We’re living in a time and place where getting on an airplane and crossing international borders has never been scarier to the conventional public.  Most people won’t stray beyond the local grocery store, let alone travel to a developing country. 

Our sense of adventure has reached an all time low, BUT our need for personal connection has never been more DESPERATE. 

It’s no surprise to me that the roaring 20’s followed the last global pandemic. By the time this content goes live, (hopefully) the world will be awakening to a life after pandemic. They will be shot out of a rocket into tourism. Desperate to leave their homes and ready to explore the most beautiful locations on earth. Our job is to put Belize at the top of that list.

The stage has been set for this campaign to be something truly inspiring.  We have the opportunity to send a group of people on the trip of a lifetime, at a time where they need it most.  We will also announce to the world that Belize is open for business and thus reinvigorating the life blood of this beautiful nation. It is my intention to help amplify this campaign beyond the traditional metrics of tourism marketing, and instead tell a unique and personal story about the human condition and how it can be rediscovered in Belize!

Something we learned with our film, Made Back East, is that story matters above all else.  Anybody can go out into the mountains and make a ski film.  Brands like Burton and Teton Gravity Research do it annually. They are visually stunning, but completely lack substance.  They exist in place of fantasy that’s out of reach and unrelatable to the everyday person.  

STORY AND AUTHENTICITY WORK HAND IN HAND.

We sought to take a different approach.  Instead of merely focusing on the skiing, we focused on the people.  We casted real, everyday people who all shared the same passion for the backcountry.  Throughout the filmmaking process, we saw the narrative shift before our eyes.  It became less about the actual adventure we were setting out on - and more about the shared connection and experience among our casted talent.  Their excitement was infectious!  In spite of the mission becoming an utter failure (a grueling 8 mile hike in waist deep snow only to find the peak we wished to ski would likely result in an avalanche) the crew remained completely stoked. Their positivity rubbed off on the crew, and showed in every frame of our film.  

That kind of performance cannot be faked.  It is purely authentic.  The images resonate not just with a small niche (in this case dedicated backcountry skiers) but with a larger audience that feels a human connection to that adventure.

Story will be the connective tissue that will hold it all together. As we embark on this content shoot where the stuff we capture will be repurposed into multiples of forms and formats, it is imperative that we have a larger story in place.  That will ensure that our content is grounded in reality, not a manufactured fantasy.

BELIZE IS ABOUT discovery and connection.  

I envision a cast of characters that are inherently connected to one another.  Maybe they’re childhood friends, distanced family, college roommates, or they met at their first job. Or, perhaps they're a group of friends that gets together for the same music festival every year, or takes that one trip together every winter.  Whatever the connection is, their background will root our efforts in something tangible.  It gives our story a starting point.  These people have been separated from one another since the beginning of the pandemic.  They’ve been trapped in their homes living through groundhog day, everyday,  just like the rest of us.  And while we don’t want to focus too heavily on that, it will be apparent by the smiles on their faces just how much they’ve missed each other and missed having these otherworldly experiences like they have found in Belize..  It amplifies the experience on a deep, emotional level and we’ll be there to capture it all - without having to fake it! 

They are also making discoveries along the way.  They will be discovering pieces of themselves they lost in a year of social distancing, discovering artifacts of history they knew nothing about prior to stepping onto Belizean soil, and discovering passions they didn’t know they had (like snorkeling, cliff jumping and cave exploring), and discovering something about the human spirit that connects every single one of us to this precious earth we call home.

With these themes in mind, we can begin to workout the larger brushstrokes of our story.  They will help inform our decisions as it pertains to casting, locations, experiences, shot lists etc.  In pre-production, we will start to draw out the desired arc of a master story we are trying to tell, but leave some sections unwritten allowing for unpredictability of adventure to fill in the blanks.  It’s those moments that when captured will be the difference between Grab Life By The Belize and every other un-notable tourism campaign.

BUILDING OFF EXPERIENCE

It helps to know that we’ve been here before.  Our campaign for Holland America was a very similar challenge and we took away some learnings. 

1. PACK LIGHT - As filmmakers, we have a tendency to be doomsday preppers with our gear.  But, we have since learned how to fight that desire.  Bringing too much will only slow us down and occupy our time when we could be rolling.  By taking our learned experiences, and pairing it with new cutting edge equipment that is inherently lighter and smaller, we will be able to capture the same level of beauty with a higher quantity of footage to choose from in post.

