Shopping and Filming!

I love shooting b roll

This morning I get to follow the house cook to this great indoor market where pretty much every fish, mammal and plant can be found. Everything! It is funny. The cook totally gets what will be good to film and immediately takes over as my director in this huge indoor market. Her and her friend scout out cool stuff, lead me and point, and then guard me giving shit looks to all who seem to get their interest peaked. It is fascinating to me how some people seem to have the instinct for how this should be done..what looks good visually and how to best capture it…..and others have no clue whatsoever. Anyway, I absolutely love these two women! They did a fantastic job for me! And the cool thing was…they spoke zero English and I spoke zero Banlgali!
 

Spices in market, Dhaka, Bangladesh (Photo: JLewis)

Everything in the market was….fresh. Fresh as in fish still flipping about….fresh as in the following….Am walking about filming….moving sort of blindly just looking through lens….come around corner….what’s that?

Fresh catch (Photo: JLewis)

meat…cow…cow baby? …..goat? …..hanging….skin and blood dripping onto floor….look down…I am standing in fresh blood….yeah…..let’s go the other way. B roll should not be horrific….in this film anyway.

Interviews and film worries

I spent most of my time here in Dhaka in the house filming interviews and the normal daily activity of the family. While this went well….. for the first time….I became worried that I was not getting what I came for. In that…..at least for this set of characters…here in Dhaka….I cannot seem to capture the passion of these people on film. I worried about this before I traveled to Asia. You may recall my post about the response I got at the conference asking how to get people to relax….FAST…Well. Sometimes it goes that way….sometimes it does not. And understandably so. They simply do not know you. And they are allowing you to document their every movement. I totally get it. But how the hell to get around it? Was fine with Gopal but here…is ok…..but I don’t feel it on the film. And if I don’t….

Other trials

Still getting pretty much no sleep. The usual suspects…downloads take for EVER. Also now have first cold.  It is all in my chest. And I am pretty certain it is the polluted air. Asia has the absolute worst air pollution I have ever encountered. Some comes from constant burning of trash. Some from dust due to lack of rainfall and mostly unpaved roads. Every time I travel….I take rickshaws or motorcycles. So I am exposed to this a lot. I actually had lung issues from this point till about a month after I got back to the states.

Dirt road in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Dust is heavy in the air as a result. Most rickshaw drivers wear face masks. (Photo: JLewis)