 100mm IS lens with lot of spacers and then sliding the C300 close to the subject was not easy. And the light levels were pretty low even in day time. I wanted lot of depth of field and had to push up the ISO even to 5000. You can see a bit of grains in some of the shots.

Out of the dragonfly shots the first one was at 800mm and the second was was with the 100mm IS lens as I could manage to creep close to that fellow.

For the aerial shots I used a 3DR Solo. My partner flew the 3DR Solo with the Go Pro 4 black and I was basically directing her for shot composition. She only prefers to fly line of sight and I hold the phone and ask her to move up/down/left/right etc. One of the shots was flying the copter parallel to the flamingos very low to the ground. For that we had to fly numerous times to make the flamingos comfortable and then shoot. Still am not too happy with one shot where the whites were a bit bright for my liking.

I wanted a hydrophone to be placed in water to record the flamingo sounds. I have a 25m cable. However my partner got stuck upto thigh level in the creek and somehow I had to move close and pull her out. So there were a few misadventures.

Some of the shots like the crab carrying the leaf is a specific behaviour. I had read about it in a journal and was looking for those and fortunately I got it.

While starting I had not decided on the name. In the middle of the shoot I decided on the name. After that I visualised on the last shot and was waiting for many days for it. Just three days before I wrapped up the shoot, I got the closing shot. We had all but given up hope when my partner gave me coffee and I was drinking it from the flask sitting silently. Then the flamingos appeared and the Sunset was the way I was hoping for. I scrambled to get it.

Do let me know if you have any specific questions.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi
 
Outstanding filmmaking.

1. Your music is really well done, did you have a composer? Or is this library?
2. I like the VO, how did you located your VO talent?
3. Do you have a longer form cut you could sell for TV? I see no reason why this couldn't air on Nat Geo, Smithsonian Channel or Animal Planet other than it is too short for a broadcast half hour.
4. From concept to master, how long was your production schedule?
5. How do you finance these sorts of films? Obviously you spent an extraordinary amount of time and effort to capture all of the footage.
6. Writing was tasteful and well done. Did you write it or worked with a writer?
 
Hi Terry,
It is a flat worm or platyhelminthes. I am not sure about the exact species id.

Puredrifting,
I always use a dedicated composer for my needs. I always believe that filmmaking is teamwork so I have been trying to identify people with potential and create alliances/collaborate with them. Now my composer knows what I want. I just tell him the mood that I want and he also knows the type of instruments/sounds I don't want. The Voiceover is by a artist from UK. He is one of their top artists. I found a commercial with one of my college day favourite hero Antonio Banderas and this artist had given the VO. I have worked with VO artists from US as well but this is the first time I have used him.

This documentary will be screened in a Forest Department interpretation centre at Airoli, Mumbai. So it had to be short. The target was 10 mins but I finally ended up at 13.33. For a half an hour doc, I will need another week or so of shoot to get a few different shots.

I have been writing newsletters on wildlife and environment issues every month since 2009. Though I am an engineer and MBA, my dad was a Zoology professor. He used to take MSc classes at home and I used to loiter around to hear those when I was in school. So I am comfortable in reading these stuff as well as writing. Before starting shooting I had done a shooting script with the overall shot list and concept based on what ever species I knew realistically I can find. After the shoot, I created a script based on the shots. I also bounced ideas with the forest department and a few other people. I shot intermittently from September 2015 till January first week 2016, with at least one week or more every month. I had timed my visits according to specific season, tide times, full moon/eclipse etc, specific migration times of birds and other species etc. I got some funding for this, so was able to do this. Else it would have been very difficult for me, as there is another long-term project which I am doing which is completely self-funded.

I am happy that you all liked my documentary.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top