Cape Town Photo Shoot
March 21st, 2007 Denham CooteHi all
As some of you may know, I was recently in Cape Town, assisting with a photo shoot for Sony Ericsson. Initially, the shoot was meant to be a time-slice which involves setting up about 100 cameras on a railing rig (or tripods, as the situation dictates) and firing them all simultaneously. These images (all of the exact same moment in time, but a slightly different angle each time) are then inserted one after another into a video, to create an effect of movement.
(Have you seen ‘The Matrix’? Remember the part in the beginning where Trinity jumps up in the air, and it seems as if time freezes, and the camera pans right around her, just before she delivers her rib-crushing kick to the officers chest? That was done using the same technique I’ve just described.)
Anyway, getting back to the Sony shoot, we were located in Atlantis Dunes, about 30 minutes out of Cape Town. Soft, pure white sand all around. Call time was 5am, which meant we we usually up at about 4am. We spent the 1st day (Sunday) cramped up in our hotel room, setting up a test run, with about 35 cameras. See ‘testing.jpg’ to see what I mean when I say cramped!
The following day we did another test run, but this time on location. Images 3, 4 & 5 show the ‘Construction site’ set. All of the photo shoots involved capturing a sand-boarder performing a jump or trick of some sort. There were 3 sets that we shot on, the construction site being the biggest (and ironically, least impressive). As the boarder approached the jump, we would start firing the cameras, usually taking a burst of 5-7 images per jump. This routine was repeated until the director was happy that they captured everything he was looking for. Sometimes up to 10 takes. Eating dirt after wiping out on jump can really take its toll!
I’ll not bore you with 7 more paragraphs of finer details (like the really fine sand that managed to get itself in EVERYTHING, including parts of my body I’ll not mention here). Once we had the cabling setup licked, it usually took us around 3 hours to setup. The film crew would then come set up and shoot, and dismantling everything took about another 2 hours after that. Once the day ended and everyone went home to their nice soft beds, we still had many hours work ahead of us. Memory cards needed to be downloaded & formatted. Batteries needed recharging. Cameras needed cleaning. The images of the day needed to be sequenced and stored. Amongst all of that we needed to find time to eat & sleep! I think if we got 2 hours a day we were fortunate!
Our bodies took a beating (sunburn, fatigue, etc). We managed to lose a rental car, damage another, and racked up at least 5 traffic fines. All in all it was a great experience; Working with an international film crew, for a high-profile client with a very big budget.
We’ve been told that the commercial should air in South Africa. If, however, it doesn’t, I’ve included a copy 
By the way, if you’re interested in purchasing a decent camera, the equipment we used for the shoot is being sold. These cameras have taken about 100 shots. The cameras usually retail for over R9000 on their own. I think they’re being sold for R8500, but this price includes a 1GB memory card as well as a Manfrotto tripod (which is usually R1000 on its own). If you’re keen, contact Jono on 082 820 2435.
Take care
Den
