The kids involved in Fergie’s classes are not the only ones learning.
Throughout my time here in Guatemala and throughout production, I have been learning a lot about filming, photography, technology, scheduling shoots, coordinating crew members, organizing transportation, and even a bit little of clowning.
Our Guatemala production team is learning too, as they are authentically responding and volunteering their talents. We have been blessed with such a great crew of volunteers willing to help us along this process!!
“I feel so happy and privileged to be volunteering with Athentikos. It has been a great experience getting to know the crew and all the people involved in the documentary. I’ve met people from different backgrounds and situations that are passionate and have a heart to see a better Guatemala. I have so much to learn from them, they have inspired me and challenged me to give my best in this project and to stop being indifferent to the need around me.” – Alex Ortiz
The Athentikos team has had a filming shoot just about every week since I arrived here in January. We have had informal shoots and formal shoots, shoots with the kids and shoots of random scenes around the city. We have shot a clown show, a memorial service, conducted several interviews, and now every Tuesday and Thursday we are documenting the kids process through learning the art of clowning with Fergie.
With all the cameras around, Mefi has even started dreaming about what it would be like to one day be in a movie. Mefi asked me once… “Gary have you been in a film before? Because I like a girl and I think she likes me, it will be funny if I take her to the movies to see myself.”
Along the way we have experienced ups and downs. We struggled through technical issues at first as we worked to learn about the equipment. But most issues have been resolved. We know have a procedure we follow to ensure all footage in dumped and filed correctly, memory cards are formatted, batteries are charged and then all equipment is ready to go the night before the next shoot.
“One of the things that happen when you’re working in audio is that you have to be super careful with not getting any outside noise in the recording. Therefore, you have to be silent and try to find places that won’t have a lot of people laughing or talking. When we recorded Panchorizo’s show, I didn’t know what to expect. I heard the show was very entertaining, but I had my goal of being there to record audio. The funny thing starts, when I realize I’m recording audio and that the ZOOM is super sensitive to noise, but I just can’t stop laughing at Panchorizo. He was so funny and creative; the show was so welcoming that I literally had to cover my mouth and nose so I wouldn’t make noise that would go into the recording. That’s probably been one of the hardest settings I’ve been recording in and still is probably the funniest…” – Hubert Bendfeldt.
With the kids well on their way to become clowns, we are now well on our way to becoming a professional film crews. And through this process relationships are forming.
“For me the best was when byron came behind me and hugged me. I cant describe how good that felt….” – Josue Porta.
‘Becoming Fools’ together has been such a blast!
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