Production: Day 1

Our first full day in India was also our only full day in Mumbai. It was also our only chance to complete all of the shooting with our celebrity host, Biplab. I'm not being cheeky when I call him a celebrity--he's famous in India. And if you can achieve fame in a country with over a billion people, you must be a stand-out guy (which he is).

Once we finished breakfast, we went back to our room to gather our production equipment. Remember, we were going for minimalist-professional here:

• Two cameras
• Three lenses
• Filters
• A tripod
• iPad
• Microphone
• Audio recorder
• XLR cable
• Headphones 
• Shot list

My job would be to operate the iPad slate/clapper and prompter apps, record audio, take stills, and do anything else Aaron asked me to do; Aaron was in charge of composing shots, shooting the video, monitoring the audio and video results, directing, and otherwise making sure things went as planned.

We met Rob and Biplab in the lobby, then headed out past the security checkpoint to our first daylight encounter with Mumbai. Leaving the hotel is much easier than getting in, but during the day it is more apparent just how seriously they take security at the Taj, because there were at least 12 security guards, bellmen, and other hotel employees stationed outside the building to watch foot and vehicle traffic. Unlike the security personnel we'd encountered at the various airports along the way, these men made eye contact and greeted us, which puts people at ease rather than making them feel like criminals. It also reminded me that while we were safe in the hotel, anything could happen on the streets. It's not that we expected anything bad to happen, we just had to keep in  mind that we needed to look out for ourselves.

The street outside the hotel isn't a busy one, but there was still quite a bit of noise: car horns, horse-drawn carriages (very touristy and all parked near the Taj), vendors selling various types of food and souvenirs, the rasp of brooms from the sanitation workers in the square, pigeons, boats in the harbor. We had expected that it would be hot (the forecast was for 80-90 degrees every day), but since it wasn't humid and there was a slight breeze, the weather was quite comfortable.

Because of changes to security after the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, the entire square around the Gateway of India is fenced in with metal barricades. The single entrance, which is on the opposite side of the square from the Taj, is guarded by military/police personnel, and there are separate lines for men and women. We walked along the sidewalk outside the square through an assortment of beggars, vendors, tourists, and taxi drivers ready to snare people for tours of the slums.

We walked into the middle of the square, with the Gateway directly behind Biplab, and began setting up. A non-uniformed man immediately approached us, telling us that the tripod wasn't allowed. We explained that we absolutely needed it, so Biplab began negotiating on our behalf in Hindi. The conversation was just long enough for us to finish setting up the equipment, but we felt rushed and not fully prepared. It was a little frustrating, but in the moment we knew we would have to work quickly to get all of the shots we needed. Biplab turned to us, informing us we had 10-15 minutes before we'd have to pack it up. The man hovered nearby.

We made the most of our limited time, attempting to get as many good takes as possible before were were forced to shut it down. Biplab's professionalism went a long way in making the shoot go well, because he was as concerned with the quality as we were.

The "Candid Professional" Look

After finishing that part of the shoot, we wandered the plaza to take pictures and look around.

 If you're a Westerner and like yoga and/or Hinduism, it is in part due to this man, Swami Vivekananda.

Statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, founder of the Maratha empire and an important figure in the promotion of Hinduism.

Our equipment often earned us some curious glances; at times, people would stand behind me or Aaron to look at the LCD screen on the camera to see what we were shooting--especially when it was video. Sometimes, we'd look up and they'd instantly look away. We'd often invite people to come closer, to get a better look. People were genuinely curious but also very friendly.

Not a Green Screen!

There was a large group of pigeons in the corner of the plaza, and we took turns getting near them. Despite my utter loathing for pigeons (I had some bad pigeon experiences in Rome and Venice), I posed for a few shots. I also tried to chase them. I tried to catch them. I failed.

After we finished this part of the shoot, we went back to our rooms so Biplab could change his clothes and we could save our footage. I had been carrying around the lock from one of our suitcases in my pocket, and had somehow managed to change the combination. I didn't know that when I put it back on Aaron's suitcase, but he soon found out when he tried to get out the laptop.

 "1...2...3...4...5? That's the stupidest combination I've ever heard in my life! That's the kind of thing an idiot would have on his luggage!

Don't worry, it only took him about 20 minutes to get into it. Sorry, Aaron!

Another part of the shoot involved renting a tourist ferry so we could film the host segments with the Taj and Gateway of India in the background. Rob and Biplab handled booking the boat, working with a friendly guy in a peach silk shirt. We worked it out so we would have about an hour on the water, and we were able to tell the pilot exactly where to "park" for the ideal shots.

