The Making of Our Ultimate Thailand Explorers Video

We get a lot  of  queries about who filmed our audition video for the Ultimate Thailand Explorers. They scratch their heads when we say that we took it ourselves. Yes, really.

We took it with  our DSLR camera, a  folding chair and a trash can–which served as our improvised tripod.  We couldn’t bare the shame of asking someone else to film us doing our crazy spiels. Not only that, I don’t think anyone would have the patience to wait for us “perfect” our lines.

After talking about our concept and writing a guide, we set out to a nature reserve near the city of Zamboanga one Saturday afternoon. It took only 15-minutes to get there. That’s the beauty of living in a small province where everything is within reach.  We went straight to the Boys Scout field to film our opening lines. It took a while to get the shots right, because, even with markers, we kept going outside the camera frame.  And then, we had our lines to contend with. We started filming at 4:45 PM for 3 separate spiels and didn’t get them right until quarter to 6. It was getting dark and we hadn’t even finished half of our spiels. We  had the resident goat to thank for that. Michael calls him Pavarotti. His loud bleating left us with a lot of useless footage. We had no choice but  to pack up and reschedule for another day.

    
We woke up very early next Sunday morning so that we could finish everything and enjoy the remainder of our weekend. As we drove to the hills, I saw  a beautiful scene near a bridge. I told Michael it would perfect for our spiel about Koh Samui! I hurriedly stepped down the car to position our camera. As I did so, I stepped on something soft and slippery on the ground. Guess what? I had just landed on fresh dog poo! It was such a warm welcome, hahaha.  The sad part was we didn’t bring tissue along. So, we had to improvise by rubbing my slippers on the ground many times before resuming our filming. Michael had a good laugh. 
At the Climaco Park, where I filmed Michael, I got bitten by a big spotted mosquito. I suddenly thought of one word–Dengue! I quickly swatted it only to have my palm tainted with warm blood. Remember, no tissue. So I wiped everything on a poor unsuspecting leaf.

When I asked Michael to film me driving the car, he kept backing away for fear that I might hit him. No amount of dollars can make up for a lost limb. I thought he did the shot perfectly and for only 2 takes at that. 

We were ready to  film our favorite event of all–the slide! Even before I landed in Zamboanga, I had heard about the Weewee pool, the favorite hang out of Zamboanguenos.  During our courtship, it  was  Michael’s dream initiation  for me to wade in its moss-green waters. It was the ultimate test of true love for him.The Weewee pool, called such because the architect is Mr. Wee, is composed of  two Olympic-sized swimming pools. Water comes from the mountains. But beware, it’s not as clean as it looks, because algae abounds. We were thinking about either jumping on the diving board or sliding down the kiddie pool. Jumping would be less riskier because we would be able to get to the camera right away. Sliding down was not a good option because the slide was about more than 30 feet and we had to scramble to the top to protect the camera. But hey, sliding down would look more fun so took the second route.

Again we positioned the camera on our foldable chair, all the while praying that the people around us wouldn’t think of snatching the new camera. The onlookers were actually very cordial and supportive. They must have thought we were some crazy tourists out to film our misadventures. It was a crucial shot because we couldn’t do it a second time. We held our breath and slid down! Soaking wet and shivering from the cold, Michael got to the camera and saw that  it was a perfect shot! Yahhhhooooo!

Filming the scene where we were supposed to pop out of the water was trickier. (Yup, for those who wanted to know– that was a separate shot, unless you have 2 cameras.)  We filmed it while hoping that the kids who were running to and fro would not accidentally bump the camera. When we packed up and saw the shot, we were not inside the frame at all. We missed the spot and  had to redo it. It was not easy popping out of the water and talking. The water made it hard to speak and look straight to the camera. I must have swallowed a lot of water with algae since we had to do it at least four times.

We finished filming two hours later. When we got to the house, we realized that we were sun burned even if it wasn’t that hot that morning and we did not  forget to wear sunblock.  

We edited it using Final Cut Express in our Macbook. We’re thinking of coming up with a video of our out-takes soon. But then again maybe not. It might be too embarrassing. . .

 

1. 2 Responses to “The Making of Our Ultimate Thailand Explorers Video!”

2. hello again! I liked the concept and the shots were great! I didn’t think that you were using the new DSLR with video functions. wow! what’s the model of the camera? galing galing! sana magdecember 1 na para maboto ko na kayo By Izah on Nov 26, 2009
3. Hehe, thanks so much, Izah! We used a Canon 500D. By Mike & Jenny on Nov 27, 2009