ASK & DISCUSS INDEX

9 years, 5 months ago - Marlom Tander

In 1984 I was hitchhiking round Iceland for a couple months. Several times my path crossed with that of a German bloke on a moped towing a trailer, (there's basically only one road round the country). He was a freelance film maker spending the summer shooting what he called an Artistic Landscape Drama. I have no idea what he meant, but he was certainly in the right place. And he took that moped places that would make many a 4WD owner baulk at!

The only people who will send you places at their expense are people who already know you, or of you - it's a networking thing. Even if your time is free, you're still expensive. OTOH come up with a single shooter docu project and you can send yourself.

9 years, 5 months ago - John Lubran

It'll be the same as any other job. If you have demonstrable skills and present as a solid reliable person of appropriate ethical character you'll be able to find an opportunity. Right here on shooting people even.

There's shooting abroad and then there's shooting abroad. Foreign travel under comfortable conditions is not the same as working in challenging places where the comforts and security of civilisation are absent. Film makers often tend to work with people they know, for obvious reasons.

Given that you have the skills and character though, the fact of offering yourself for no pay ought be attractive to someone. All the very best of luck to you Matt.

9 years, 5 months ago - Matt Kerins

Thanks for the replies guys! I'm pretty new to this website but I'm already finding it amazing in how people are wanting to help and give advice! These are all really good tips, I guess I'm just looking for a jumping off point. The first one is always the hardest to get, then you get a taste for it! At this point I'd love to just travel and shoot. I've got a lot of work over here that's going really well at the moment and would like to just take it further, across the seas!

Thanks again guys!

Matt.

9 years, 5 months ago - Paddy Robinson-Griffin

Here's the problem, Matt - even if you don't take a fee, you're probably dearer that hiring locally, unless you have specific, specialist skills that aren't available.

For instance I was recently working in Cairo for a couple of months - we took some department heads and a lot of local labour. Some of those guys (bottom rung local ones) would earn in a month the cost of one hotel night for the traveling labour. It's an extreme example, but with local labour there's no flights, transits, hotels, visas, perdiems, maybe not even the same catering costs. Those really add up.

9 years, 5 months ago - John Lubran

I imagine that the sort of work that Matt is looking for differs from the sort that has department heads and crews of locals. Most probably it'll be factual, documentary,charity, information and campaign types of thing. At any one time there'll be lots of such projects on the go. In my own times we've had many such projects that have taken us around the world with small crews, sometimes employing local in support roles. Only once did we hire cameramen locally to augment our own. There really is no generality when it comes to film making. I would imagine that charities might be good place for Matt to investigate. They often work with small outfits used to working on tight budgets.

9 years, 4 months ago - Stanley Mackrell

Just an idea, if you're not too picky and don't mind the living conditions, you could work on a cruise ship shooting the video DVDs. I used to do it and it is a good laugh. Yeah, it's long hours and you're living on a ship but you see some pretty cool things too. Highlights for me were seeing the Northern lights, Great Barrier Reef and paradise islands near Fiji.

9 years, 4 months ago - Matt Kerins

Thanks guys. Yeah I've been thinking a charity might be a good place to start looking. @Stanley, that sounds like an amazing experience, I bet you've got a few stories to tell! Where would I start in getting this off the ground? Cheers!