Tripfilms Blog

Filming Vieques, Puerto Rico 11/16/2007 18:11, by jamay in Tripfilms Blog

What is the best way to cover a destination and bring it to life through video? As producer at Tripfilms, this is a question that’s been on my mind for a long time. Though I have developed a sense of what makes a video good or bad, I did not actually experience first-hand what the travel video production process involves until last week, when I spent four days shooting footage in Vieques, Puerto Rico.

Vieques is a beautiful, untamed island in Puerto Rico that has only begun to really draw tourists in recent years after the Navy stopped using it as a bombing base in 2003. Tripfilms had a project to shoot videos there last week, and I opened up the opportunity to all of Tripfilms’ filmmakers. However, despite the many responses we got, we were not able to arrange a trip for someone to go in time. Since I had just completed a short filmmaking workshop where I learned the basics of how to shoot and edit with Final Cut, the team decided that this would be a good chance for me to combine what I learned from the workshop with what I have learned from producing and watching Tripfilms videos – to try to make videos of my own. It was time to get my hands dirty in the field!

So, in classic last-minute form, I bought tickets for myself and for Jerome, our software engineer who also doubles as an amazing photographer, and two days later, we were on our way to Vieques. I was breathless with excitement – I had never been to the Caribbean before, and Vieques sounded truly magical, with pristine beaches, wild horses roaming through lush forests, and a bioluminescent bay that shimmers under the night sky.

Vieques lived up to expectations and more. The weather was gorgeous, and the New Moon created ideal conditions for swimming in the Bio Bay, where every movement we made left hundreds of glittering single-cell dinoflagellates in our wake. Unfortunately, countless photographers and filmmakers before us have failed to capture this pixie-dust natural phenomenon for years, and we were no exception – it’s something you really need to go and experience for yourself. But we were able to get great footage of the beaches, the towns, the bunkers that used to hold Navy artillery and supplies, and more.

We learned a lot about the island that we think could help the future travelers who are bound to be drawn to Vieques’ unique, almost mystical landscape. We now know about “island time” – how most restaurants and businesses on the island are only open 3-5 days a week and reserve the right to close on a whim if business is slow… if you want to ensure that you get to try the best restaurants, schedule which night and time you’ll go ahead of time! If we had done our research, we would have made sure we made it to Topacio – which supposedly has the best authentic Puerto Rican food on the island – instead of arriving to find it closed two nights in a row. We also met the legendary Captain Bill two days before we left, when the weather forecast prevented us from being able to schedule a day trip sailing with him to the eastern parts of the island, which are home to the most beautiful beaches but are only accessible by water (and specifically, with Captain Bill) because of unexploded bombs left by the Navy occupation.

Another thing we learned is to really get close to the spirit of a destination, you need to talk to the locals. Everyone on Vieques was very friendly, and each of the many we met during our short stay shared their unique perspective of their beloved island with us. If we could do our trip over, we probably would have tried to talk to locals earlier, so that we could arrange to film them on camera. If you can get authentic interviews with locals and couple it with related footage, you’re bound to make an interesting and informative travel video.

The trip really opened up my eyes to just how helpful travel videos can be – if we had watched a few videos before our trip, maybe we could have been better prepared? We did read some guides online beforehand, but some things are just better conveyed through video and by people who have genuine insights to share. We will certainly try our best to pass on the tips and tricks we learned in our videos so that other people will make the most of their trips to Vieques.

We are eager to get started on editing and putting these videos online. Since this will be my first try, I do not expect (and hope that you don’t expect) them to be perfect (or even close to perfect). =) But as with traveling and anything else, travel-video-making is something that can only get better with practice! I encourage all of you to give it a go next time you travel - it's a lot of fun and forces you to get to know the destination you're visiting from different angles!

Happy Travels!

Jamay