Global Eclipse Gathering Patagonia 2020 - Part II
After that first unexpected trip and teaser production in April 2019, I had yet to travel and create loads more for this project. DocumentaryTravel/Lifestyle2019 saw me going to Argentina 3 times. The first one was in March, for a visit, and ended up being the serendipitous pre condition for me to make it to Patagonia with the Crew for the first time. The second trip happened in late August, I was flown in by the European Union as a creator for the Faces2Hearts project, which would take all of September. I told them to please issue my return ticket (out of Argentina) for November, since I wanted to use the opportunity to vote at the National Elections and, of course, hang out with friends and family. During the last half of October, serendipity struck again and I was contacted by Global Eclipse to fly South for a production and team conformation trip. Luckily I was already in Argentina but, once again, I had to change a flight to be able to make it which, of course I did, allowing another chapter of adventures to begin.
Teasers Time
The November trip brought almost 30 people on to site for the first time. Most of them were invited to see whether they would be a good match to work on the organisation in various areas. Time spent together on site would help brainstorm ideas and also figure out who would come on board and comprise the team for the next stage of production. The house was pumping energy and enthusiasm for 7 days straight. As well as recording the whole process to be able to tell it later, I was also asked to produce a short teaser while still on site.
Past and Future Hype
On top of all the edits made out of the footage I shot myself, the Global Eclipse team asked me to produce a Hype teaser for their upcoming ticket sales. For this one, we had to stay under the 30s running time and combine build footage from Patagonia with build footage and Festival footage from Oregon. It was really fun and thrilling to put it together in only a couple days using a mix of footage I knew really well and some footage I took from various Oregon edits.
One Year Countdown
We went back to Patagonia in December. This time, the site build was in full swing. It was the first production trip in which I had the opportunity to shoot lots of land work and actual build process action shots. Soon after returning, I edited the above teaser which was published on Dec. 14th 2019 exactly one year before the date of the Eclipse. It got over 190,000 views, +200 comments and 380 shares on Facebook and over 9,000 views and 200 comments on Instagram.
Ever Intriguing Docu Bites
Putting together a week long gathering with over 8 stages and workshop spaces on a remote end of the world takes a lot of work, by a lot of people from diverse backgrounds and cultures. The distinct collaborative aspect of this beautiful and challenging endeavour was something I felt intrigued by since the beginning of my involvement with Global Eclipse. We all find it so interesting that we decided to create very short form snippets from my conversations with some key team members about their motivations, fears and deep reasons to be involved in such a crazy intense adventure. After returning from the December trip, I put together 20 different Docu Bite Snippets of under 30s to allow the Global Eclipse Community to learn a bit about the people who were working to create the gathering of a lifetime.
Videos Completed
- November Teaser
- December Teaser
- Past and Future Hype Teaser
- “Good Neighbours” – Mapuche Crowdfunding Video
- 20 under-30-secs Docu Snippets
- ‘We Believe’ Hopeful Teaser
The Gear
Cameras
- Lumix Lx 100
- Sony a7 sII w Rokinon Cine Lenses 50mm and 85mm
- Zeiss 16-35mm f4
- Mavic Pro Drone
- Samsung Galaxy S10 Camera
Sound
- Sennheiser wireless lav mics
- Sony Boom Mic
Rigging
- Benro Aero Travel Tripod
- Zhiyun Crane Gimbal
March 2020 – Emergency and Hope
I flew into site along with dozens of other crew members to keep getting footage of the site build on late Februrary 2020. I spent 10 days in a buzzing environment where around 60 people from several different countries were working everyday to build the infrastructure that would make the gathering possible. The energy among the crew was beautiful. People worked with joy and effort, eager to take on challenges and learn from one another. It was a pleasure and privilege to not only witness the collaboration, effort, love and growth of everyone involved but also to be the one to register the process on video. I flew out of site on March 8th and had the plan to fly back in by mid April, to record the last week of build and the site closing until October. But only 10 days after I left, mandatory preventive lockdown was issued in Argentina. Internal and External borders where closed and confusion took over, as it had been doing around the world. In the midst of this anxiety-inducing uncertainty, the team requested that I put together a short video for social media where the community could get an uplifting message and see in what spirit the crew had been working on site to be able to welcome all of them. I rapidly edited the “We believe” video that was released on March 17th.
“Only 10 days after I left, mandatory preventive lockdown was issued in Argentina. Internal and External borders where closed and confusion took over […] I rapidly edited the “We believe” video that was released on March 17th.
By early April the team’s priority suddenly shifted to getting the crew off site to reduce the risk of Covid-19 and follow social distancing protocols. Everyone departed safely
June 2020 – Solstice Update
I had already been locked down for about 2 months when the team asked me to put together a longer documentary video to share along with their solstice update to the global eclipse gathering community. This was a challenging video to edit because, although it was supposed to be longer than others and go a bit deeper, social media doesn’t really allow for anything too long. Furthermore, it would be presented to a part confused, part angry, part hopeful audience. Our goal was to show them how dedicated and full of love the site build had been up until it had to be interrupted and how the possibility of holding the gathering on this site still remained an uncertainty.
They continue to await word from local and national officials about how to best proceed with Patagonia Eclipse.