holymexicobatman
Well-known member
agreed.brianluce said:
shooting in India
- Thread starter Zed
- Start date
Phani Eggone
Member
Hello Zed,
I live in Hyderabad (Southern Indian city). Most of the advice you're getting on this thread is, urm, useful. Tips regarding how to guard one's camera apply in any part of the world, don't they?
Regarding your specific questions:
Voltage converter: You might need one. They're widely available in any local electrical shop. Especially in 'outsourcing' cities!
Restrictions on shooting in streets: By default, no restrictions. But always makes sense - even for us locals - to check if there is any sensitive place around - e.g. a Defence Research facility, Mint, a Minister's residence etc.
Cell phone: GSM, CDMA.
Any other tip:
1) Be prepared for lots of "vehicular acoustics" aka incessant and colorful honking. Most of us are also "lateral drivers", so don't expect much lane discipline.
2) Expect the idea of time to be warped as per convenience: if someone promises to fix it in "1 hour", well, it could be a lot longer. You might more often be promised "will be done soon".
3) Speak slow. Ironically, you'll find English-speaking Indians trying to speak real fast with you.
4) In these outsourcing joints, you'll find plenty of employees with fake accents and pseudonyms. Enjoy that!
5) Please visit us with an open mind, expect a paradigm shift. There are a lot of us out here. We ourselves haven't/can't figure out what India is all about. So if you're going to be in a "these Indians" mode, it's not going to help!
I live in Hyderabad (Southern Indian city). Most of the advice you're getting on this thread is, urm, useful. Tips regarding how to guard one's camera apply in any part of the world, don't they?
Regarding your specific questions:
Voltage converter: You might need one. They're widely available in any local electrical shop. Especially in 'outsourcing' cities!
Restrictions on shooting in streets: By default, no restrictions. But always makes sense - even for us locals - to check if there is any sensitive place around - e.g. a Defence Research facility, Mint, a Minister's residence etc.
Cell phone: GSM, CDMA.
Any other tip:
1) Be prepared for lots of "vehicular acoustics" aka incessant and colorful honking. Most of us are also "lateral drivers", so don't expect much lane discipline.
2) Expect the idea of time to be warped as per convenience: if someone promises to fix it in "1 hour", well, it could be a lot longer. You might more often be promised "will be done soon".
3) Speak slow. Ironically, you'll find English-speaking Indians trying to speak real fast with you.
4) In these outsourcing joints, you'll find plenty of employees with fake accents and pseudonyms. Enjoy that!
5) Please visit us with an open mind, expect a paradigm shift. There are a lot of us out here. We ourselves haven't/can't figure out what India is all about. So if you're going to be in a "these Indians" mode, it's not going to help!
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NewYorkLion
Well-known member
Pakistan is an amzing place to visit and shoot. Think india with no tourists and less squalor/beggars. That being said, there are certain regions you wont want to go, like Peshawar and the NWFP, but the Karakorom Highway is probably the most beautiful road in the world (close tie with the Leh-Manali road in India) and the Hunza region (AKA Shangri-la) is something that cant even be described.bustak said:OK, visiting a fugitive in Pakistan sounds VERY dangerous!
valdez
Active member
I'll second that last post,
I was recently in both India and Pakistan, and actually felt a bit more comfortable in Pakistan. True, not everyone is happy about US foriegn Policy abroad, there, and the USs' attitude towards Muslims in general, but this does NOT translate to direct animosity towards Americans. Quite the opposite in fact.
Maybe the warmest most giving people I've ever met are there, and some of the most beautiful places in the world. Very cool.
I also Agree about camera safety in India; you should watch your stuff anywhere in the world, not only India. I wouldn't leave my DVX sitting in a McDonalds while I went to get my wallet in the car, even in the quaintest small US village.
I'd also say that you should be kind of prepared to be overwhelmed if you've never been to that region. The air, the noise, the number of people, the poverty you may see in cities, the food; it's a great experience, but hard to handle at times if all you're used to is life here, I often took some time to just sit an my room and regroup before heading out again.
Street Cricket matches are fun to watch, too, thats all I was there to film so I love that stuff. My film trailer is at http://www.legbeforewicket.org/trailer.php if anyone wants to see some of my India/Pakistan trip mixed into it.