2. TIMING IS EVERYTHING - We will be beholden to daylight in our filming. So, we want to make sure that we’re in the right places, at the right time of day, to get the best visuals for the camera.  This will involve some careful work from our production team, but with good scouting from our team and intel from our local fixers, we’ll build a schedule that sets us up for success. 

3. RESPECT THE LOCALS - We must remember that we are guests in Belize.  Belizeans rely on tourism to feed their families.  Though we are there to promote their services, we must be respectful of their primary business: tourists.  Where possible we will bring the local guides and vendors on to our team and compensate their time.   By staying in their good graces, they’ll be more in favor of working with us than against us!

LOOK + FEEL

SWOOPING AERIALS

Vivid, swooping aerial footage from high above and from only a few feet above the surface.

POV SHOTS

A staple in viral travel videos, these will be used sparingly but in an effective, elevated way to help drive exciting moments of the story.

UNDERWATER

Submerging the camera, highlighting both talent and the water itself.

CASTING

As I’ve mentioned, casting is really everything for this project. We want to go out and find real people with real connections that will live every moment of this adventure as though they’re having the time of their life - because they will be. That being said, we all know that the speed of a shoot isn’t always the quickest, most fun exhilarating for talent. We should focus our energies on casting talent who work great together, look great on camera and who we can all get along with!

We think it’s best to lean on casting agency (we like Genuine for real people casting) to find this unicorn of a cast we’re looking for. That being said, we also have some friends and family that we’d like to throw in the mix. We can make a decision as a group who will make for the most compelling Belizean adventure.

I could see this going a number of ways - whether they’re old friends, distanced family, or work buddies. They could be any age (targeting late 20’s to mid 50’s feels right), and they should be a diverse bunch as well. What’s most important is that these people are ready to adventure and are willing to be in the trenches with us as an extension of our crew!

See below for some of our friends and family recommendations!

Yes, that Spielberg. Fortunately our DP, Dan Kennedy, shot a short film called Honey Dew with Steven’s son Sawyer. He and his wife are avid adventurers and have a great look. Perhaps they could bring some blockbuster energy along with them?

Nicole Collie is a friend of Vagrants. We’ve worked with her as a dancer and model. She’s an Aussie born actress and free spirt! She also has a handful of friends we could audition to accompany her for the trip.

When we hired Jill Wyman, Vagrants producer, what we didn’t realize is that she came as a package deal: The Wyman Family. The Wyman’s were born for the camera, and fortunately for us they all do it for a living. No one has more fun than these guys. Don’t believe us? Check out this spontaneous fashion show they had while quarantined for the holidays.

Peter, affectionately known as “Hot Peter”, is a very good friend of mine. He’s an adventure enthusiast, solo traveler, adrenaline junkie, and lover of organic food. He’s that friend that is done for anything, anytime!

Michael Hardy is one of my favorite humans. He’s a crazy talented experience designer and currently works for Etsy in Brooklyn. I gave him a phone call to ask if he’d be interested, and his response was “are you fucking crazy?”. I think thats a good sign.

PRODUCTION PLAN

Knowing that time and money will be tight, we would like to emphasize quality over quantity. Logistically speaking, we know we’ll only be able to physically visit so many locations in our time allotted.  So, instead of wasting time traveling from one corner of the country to another (likely on dirt roads) let’s utilize our time to increase our throughput of coverage.  Let’s spend more time in one place.  Making sure we’re getting the best of the moment rather than cutting it short to be on to the next stop. 

In our supporting production bid, we’re allowing for 3 days shooting an average of 2 locations per day (some locations may require more effort to get to and demand more shooting time).  This also allows us to maximize our daylight hours while complying with a strict 6am - 8pm curfew in accordance with Belize covid regulations. We would plan on shooting our scenes out in the mornings and afternoon golden light hours while traveling and scouting at midday when the light is the worst.

THE CONTENT SMASH AND GRAB

We know the balance involved in capturing photo and video in tandem. We’ve even gone so far as to name our coveted approach the Content Smash + Grab. When we set out on these capture missions, the key is to maximize every minute and every production dollar. We know that this content has to go the distance for you and your client, so we go the extra mile juggling photo and video needs to get everything checked off the list. Once our desired locations are locked in, we will create a detailed shoot schedule and coordinate photo and video teams to work in tandem in the best natural lighting conditions. 

