Capturing stills and video in Manaus for Coca-Cola

As it was the very beginning of the rainy season up there, the first thing Story Productions had to make sure of was getting a perfectly accurate weather forecast to be able to plan the shootings ahead and not lose any time once on site.

Along with the Brazilian director of the Olhos da Floresta programme, Story Productions sent one producer and DOP from São Paulo, and all the rest of the crew was recruited locally in Manaus, including a second DOP who operated both the drone footage and a second camera.

Filming in the Amazon often involves a great deal of logistics, as Manaus is a very isolated city, built at the center of vast swathes of Amazonian forest. Traveling inside the green lung of the blue planet requires a bit of time and therefore a reasonable amount of planning.

Story Productions handled the recruitment of the crew, as well as the travel, accommodation and catering for the whole crew.

After visiting the Coca-Cola firm based in Manaus and filming a long conversation between Milena, the director of the firm, and João, the director of the programme, the crew hit the road with a van to film in 3 different remote sites within the jungle. 

All of it required no less than 20 hours on the road and 3 hours on a boat—and then a speedboat—to reach the 3 agro-ecological locations in Manacapuru, Urucara, and Novo Airao, and come back.

The objective was to go and meet up with Angelina, Cristina and Carlos, 3 participants in the Olhos da Floresta programme, obtain interviews with these characters and images of the magnificent and wild cultivation grounds—some located deep inside of conservation areas—shot on the ground with two Blackmagic cameras and one drone.

The videos and interviews aimed at exploring the way the programme wishes to contribute to the ecological development of the Amazonas by creating jobs, investing in means of production, and training farmers on the best agro-forestry polycultural practices and sustainable business planning.

Thanks to a well-documented preparation and Story Productions’s historical experience of filming inside the Amazonian forest, the 6 days of shooting went very smoothly. The whole experience was also one more opportunity for the client to spend time with the farmers and better understand how to continue sharing knowledge with them and further develop the programme.

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