I was recently in both India and Pakistan, and actually felt a bit more comfortable in Pakistan. True, not everyone is happy about US foriegn Policy abroad, there, and the USs' attitude towards Muslims in general, but this does NOT translate to direct animosity towards Americans. Quite the opposite in fact.
Maybe the warmest most giving people I've ever met are there, and some of the most beautiful places in the world. Very cool.
I also Agree about camera safety in India; you should watch your stuff anywhere in the world, not only India. I wouldn't leave my DVX sitting in a McDonalds while I went to get my wallet in the car, even in the quaintest small US village.
I'd also say that you should be kind of prepared to be overwhelmed if you've never been to that region. The air, the noise, the number of people, the poverty you may see in cities, the food; it's a great experience, but hard to handle at times if all you're used to is life here, I often took some time to just sit an my room and regroup before heading out again.
Street Cricket matches are fun to watch, too, thats all I was there to film so I love that stuff. My film trailer is at http://www.legbeforewicket.org/trailer.php if anyone wants to see some of my India/Pakistan trip mixed into it.
bustak
Well-known member
I was playing off of the users name Fugitive, I didn't mean that as a knock against Pakistan.Fugitive and bustak (me) said:Fugitive:
If you are planning to visit Pakistan, you are welcome to visit my place.
bustak (me):
OK, visiting a fugitive in Pakistan sounds VERY dangerous!
That is a GREAT picture! It should be used for a ad for tourists to visit India!NewYorkLion said:
& lastly, valdez, that movie about cricket looks really cool, where can people see the whole thing? Or is it still in post production?
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Hi, I lived, grew up and worked in India (8 years in Bollywood) and have shot several documentaries all over India, presently I live in NY.
Here are the answer to your questions.
1)yes, you will need a voltage converter, (if you are from the UK you are ok).
2) India is very diverse, so no one thing applies to all. Legally you do need to have permission to shoot in the streets. But you can get away with a lot, pretend you are a tourist and are shooting your vacation video.
If you work with a bigger crew, more than 2 or 3 people, the cops can be pesky and troublesome, so hire a local Production Manager to deal with them. As long as your are not making yourself an utter pain in arse and stopping traffic you can get away with a lot of cinema verite stuff.
3) Check a phone which has GSM and is listed to work in India. ofcourse if you are shooting in a far distant village (75% of india is still villages) cell phone reception can be sketchy.
4) if you are taking any kind of gear into India, make sure you have a carnet.
which part of India will you be at ? India has a preety developed movie industry, you could probably hire and rent a lot of gear locally instead of lugging it in there.
Don;t drink the water, unless its bottled, and make sure the bottle cap has not been tampered with.
have a sense of humor, be patient, smile a lot and have a good trio.
Here are the answer to your questions.
1)yes, you will need a voltage converter, (if you are from the UK you are ok).
2) India is very diverse, so no one thing applies to all. Legally you do need to have permission to shoot in the streets. But you can get away with a lot, pretend you are a tourist and are shooting your vacation video.
If you work with a bigger crew, more than 2 or 3 people, the cops can be pesky and troublesome, so hire a local Production Manager to deal with them. As long as your are not making yourself an utter pain in arse and stopping traffic you can get away with a lot of cinema verite stuff.
3) Check a phone which has GSM and is listed to work in India. ofcourse if you are shooting in a far distant village (75% of india is still villages) cell phone reception can be sketchy.
4) if you are taking any kind of gear into India, make sure you have a carnet.
which part of India will you be at ? India has a preety developed movie industry, you could probably hire and rent a lot of gear locally instead of lugging it in there.
Don;t drink the water, unless its bottled, and make sure the bottle cap has not been tampered with.
have a sense of humor, be patient, smile a lot and have a good trio.
bustak said:OK, visiting a fugitive in Pakistan sounds VERY dangerous!
Ha ha ha
) Nice one.BTW, NewYorkLion Peshawar aint such a bad place (or the NWFP). You just need to find the right guide. Infact, frankly, the pathans are the most hospitable and friendly people you will find in Pakistan. Me included...
NewYorkLion
Well-known member
Yeah, I went through the NWFP and it wasnt a BAD place, just a little sketchy, what with the pictures of Osama hanging up in the restaraunts and all. We had a killer guide so we were perfectly safe. We didnt go to peshawar though, we were just doing the karakoram.