GETTING THE MOMENTS

To capture it all, we’re going to take an approach that is very similar to the one we took for our ski film.  Think of it as a cinematic documentary.  We’re going to structure moments - or scenes - similar to how you might a commercial or film.   In those moments, we’re going to let the camera run free.  Picking up all the natural reactions that our talent will be experiencing in real-time.  

We want to capture the sights, but also the sounds.  We’ll be running audio our  cameras picking up some of those raw sound effects.  But, we’ll also bring our sound kit along with us.  At the end of the day I’d like to do some reflective audio interviews with our talent to get through fresh reactions to what the experienced.  

In the edit, I could see these sound bites being a narrative thread in short-form (:15’s and :30’s) as well as a longer form “doc” approach.  Call me crazy, but I could see this as making an immersive 3-5 minute branded doc film that would give viewers the full story behind the trip.  If our experience in producing and marketing Made Back East is any indicator, there is a thirst for this kind of adventure content now more than ever.  I’d love the opportunity to explore this idea with you further should it be a direction you would want to take. 

QUICK AND NIMBLE

We’d like to take a smart approach with gear, using modern, small-footprint cameras and fast lenses with a lot of character. We’d shoot with a stripped down Alexa mini, a smaller 6k camera on a gimbal, a Mavic 2 Pro drone for a packable, 4k aerial powerhouse, and some small mirrorless SLR bodies for quick one-offs, underwater footage and POV-style grabs.

MOUNTABLE CAMERAS

We’re also planning to bring GoPro Hero8’s and various body mounts to give to our talent. If there is anything the last few years have taught us in tech, it’s that size certainly does not matter. This approach will allow us to nail all of our calculated moments and locations in the shotlist, but also provide us the flexibility and freedom to get creative when those fleeting moments of passing wildlife, waves, clouds, local textures and natives arise without needing to do a huge setup.

MEET THE VAGRANTS

At Vagrants, we think of production as a team sport. We’ve learned that it takes a well-oiled, multi-talented team of collaborators that know one another intricately in order to pull off the kind of shoots we do on a regular basis. Knowing that this shoot will need to be above all slim and scrappy, we’re boiling our team to the bare essentials.

DIRECTOR | DUSTIN DEVLIN

That’s me! I’m not afraid to call the shots. The rest of the Vagrants crew calls me “Dad” for that very reason. As director in this kind of arrangement, I’m not there to see every shot and micro-manage. Instead, my job is to orchestrate and choreograph. I put the talent and artists in the right scenario, with the right direction to capture the right moments that we need to thread our story. As an editorial minded director, I will always be focused on the pieces we need to create each deliverable and I will be concentrated on working with your team to ensure that we are hitting all the marks.

DP + DRONE | DAN KENNEDY

Dan is a master of composing beautifully raw and cinematic images. He is also a glutton for punishment. He follows one cardinal rule: always be rolling. Having put him through the tests many times, and most recently in the frigid conditions in which we shot Made Back East, this will be a welcome change of setting! Dan will command the camera team setting a look and feel that will bring synergy to everything we capture. Dan is also a FAA licensed drone pilot and has shot beautiful aerial work.

DP + UTILITY | WINSTON MACDONALD

Winston is Vagrants Head of Production, which if you knew him would make a lot of sense. He intricately understands all levels of production from the smallest gear knick knacks to the broad scale production logistics it takes to pull off a shoot of this nature. He’s also a hearty outdoor adventure who cut his teeth traveling the world on archeological missions. He is our “ace in the hole”.

PHOTOGRAPHER | GREG WALDO

Give Greg a backpack and some 100 spf sunscreen and watch him go. Having worked with Greg on our last few shoots for Alfa Romeo, Fiat and Boston Dynamics, I’ve learned that he sees things that most people don’t. He has an unbelievable ability to pull off some of the most gorgeous stylized frames of moments that pass by without anyone else noticing. He’s also one of the funniest people I know and will promise to keep us giggling the whole way through.

PRODUCER / PM | JILL WYMAN

Simply put, Vagrants doesn’t run without Jill Wyman. She is our life force, and our mother hen. She’ll be our producer on the ground that’s calling the shots, saving all the receipts, and planning our next move at all times. She’s also frequently a guest-star talent in many things Vagrants shoots. This double-threat makes her a valuable asset to have along the way!

PRODUCER / EP | MIKE BOWES

Mike Bowes comes with 15 + years of experience producing both film and commercials internationally. He is steers a steady ship with the fighter pilot’s level of confidence. Producing through travel work through Covid will be challenging to say the least and we couldn’t be more fortunate to have Mike as our backbone!