Filmmaker Cirina Catania loves a challenge, but her recent project of filming “survival training” videos in the wilds of the Peruvian Amazon (see above) added a new chapter to her 30 years of experience. Temperatures hovered close to 100 degrees and the humidity was 87 percent.
In addition, she faced severe equipment and weight restrictions in capturing the action in the jungle and on the river.
For capture, she used a water-resistant Sony NX70, Sony A7r and two GoPros. Solar power was used to charge her cameras, sound equipment and storage devices, with cameras and sound equipment having the highest priority.
Her MacBook Pro (in a water-resistant case) was limited to media management so a single charge would last as long as possible.
To protect the beautiful scenes she was capturing, she saved the data on several OWC 480GB Envoy Pro EX SSDs. Never relying on just one copy, she also backed up the irreplaceable content on a 1TB external drive.
She noted that both storage devices are “screaming fast,” which conserved precious battery power. Periodically, she would transfer the verified media from the Envoy Pro through the laptop to a third drive for more permanent storage … just in case.
“In wild and remote environments, filmmakers have to be very concerned about weight and reliability,” Catania emphasized. “In addition, equipment has to be compact, lightweight and able to withstand unpredictable and rapid weather changes. Then you can focus 100 percent of your attention on shooting the best story possible.”
