Remote Water: News from the Riverbank
The Seven Ps
While instructing military personnel in mountain craft I became aware of the 7Ps. The 7Ps is a British Army adage for Proper Planning and Preparation Prevents Pretty Poor Performance!
When I received the exciting news that I had been offered the position of Visiting Research Fellow at Merton College for my project Remote Water the proposed became the reality and some practical planning could start.
This planning has initially centred on how to film the Isis. My ambition is for the film to adopt the point of view of the river. This will require the camera to be close to the water and sometimes under it. Operating cameras near water requires some special considerations. Operating a camera on or in the water raises the risks significantly.
There is a multitude of technological solutions available to film almost any scenario, but rarely have I adopted a solution straight from the box without some adaptation. This is what I call the Cat’s Cradle Conundrum. For example: if the solution is too large or complicated anything that I would hope to film on the river would have fled before I was even in a position to film it. If the solution is too small, anything I had hoped to film would be resolved in an optical space that would not cross the illusion threshold I was looking for. This is only one dichotomy of many. And more often than not budget underlies all decisions. In my experience this is synonymous with all film production - the ambition versus the compromise. The solution you reach will determine how you go about filming and ultimately affect the film you make. The edit has already begun!
My decision has been to use a kayak as a filming platform to achieve the point of view of the river. Within the spirit of the project a kayak feels an appropriate scale to engage with the river both technically and importantly socially.
So, after research, a process of prioritising and the ordering of technological solutions in line with creative ambitions and budget, I have chosen to use a stable sit on top fishing kayak as my river-based filming platform and plan to use a Canon C300 MKII as my principal camera within a dedicated soft waterproof camera housing. I’m presently finalising a solution to allow me to rig the camera at varying positions from the kayak and control the camera remotely. This will include the camera being submerged, the camera skimming across the water surface, to a raised position above the kayak. Initially I used some familiar go to favourites to build a prototype rig: a length of 2”x 2” timber, a magic arm and zip ties. This allowed me to understand the requirements. Often it’s not the architecture of the solution that raises the problems, it’s the solutions ergonomics - the ease of use in the field. Experience has taught me to address the solutions for the simplest tasks which are often overlooked in the pursuit of the bigger picture. On a cold dark wet February morning with numb fingers how easily can I replace a camera’s battery or how easy is it to change the camera’s position?
This prototype has since been replaced by adapting some existing technologies to provide me now with a day-to-day user friendly solution. Trials continue as I learn what can be achieved with this set up. Can simply manoeuvring the kayak using a paddle, the rudder and the river’s stream achieve the shot required? Conceptually there is certainly something to be said for the river’s natural drift controlling what we see and what we don’t.
Only time on the river paddling will tell.
- Bevis Bowden, Visiting Research Fellow in the Creative Arts
