markwatersFILM

So right now its 07:30 in the morning and im sitting a ridiculously hot hotel room in central vietnam with the Sunnie Girl sleeping away. I have not found much time for the internet as of yet but I got a little gap here to express what I am doing here.

SO WHY AM I HERE??? ‘Cause its epic and travelling is amazing) We have been in Vietnam for almost two weeks now and still have another three and a half months left to find our way down to indonesia. I have about 30kg with me which is about 7 items of lightweight cloths and the rest being camera equipment. A canon 5d mkii, a  Canon 16-35 2.8, a 24-70 2.8. a 100mm macro 2,8, a 200mm prime 2.8, 2x converter, heavy tripod, glide track, 2 x Go hero HD 2, a Matt box (kindly sponsored by Wayne Kinney at shoot 35, a bunch of Batteries, memory cards and much much more.

WHY HAVE I BROUGHT SO MUCH KIT WITH ME?? ‘Cause it comes everywhere with me but on the specific adventure I have decided to make a feature Length Surf film. This will not go online, it will be exclusive to film festivals and DVD (Unless it sucks and nobody wants in there festival or shop shelves;)

Below you can here more about the project and how you can get involved

Project overview and a bit about Mark Waters:

Mark Waters is an award winning filmmaker specialising in lifestyle, action sports, music and sustainability. He has been lucky enough to work all around the world directing shooting, lighting and editing documentaries, short films, music videos and promos. He has worked with some big name musicians as well as some of the world’s largest action sports brands on both the TTR World Snowboarding Tour and the ASP World Surfing Tour.
Film making has been a natural progression for Mark since his mid teens. A life spent on the ocean riding waves inspired him to grab a camera and document these experiences. His love for the ocean inspired him to travel the world, where he spent 5 years documenting everything he experienced. He explains that his biggest inspiration is life itself and he sees the world as his classroom, with experiences as his textbooks. His style could be explained as organic, as his love for nature and natural light drives most of his films.
After residing in the UK for the past 3 years working on his art, he has decided to free himself from daily routine and head East for 4 months where he plans to create a film that involves all that has inspired him… with the direction taking a natural progression, the film will highlight culture, community, portraits, landscapes, time-lapse with the life of travel and surf guiding the direction… In a nutshell – a visual journey documenting the life of freedom and travel as well as all the beauty that comes with it – with the idea of surf being at the roots

Brief:
No pre-direction, plot or actors. It’s simply a cinematic journey, inspired by the natural progression taking place on an overland journey from Vietnam to Bali, covering; Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia and Northern Sumatra (including the Mentawai islands) ending in the South islands on Indonesia
The film will use creative cinematography to recreate the experience presented through travel, featuring culture, tribes, landscape, buzzing third world cities, jungles, mountains, volcanoes, rain forests and pristine beaches. It will also feature ceremonies from different tribes around these parts.
The style of cinematography will be very photographic, where composition and symmetry will flow throughout. It will be a smooth cinematic style with most shots being composed with tripods and dollies, while featuring beautiful time lapses, human portraits, water shots (surf, ocean, lakes rivers) with the edit style being rhythm based, cut to the cinematic soundtrack that will compliment what you are seeing to enhance the feel.

Sideline Project:
There will be a sideline viral project going on, which will be more of a diary, releasing shorts featuring the more adventurous side of the experience. They will be 3-5 minutes in length, featuring inspirational encounters with travellers/locals, day-to-day experiences, Problems along the way and self-portrait stories. This will be used as a marketing tool to draw people in and advertise the main feature that will go into post production once arriving back in the UK.

Aim:
The aim of this film is to be a 45min+ visual feast, that will hit film festivals worldwide. As it will have no distinct genre, it will fit a variety of categories such as documentary, travel, surf, adventure etc. It is a film that Mark has been dreaming of creating for some time and his hopes are set high, to win festivals across the planet whilst at the same time being a canvas to demonstrate his art to the world.

Inspiration:
The film concept was inspired from a life of surf and travel. Mark Waters (Director, cinematographer and editor) grew up in Cape Town, where he spent every opportunity floating around in the ocean, riding waves and embracing every minute. His love for the ocean inspired him to travel the world in search for perfect waves. He has now travelled to over 30 countries and every continent. This lifestyle inspired him to document these experiences, where he went on a pursuit to learn the art of filmmaking.
Mark is now a filmmaker by trade, where he works all around the world directing, shooting, lighting and editing, documentaries, award winning short films and music videos. He now specialises more so in action sports (mainly surf and snow) as well as music, lifestyle and sustainability.
Mark believes that everybody should experience travel and all that comes with it, so his plan is to create a cinematic experience for everybody to see and feel this lifestyle from the comfort of their home with the hope to inspire the viewers to get out into the world and see it for real.

Budget:
Currently, I am funding the film from my own pocket as I decided to go for Soul Vs Commercial,. It may come down to the need of some sponsorship at some pint with regards to tying up the ends with music and post production time but this is not something I am to concerned about right now. I am looking for affiliates but this is more so to sponsor me with equipment to produce the project. I am pretty satisfied with my kit right now but two things I could do with, to add some priceless value to my project would be a water housing for my canon 5d mkii and a motion rail for motion time-lapse etc. In exchange, I will highlight all affiliates and speak about your products throughout the viral process of the film and credit you throughout the entire project. As an affiliate, I will not be asking for financial backing to fund the project, only for products that may help push the film forward. If you are interested in being a part of the project then please contact me to discuss any queries that you may have. So far Shoot 35 and Northcore have been kind enough to support me with some products in which I am truly grateful for. If you like the sound of this project, then your support would be very welcome. Support comes in may different ways so even if you dont have any products then just drop me a line because kind words go a long way. Also on the look out for some soul surfers that will be in indo between mid July – Mid September so if thats you or you no any body that fits the description then feel free to get in touch.

You can follow the project here:
www.markwatersfilm.com
www.facebook.com/markwatersfilm
www.twitter.com/makrwatersfilm