{"id":69,"date":"2009-12-15T06:00:51","date_gmt":"2009-12-15T06:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/productionbase.wordpress.com\/?p=69"},"modified":"2015-08-14T15:41:44","modified_gmt":"2015-08-14T14:41:44","slug":"documentary-film-in-burma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.productionbase.co.uk\/blog\/2009\/12\/15\/documentary-film-in-burma\/","title":{"rendered":"Documentary Film in Burma"},"content":{"rendered":"

Freelancer David McDougall is a Self-Shooting Producer\/ Director with over 10 years experience primarily on documentary films covering a broad spectrum of subjects before heading overseas to the Middle East and SE\u00a0Asia. Most recently David was shooting a documentary ‘Scholars for Change’ in Burma & Thailand for Thabyay Education Network. Here he shares his experiences while filming in Burma:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Introduction to the shoot you were on<\/strong><\/p>\n

This was one of those serendipitous and worthwhile jobs that came out of nowhere. After two years of working as a P\/D in the Middle East, I\u2019d dusted off my backpack and was travelling around South-East Asia. I was in Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand when I received an e mail from an ex colleague who\u2019s a BBC Series Producer. She had a friend, coincidentally enough, also in Chiang Mai, who required a fund-raising documentary film to be made. The subject was the state of the education system in Burma and Burmese students.<\/p>\n

What where the surroundings like compared to UK? <\/strong><\/p>\n

We filmed in a variety of locations in Burma and Thailand. Burma\u2019s pretty grim; poverty-ridden; down-trodden people; below standard infrastructure all hanging under the malaise of military rule. Thailand\u2019s great!<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

How was the shoot different from the UK? <\/strong><\/p>\n

In some respects, no different from the UK \u2013 I had to produce, do sound, shoot and direct. Thankfully they had a sensible post-production budget and I was able to use a very experienced and wise editor.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll address the issues in Burma as they were somewhat more challenging. Burma takes a pretty dim view of journalists and you have to be subtle when you film there, not even Z1s, it\u2019s all hand held-tourist cam footage in-country and you have to be sensitive to the fact that it is estimated one in three people on the streets is associated in some way with the Military Government. You have to use safe-houses for interviews, watch what you say, generally be aware and sharp with your approach at all times: \u00a0we changed guest houses on the first night because my de-facto producer didn\u2019t like the vibe of the clientele, a couple of very burly and surly Burmese who wanted to know what we were doing in Yangon. Playing the bum traveller on a visa run from Thailand and hiding the rushes on the shoot were the two major differences I would equate from the way I would usually be working in the UK.<\/p>\n

Explain the working conditions and where they better than the UK? <\/strong><\/p>\n

For me this job ticked a lot of the boxes, but the biggest was that it was an adventure:\u00a0 $5 a night guest houses, 7 hour bus journeys, no electricity, jungles, refugees, military dictators, a terrific and highly knowledgeable travelling companion, no crew to worry about and a very interesting and worthy subject matter to film.\u00a0 In many ways it was precisely why I wanted to become a film-maker and also in many ways, why I left the UK. Those opportunities to make intelligent, interesting and worthwhile programmes are rarely afforded to Directors these days.<\/p>\n

What did you learn on being on shoot outside the UK?<\/strong><\/p>\n

There\u2019s always something you pick up on each job, something you would have done differently: on this one it\u2019s that doing sound outside when you\u2019ve lost the wind-pocket for the radio mic and it\u2019s blowing a gale is a ball ache.\u00a0 \u201cHere just put this between your legs\u201d and proffering the top mic doesn\u2019t look very professional, but it is a production solution.<\/p>\n

What interesting experiences did you have?<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the best things about this job is that you get to become a little mini-expert and dinner party bore on the subject matter you\u2019re filming. I\u2019m now a walking fact book on Burma. The people are lovely and I\u2019m hopeful for its\u2019 future.<\/p>\n

Anything extra you want to add<\/strong><\/p>\n

As a result of the work I did on this film, I found my next story \u2013 it\u2019s called \u2018The Prince of Death\u2019<\/strong> and is about a Burmese War Lord who makes Pablo Escobar look like a Walt Disney character.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Freelancer David McDougall is a Self-Shooting Producer\/ Director with over 10 years experience primarily on documentary films covering a broad spectrum of subjects before heading overseas to the Middle East and SE\u00a0Asia. Most recently David was shooting a documentary ‘Scholars for Change’ in Burma & Thailand for Thabyay Education Network. Here he shares his experiences […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[35,46,179],"series":[],"class_list":["post-69","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-working-abroad","tag-burma","tag-david-mcdougall","tag-working-abroad"],"episode_featured_image":false,"episode_player_image":"https:\/\/www.productionbase.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/TOTI-Podcast-Artwork.png","download_link":"","player_link":"","audio_player":false,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"dark","subscribeUrls":[],"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/www.productionbase.co.uk\/blog\/feed\/podcast\/turn-on-tune-in-2","embedCode":"

Documentary Film in Burma<\/a><\/blockquote>