Hawaii homelessness

Love Communications was recently commissioned to produce/shoot and edit a story for BBC World with journalist Nick Lazaredes. The 30+ minute documentary focused on the homeless situation in Hawaii, whose communities and politicians are producing some new and unique solutions for this crisis.

On this shoot, it was important to be able to move quickly as we knew we would be following the Hawaiian enforcement officials doing mandatory sweeps with garbage trucks. It turned out to be even more difficult than planned with some of the locations being confronting, congested, and hard to navigate.

To shoot under bridges and in stormwater drains, where many of the homeless encampments have grown, I used a canon EOS 100C on a mono-pod. The constant subtle movement of the camera adding an edginess to the footage while still being able to hold a long lens comfortably. The downside was not having a quick release which made going hand held a little cumbersome. My solution was to invest in an OSMO (see my review of this great piece of equipment here) which gave the story a feeling of movement that would have been impossible without carrying a slider rig.

The residents of the homeless encampment at Wai’inia boat harbour weren't intimidated by, and actively engaged with with the filming process. Neither of the cameras or rigs were cumbersome to me, or created an obstacle to my interactions with them, or were intrusive or threatening to the residents, with whom we established a strong rapport.

Hawaii Homelessness for BBC World