Documentary film making is extremely challenging. Turbulent environments with uncontrollable variables call for an innate skill set that relies on intuition and understanding of one’s surroundings and conditions. Furthermore, the technical aspects of remote shooting can be trying. Having to pack light, the simplicities of loading rushes (the raw footage from a day’s shooting), and luxuries of having a variety of lenses all of a sudden become burdensome, calling for an efficient system that sacrifices the comforts of controlled shoots.
Filson recently hosted a 4-part series titled “The Adventure Series” in conjunction with Wolf Song Media. Hosted in the cosy setting of Filson’s original Carnaby Street store, each of the 4-part series set the stage for adventurers from unique, world-class backgrounds to share their worldly stories.
Filson is a Seattle based outfitter and outdoor gear manufacturer. The authenticity of the brand is rooted in its origins as a clothing and blanket manufacturer created for the swarms of prospectors passing through the Pacific North West on route to the Klondike Gold Rush.
As a documentary-lead production company, Bold Content were excited to hear Jaime Berry, an experienced, outgoing British director and producer, regale us with his stories and provide insights on his trips around the world.
It was brilliant to take a step back from the madness of central London and listen to the trials and tribulations the filmmaker faced.
Of his many escapades, two remarkable ones that stood out were his recreation of Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton’s Trans Antarctic expedition as well as Trekking of the Nile, in it’s entirety, from its origins in Rwanda the way through to Egypt.
Shackleton, a famous British expeditionist set out on a trip across the Atlantic in 1914 trapped in Ice, the comforts of their ship had to be abandoned and the crew had to launch the lifeboats, reaching Elephant Island. Stranded in these lifeboats, Shackleton voyaged an astonishing 720 nautical miles to the inhabited island of Georgia. That’s greater in length then a trip from Brighton to the most northern tip of Scotland.
This trip was a reminder of the difficulties of documentary filmmaking and the importance of being on call to capture as much as possible. The crew captured 96 hours of film a day (from multiple cameras), knowing that only a small amount would be used in the edit. Over their 40 day escapade, this accumulation of raw footage must be sifted through and organised in a compelling, timelined manner.
Whereas, the Antarctic trip gave insights to difficulties of shooting, the trekking of the Nile, drew more attention to the harsh realities of documentary filmmaking in politically unstable environments. 4 weeks after the height of civil war in Sudan, Jaime and the crew found themselves in Jouba, South Sudan’s capital, a key strategic centre of the war. The camera crew in their khaki gear, standing out in stark contrast to the impoverished residents of the capital, were questioned on the count of espionage. Even with their papers, passports and authorisation to film, the crew were brought into government quarters where they were interrogated, threatened and even flirted with imprisonment. Whereas the Shackleton expedition elucidated the technical difficulties of documentary filmmaking, this adventure was a lesson on preparation and the importance of empathy. Jamie spoke about the essential skills for survival and filmmaking, touching on humility as well as the importance of listening as a measure of learning about the local environment and using empathy to understand how and why you might be viewed as a threat with camera in hand.
Beyond the fickle human environments, which can be controlled to an extent, there are the uncontrolled variables like weather and wildlife. The hot weather lead to a heat stroke of a fellow experienced, prepared journalist, Matt. A harsh reminder of the costs of adventure.
With today’s emphasis and obsession on digital marketing spend, Filson’s series is an incredible reminder of the importance of using storytelling as a rhetoric for authentic brand building. As companies become more aware that aggressive digital marketing spend isn’t a substitute for creativity and authentic content, it will be interesting to see how they will look to build genuine partnerships with storytellers and use branded content to build connection with their audience.
