When In Argentina, Do As the Argentinians Do

Hi my name is Joshua Chan and I’m an Argentinian. Well no, I’m not… But after Stan and I recently spent some time in Buenos Aires and Mendoza, I at least believed I could have been Argentinian in a past life. There was just something so incredibly natural and comfortable about Argentina that made me feel so intrinsically at one with both the people and the culture. Let me explain.

1. They eat late – I mean they eat really late. Typically restaurants don’t begin to fill up until 10pm even on weekdays. Surprisingly this is no different from my typical eating schedule in Canada. Whether it is because of circumstance or appetite I often eat only when the sun goes down. 
2. They love their meat – I could eat Argentinian beef/steak everyday, for every meal, and believe you me, I did during my time there.
3. Beer and wine flow like water – In one instance while eating at a restaurant in Mendoza, I found it quite amazing to discover that a bottle of beer was equal in price to a bottle of water.  And I love a good beer. I’m no alcoholic, not by a long shot, but I easily might be one in Argentina, particularly because of the next point…
4. Wine is cheap and tastes amazing – My favorite type of wine has always been Argentinian Cabernet Sauvignon. Therefore, I had an abundance of wine to choose from.
5. In general, they love to eat, drink, and lounge on patios, often in picturesque settings – although sharing candle-lit dinners with my girlfriend would have been ideal, it was still incredibly carefree and relaxing having a meal and drink with Stan on the beautiful streets of Mendoza and Buenos Aires.
6. Siestas – Because I was working for the majority of the trip, I wasn’t able to participate in this tradition. However, I love the idea. Keith, I firmly believe we should implement naps after lunch? But not with each other of course...
7. Beautiful people – Suffice to say, it wasn’t hard to spot good-looking people. The sidewalks could have very well been fashion runways. And lets face it, I fit right in! Yes? (For people who know me, it is not necessary to answer that question, thank you…)

In any case, Stan and I thoroughly enjoyed our time there. We had originally gone to Argentina to film a corporate video for Goldcorp, which you can see here. But with a couple extra days off in Buenos Aires, we thought it would be a great idea to capture the fantastic architecture, people, and streets of the city.  So with our trusty Canon 7D and 5D we set out to shoot two very distinct shoot-off pieces, which I believe turned out quite well. 

Now because the airlines had lost our tripods it presented us with quite a challenge. Yet, this also gave us an opportunity to try something new and innovative. In my case, shooting handheld with both the 50mm and 85mm lens with no image stabilizer, inevitably meant shaky footage. Therefore I decided to try a technique in post-production (After Effects) that would take the look of my DSLR footage and convert it to an imitated 8mm film effect. I was quite happy with how it turned out and thought that it really complimented the subject and the originally shaky footage, by adding a vintage and nostalgic feel.  

* Be sure to subscribe to our blog, as we’ll soon be releasing a tutorial on how to turn your DSLR footage into 8mm film.

Stan’s piece however had a completely different feel and look than mine. He spent the entirety of his shoot-off time at Recoleta Cemetery.  He captured some of the most unique and awe-inspiring mausoleums and statues I have ever seen. Through his composition, use of shadows, reflections, slight camera movement, coloring, and sound track he created an extremely eerie, yet incredibly beautiful piece. 

Lesson of the day: When shooting without a tripod, monopod, or image stabilizer on the lens, Final Cut Pro’s “smooth cam” and/or imitating 8mm film will save your shaky footage. 

Josh

Goldcorp - Cerro Negro Project

We are back from another round in South America! The last time we travelled there, we filmed something for Lithium Americas… this time, we were called on by Goldcorp. We were commissioned to create a ten minute technical film documenting the potential of their most recent exploration project, Cerro Negro, located in the Patagonian plains, in southern Argentina. We packed our bags with thoughts of epic scenery, adventurous treks across rough terrain, and of course their method of barbecuing known as "asado". There are three things you must respect when in Argentina: their wine, soccer, and "asado".

Long distance projects are always more finicky, particularly when selecting which equipment to bring. I prefer to be nimble and not tied down with loads of gear. We are usually doing a ton of traveling between sites with little time to spare and with a compact crew (i.e. Josh and I).  Little did we know that the airline would throw a challenge at us; they lost our tripod case somewhere between Miami and Buenos Aires. I envisioned doing some handheld work, but definitely not the whole shoot! 