The boat shoot proved challenging, in that we had to compensate for both noise and motion. Every once in awhile, a helicopter would fly overhead; we also had the sounds of boat motors. In two instances, we had to wait for a motley crew team in a barely-seaworthy boat to row by, complete with shouted commands and chanting. The ferry boats to Elephanta Island and other large boats produced wakes that made it difficult to stand. Since the Maharashtra State Police Headquarters are located to the right of the Gateway, we had to be careful not to shoot in that direction both in the plaza and on the boat.

The final part of our shoot took place on the roof of the Taj (well, on top of the lobby, actually). Rob and Biplab wrangled us special permission with the PR department of the hotel, and they let us set up in an outdoor banquet area with a great view of the Gateway.

All in all, it was a good first day of shooting. We were given permission to do things that we probably shouldn't have been allowed to do. I suspect Biplab's negotiation skills were a contributing factor in all that.

The day wasn't over, though--we still had some shooting to do on Elephanta Island. That part didn't work out quite so well, but it was one of the only touristy things we were able to do while in Mumbai, so it will get its own post.

Be Prepared (or, When Boy Scouts Go to India) Part 1

Aaron is (and I say this without an ounce of sarcasm) a multi-talented guy with an encyclopedic knowledge of a few specific topics. He knows more than I ever will about the technical aspects of film production, video editing, photography, and all the associated equipment, accessories, and software. I've watched him shoot video. I've watched him edit. I've watched him direct. The boy knows his stuff. So it's good that he was hired to make the India video, because that also means he did the bulk of the planning (and that I was merely his lowly production assistant, utterly terrified of making mistakes lest it reflect poorly on him).

He's also a lifelong Boy Scout with a penchant for order, a finesse for organization, and an intense (almost supernatural) knack for spatial relations. If he can't afford it, he finds a way to get it cheaper, or crafts a substitute, MacGyver-style. The hamster wheel of his brain runs at a decidedly different speed from my own, all of which helped him PREPARE like a boss.

Equipment

For the past few months, Aaron has been holed up in his office researching everything we might possibly need for making the video in India and considering all kinds of obstacles, problems and full-on disasters. How do you account for the difference in the electricity? Would we need shooting permits? What if we bought all this equipment and schlepped it to India, only to have our baggage lost/stolen/damaged or seized by Customs? Would bribes be necessary? Would we be able to rent and/or buy anything we weren't able to bring?

Aaron looked at a lot of websites, some with grim accounts of what happened to the ill-prepared. He researched the CARNET, which is basically third-party yet "official" documentation for importing certain kinds of equipment into a foreign country which would hopefully prevent a Customs seizure. He e-mailed people who had done video productions in India (although it was hard to find anything but huge film crews with multi-million-dollar budgets). He called people and corporations (also Republican for "people") asking for advice and help. He got very, very frustrated. We had some lively discussions (and a few screaming arguments) about the whole thing.

He bought two DSLRs, an LED light panel, two tripods, an iPad, a laptop, hard drives, a battery charger, a power adapter, an audio recorder, microphones, a remote timer, a slider...and that's just what I can remember. He also bought cables, cords and various accessories. And hard Pelican cases for everything.

Documentation

A big issue was getting the right kind of VISA that would allow us to enter the country with our equipment but without drawing undue attention to ourselves. Aaron spent a lot of time on the phone with two different VISA companies (and India outsources its VISA process to a third-party company!) as well as the Consulate. We had letters of invitation from the Andhra Pradesh Productivity Council.

Were we going on Business? Well, kind of. There would be meetings. We were going as Aaron's video production company. Would an Employment VISA be more appropriate? We would be paid for our work, but not by an Indian company. With our equipment, would we qualify as Journalists? No one could give us a straight answer, and sometimes we got conflicting answers between an organization's website and the customer service representatives we called for clarification. We spent a lot of time on hold. We spent a lot of money on applications, shipping, photocopies, and money orders.

We each ended up with a Tourist VISA, which meant we couldn't safely take more equipment than the average American tourist would. We were probably being paranoid, but thousands of dollars of equipment being seized by Customs is nothing to joke about--especially when that would mean scrambling to rent/buy what we needed in a foreign country where we had few contacts, and with our already-strained finances.

We also had to renew our passports, during which I learned the hard way that CVS takes horrible passport photos. Too bad I was already at the post office, ready to mail my application, when I noticed and I didn't want to go complain because I needed to get my application sent before the Thanksgiving holiday. Walgreens takes much nicer photos for the same price, so we did our VISA photos there.