Film & Editing Blog - Behind the Scenes

We're well into the Inca Trail trek and in this photo I'm taking a well earned break from photographing and filming the adventure to enjoy the views of the stunning mountains and emerald lakes. We've just come over the highest point in the pass which if I remember correctly was about 4500m above sea level.

Just before this highest point was an old abandoned silver mine, which to get to you had to hike off from the path up a steep scree zig zagged path. But it was worth it. I donned the head torch and took the small HF S21 camcorder and went right into the mine. It was dark and damp and thankfully lacking anything with teeth or claws! I saw what looked like some traces of silver in there too and our guide Willow said there were plans to re-open the mine in the future, I wish I'd packed a pickax, but then again... with all the camera and sound equipment I was loaded down enough!

You'll get to see some of the footage of the mine in the final video which we're putting together to promote charity events in Peru for our client Student Adventures.

Well the time has come to pack my outdoor filming bags and get ready for some really cool adventure filming. The fun starts with getting the kit out to Peru in the first place! I've had to pack really light as there are weight limits for flying. 12Kgs carry on and 20kg for the hold sounds like a lot until you start putting your HD cameras, solar panels, laptop and batteries in! Another consideration is keeping stuff dry so in the photo you'll see lots of orange, green and yellow waterproof bags!

For you kit lovers out there, here's a list of the outdoor filming equipment that we're taking. I would have loved to take more but I've got to carry all this at the other end ;)

• Zacuto Riser Baseplate
• National geographic ng5737 Rucksack
• Zacuto Variable Adapters (15mm)
• Jag35 Field runner straight rig
• Zacuto Z-Finder 2.5 Pro
• Genus Follow Focus
• Canon BGM-E6
• Samsung 1Tb Portable HD
• USB Leads
• Canon 5D MkII
• Canon BG-E6
• Canon EF24-70mm 1:2.8 L USM
• LP-E6 (5D Battery)
• Spuds (15mm)
• Canon 550D
• Marantz PMD661
• XLR Male to Female Lead
• Mountaineering Sunblock SPF50
• Sherpa UI (universal Inverter)
• Phono to 3.5mm Jack Attenuated -20Db
• Sennheiser ME66
• Sennheiser K6
• Fader ND MkII Filter 77mm
• Sigma 50mm 1:1.4 DG HSM EX
• Canon HFS21
• SDHC Cards
• goalzero nomad 27 solar panel
• duracell aa 24 pack
• gerber suspension multi tool
• aqua pack water proof case
• compass
• life systems whistle
• contour hd 1080p
• contour hd waterproof case
• goalzero sherpa 120
• life systems first aid kit
• phillips ear clamp headphones
• genus focus lens ring
• USA adapter
• Contour HD Clamp
• IPOD USB lead
• Lens Pen
• Sennheiser Headphones
• LC-E8E 550D charger
• LP-E6 charge plate
• 2Pin universal lead
• BP-827 charge plate
• Alan keys x2
• Contour HD Batteries
• LPE8 batteries
• BP-808 batteries
• Compac flash extreme 2 to 16GB cards
• micro SD cards
• julbo nomads sunglasses (cat 4)
• Waterproof bags
• Iphone 4
• Macbook Pro (2009)

The goal is to do a travel documentary for a national charity so I'll be following students as the make the trek. I'll be filming and doing photography on the way, and also live interviews hence the need for the Marantz PDM661 coupled with the Sennheiser K6+ME66 shotgun mike which has awesome sound pickup (I'll be putting a wind sock on it too).

I'll be twittering on @spartMedia, if I can get a signal on my iPhone so follow along to see how things unfold.

Special thanks to Lorna at Cotswolds in Leeds for helping me out with the outdoor kit and to Aless Bowditch Photography for taking this picture of me (I apologise for the cheesy grin ;) And also the great team at Canterbury Innovation Centre where we've got our Kent based office for letting us take over another room so we could lay all the kit out.

We're just getting set here for filming outdoors in Peru. This is really going to push the equipment (and the cameraman) to the limit. It's a 6 day trek along the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. With humidity topping 85%, altitudes above 4500m and sub freezing temperatures at night it will be interesting to see how the kit fares. Least of all is the problem of power and storage. For storage I'll be carrying an array of memory cards to match the cameras we're using. Primarily we're taking a Canon 5D mark II for stills and HD filming on a Jag35/Zacuto hybrid rig. Then we've got a 550D for backup. An excellent HF S21 camcorder (with 64Gb internal hard drive and 2 SD card slots) and also one of our Contour HD action cams with waterproof housing. The picture above shows the cards that I've cleaned and prepared so far. I'll hopefully blog about the rest of the kit before I go! which is in a couple of days!