São Paulo Shoot

Participant Name: Israel Feliciano

Age: 23

Location: São Paulo, Brazil

Occupation: Musician / City Permit Inspector

Date of Birth: January 10, 1982

Religion: Non-religious

Income: ________

Israel, better known by his nickname “Rael” in Portuguese, was born and raised in the city of São Paulo. He is a musician and leads a hip hop group called “Pentagon” based in the southern periphery of the city. At eight years old, Rael was already a fan of break dance. He would dance with his brother in the city center and at school talent shows. His father is also a musician and influenced Rael’s tastes strongly, although he continues to believe that hip hop is not actually music. He prefers traditional Brazilian “Forro” and “Sertaneja” music, two styles popular in the far off Brazilian northeast, where he was born.

Since the beginning of 2006, Rael has been working as a City Permit Inspector, working to prevent illegal street commerce in public right-of-ways. Rael also enjoys playing soccer with friends and going out with his girlfriend.

Filmmakers' observations:

From Helio Ishii, camera operator & co-Director of Brazil shoot:

Description of difficult circumstances for the image:

Nighttime:

Our portable lighting batteries didn't last for the entirety of the night shooting.

Tip: Have batteries that will last a whole night because you might not have time to recharge them. Another solution would be to use LED lamps which use up less energy. Another cheap solution would be to use gas lamps, like the ones used for camping. We have used these on several occasions (non-Global Lives) and they help.

Small rooms:

We didn't have a wide converter lens when we were shooting inside the interviewee’s room. We chose not to use it because this type of lens is hard to remove from the camera. This restriction can be compensated using a widescreen format (16x9), but since we are keeping everything in SD format for safety reasons (the exhibit is designed for 4x3, but DVDs may be produced in 16x9) we didn’t gain much of an image field. If the areas are small it is a difficult but good decision to plan the lens removal when you change the battery or tape. The cameraman will have the option of having a general view of the surroundings.

[Note from David Harris: Be certain to test the camera's automatic and manual focusing with the wide-angle lens that you're using before the shoot, as focal lengths may not be accurate. Also take caution with lens hoods, as they may appear in the frame with certain wide angle lenses.

Unexpected bike ride:

It is very important to always have an assistant next to you to help you with whatever is needed, including anything unexpected, like a battery or tape change. Also, the assistant will communicate to the team if the participant leaves unexpectedly. In our case he went for a bike ride and we had to follow behind in a car.

Description of difficult situations for audio:

The lapel microphone was the best choice because it allowed the team to keep a distance and still be able to hear the conversation. It was good to keep a distance from the participant sometimes.

Where to place the microphone:

There was a situation where he took off his shirt and we didn’t have anywhere to place the microphone, so we left it clipped to his beard. A suggestion is to leave the shotgun ready and place it on the camera.

Good luck to everyone!

--Helio Ishii