Handheld shooting is used to create a more intimate or "in-the-middle-of-the-action" sort of feel. In other words, the subtle movements of the cameraman give a more organic feel to the shot. The downside is that it can be very tiring, because you are cradling ten pounds of camera in your hands while trying to be as still as possible. We managed to shoot 16 interviews this way. Was there excessive camera shaking? Yes. I was happy with how the shots turned out, albeit it was a bit like looking at it during an earthquake (maybe about 6.0 on the richter). Was I nervous about the footage we were taking home? Perhaps a little… but I knew we could run the footage through After Effects to stabilize it. However, I ended up doing something completely different which I will talk about later.

The experience on site was great. The people we worked with were extremely accommodating and it was a pleasure to shoot in such an environment where we all anticipated a great outcome. The weather was spectacular, with sun and billowy clouds creating a dramatic backdrop for our shots as if on cue. The only nuisance we encounted was the wind. We were warned not to leave the doors to our truck open lest the wind should carry it off! 

We didn't want to settle with a run-of-the-mill documentation of the project. We wanted to create a heightened feel for the audience. The goal was to reflect the culture, the beauty of the land, and the tenacity of the people working on the project. To me this was about adventure and a certain amount of romanticism. 

Back at the office it was time to formulate the edit and stabilize the footage. I was originally doing some tests using After Effects (to stabilize the footage) but it is somewhat circular to take footage from Final Cut, export it to After Effects, and then render it back to Final Cut again. It would be more advantageous and less time consuming to remain in one environment and not lose any quality by rerendering the footage. Final Cut has a built-in stabilizer called SmoothCam which I never took too seriously; I had visions of some really corny examples of stabilizing SD handicam footage from a year back. Anyways, I decided to try it out. It was an almost perfect solution! I say almost, because if SmoothCam was set to make the footage completely shake free, then I might have run into issues of rolling shutter. Therefore, I had to strike a balance with the settings so that I preserved some motion in the shot, so that the rolling shutter effect wouldn't be so prominent.

Anyways, please feel free to have a look at the final piece. It debuted in New York during an investor and analyst event that Goldcorp was hosting. It now resides on their homepage. Most importantly for us, we were told that it was effective and the feedback was positive and great. LAN Chile, by the way, found our tripod bag and we picked it up on the way home through Buenos Aires.

Stan

Argentina - Lithium Americas

Back from Argentina…  well actually back for awhile. It took me a little time to put this post together. Wanted to wait until our great editor Josh completed the video before posting. 

We where commissioned by Lithium Americas to film the story of the lithium deposits they were developing, and their road to production.

It was an incredible trip to Argentina, but the flight was a hard one. 14 hours to Buenos Aires, another 45min drive to a local airport, 2 hour flight  into Salta, and yet another 2 hour drive into Juay Juay where we spent the night. With Victor and I only getting into bed at 1 AM, we were up bright and early at 5am for another 2.5 hour drive into the mountains to arrive in Susque; the location of the lithium deposits.

Upon arriving they told us that we were about 5000 metres above sea level and were advised not to run around or eat too much, for fear of obtaining altitude sickness. The altitude was making me a little light headed, but I had no time to get adjusted. The weather was perfect and the helicopter was ready to go. I harnessed myself in and mounted the 5D on the Gyros and we were up and away.

 

We had a lot to shoot in the 2 days. There was a lot of running around and Vic got altitude sickness. Too much running with heavy gear.

The scenery was beautiful and the army pilots were amazing to work with. Being down on the salt flats was incredible, it was like standing on big sheets of corn flakes that would crunch like cereal when you walked on them. 

Waldo Perez the President of Lithium Americas was our tour guide and we got to see the whole operation first hand. It was definetly a memorable and breathtaking experience. Argentina is a very beautiful place and would love to return there again in the future. Thanks to Waldo Perez and everybody at Lithium Americas for the wonderful hospitality shown to us during our stay. 

Leave a comment and tell us what you think of the video!