I've been hard at work filming this documentary since November! And in the back of my mind, I always imagined ending my journey and wrapping in Brazil.
After all, Brazil is the land of naturally bronzed skin, tropical passion, samba, Brazilian bikinis, and healthy booty the likes of which you cannot find elsewhere in the world -- as in fit women with ample tushies... (yes, I've researched the subject thoroughly!) I've also been mesmerized by pictures and stories I've heard of Rio, Ipanema, and, of course, the greatest event in the world, Carnaval!
But, as we all know, TV production money is not limitless. And though I've been so lucky to have a pretty fair budget with which to make this film, a bit of cash has also fed my insatiable imagination. If you've been tagging along, you know that there have been many North American destinations.... when you add a traveling crew, equipment (and the considerable 'excess baggage fees')...incidentals... well, cash goes quickly. So South America always seemed very much out of reach.
And yet, I hoped... and daydreamed.
Fortunately, I happen to have the most fabulous producers on Earth, and in exchange for my first-born (jk!), I was told a few weeks ago that we could make a short shoot in Brazil possible. Which brings me back to October, when I was in research phase on this film. My researcher had pulled out the dates for Carnival 2007 in Rio and I had naively said: "Oh, we'll be long wrapped production by then!" Well it was now the 2nd week in February and we were suddenly under the gun to try to pull all of the logistics together in a couple of weeks! We definitely couldn't afford the heavily inflated prices of travelling in the heart of the Carnival week (Feb 25).... but we could definitely afford to catch the tail end of the festivities.... if only we could get our act together quick enough.
The challenges that lay ahead:
- neither my Production Manager nor I had never planned a shoot in South America (transcontinental travel logistics)
- neither of us spoke Portuguese.... which really does come in handy as English is very uncommon in Brazil
- I was away on an important shoot in Vegas a week before we were trying to head to Brazil, making it hard for me to focus on anything else
- Brazil was on VACATION! Now, I've always understood how some countries have major holidays (usually with religious or nationalistic roots)... but I never expected for a city like Rio to be SHUT DOWN for a couple of days of parading. Naive, indeed! Shut down were the offices of ANCINE, the film division of the government, who basically were the missing link in our Temporary Visa application process...
- and of course, add to all of this the little subtleties of working with an entirely different culture with different work ethics and approaches. We had connected indirectly with a "fixer" (a documentary term for a field producer in a foreign country) and she was lovely on the phone, but clearly had her way of doing things and was trying very hard to communicate to us just what sort of society we were coming into. And just how DO you convey something like that on the phone?
And then there was the pressure. The pressure to build a shoot that would deliver footage that would greatly surpass what we were spending on the trip! Having never been to Brazil, all I could do was imagine the settings, how things would play out.... It was enough to cause many sleepless nights. Of course, the film was not ABOUT Brazil, so we couldnt justify spending a week or more there. But was I ready to make such a major trip for just a couple of days? Those were the options. I'd travelled to Europe, North America... but never South America. And quite frankly, I was nervous. There are always horror stories of tourists getting robbed all over the world, but when you have LOCALS who immediately tell you to be "very careful" in Rio, it's enough to feel unsettled. I always try to be inconspicuous, but I don't always succeed....
You've certainly stepped into the mind of a gal seriously torn.... but this is BRAZIL we are talking about!
My imagination wins out, this time....
No comments:
Post a Comment