NewYorkLion
Well-known member
I'm gonna post some more great india pics, just for sh*ts and giggles
here's a few more gun shots from my military escort in imphal and nagaland
Here's me meeting the dali lama at his crib in dharmasala
Here's my favorite baba, from the house of the dying on the ghats in Varanasi
Here's me with some cops who 'arrested' us in Nagaland (basically they forced us to hang out with them and drink whiskey for 3 days)
Here's a shot of when we got our car stuck in the river in front of the taj mahal
and finally, here is a pic of me near the top of the leh-manali road
here's a few more gun shots from my military escort in imphal and nagaland
Here's me meeting the dali lama at his crib in dharmasala
Here's my favorite baba, from the house of the dying on the ghats in Varanasi
Here's me with some cops who 'arrested' us in Nagaland (basically they forced us to hang out with them and drink whiskey for 3 days)
Here's a shot of when we got our car stuck in the river in front of the taj mahal
and finally, here is a pic of me near the top of the leh-manali road
Camera Expert
Well-known member
I was going to post this yesterday but I never had a chance.
It’s a production company called “Wilderness films India” and they have 1,897 videos that you can download but you can only view about 30 seconds for most videos because if you want to view the rest you’ll have to pay on average of $1.99 each. There is a lot of variety so don’t be surprised if you get carried away in buying lots of video downloads. Few of them are free by the way but the quality isn’t as good as the paid ones.
http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=wilderness+films+india&hl=en
Also you can find more India videos on both Google Video and You Tube.
It’s a production company called “Wilderness films India” and they have 1,897 videos that you can download but you can only view about 30 seconds for most videos because if you want to view the rest you’ll have to pay on average of $1.99 each. There is a lot of variety so don’t be surprised if you get carried away in buying lots of video downloads. Few of them are free by the way but the quality isn’t as good as the paid ones.
http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=wilderness+films+india&hl=en
Also you can find more India videos on both Google Video and You Tube.
bustak
Well-known member
Lion those are amazing shots! The Taj Mahal picture looks like something you'd see in National Geographic!
You must tell us what you were shooting over there, look like a good time!! & when I say shooting I mean with the camera, not with the many of guns you posed with!!!
You must tell us what you were shooting over there, look like a good time!! & when I say shooting I mean with the camera, not with the many of guns you posed with!!!
valdez
Active member
Cricket movie is in Post and still a few months off. I think it's going to be great but it's a tight time schedule if we really want to get it done for fest season this year; may have to wait.
Not true about voltage converter if your using a DVX. Look at the bottom of the Charger, it will take both cycle speeds. I plugged it in everywhere in India and had no problems; you just need a "plug" adapter so it'll fit in the round plugs.
I'll be really honest here in that I didn't have such a great time there because we were under prepared and the producer is cheap. With just him and I alone, I was stressed to the max carrying my all my own equipment with little safety net for anything and I was sick the entire time (2 months). We we're trapped in Kashmir for a week with no power and few warm clothes in a blizzard and a huge and nervous military presence. The footage is incredible for most of the trip but I sure paid for it. I also had to have Hernia surgery when we got back partly due to too much equipment, which I'm still recovering from after 5 months.
All I'm saying is be prepared and it'll be a great time. Have an escort of somekind at all times and ... well, dang He already left anyway, didn't he? Anyway...
NewYorkLion
Well-known member
Here is a link to the original promo for the series I shot over there (well we actually shot in 28 countries I think), the promo isnt the best, but I actually finally got a copy of the pilot, I'm going to run it through squeeze soon.
http://www.followcolin.com/datw.mov
http://www.followcolin.com/datw.mov
NewYorkLion
Well-known member
Here is the link to the end of the pilot. the music is a liiiiitle cheesy. but I think it came out well. The guy who did the graphics did one of Eminem's videos.
http://www.followcolin.com/datw-coming_up.mov
http://www.followcolin.com/datw-coming_up.mov
NewYorkLion
Well-known member
yeah, it was. It's definitely a killer in job interviews. Employers look ask about what it is and then we spend the next half an hour rapping about various contries and whatnot. Hopefully the pilot gets picked up, but it's not looking too good. we sold off a bunch of the footage to the various sponsors though. Mobil One used it for 3 commercials.
Here is one of them:http://www.followcolin.com/eatingdust.mov
Here is one of them:http://www.followcolin.com/eatingdust.mov