Andy Morahan

Having recently wrapped principal photography on the third instalment of football feature Goal!, director Andy Morahan travelled to South Africa and Zambia for a Pilsener Urquell spot. shots.net brings you his exclusive production diary

Day 1:

We arrive in Jo'burg from Europe - straight from the final pre-prod meeting in Prague. Client nervous, and agency [Leo Burnett CZ] anxious that it should be a great and effective ad. The usual pressure. The idea/story behind the film is to recreate the 1875 journey of iconic Czech explorer Emil Holub as he moved through Africa on a scientific safari. This is a difficult and ambitious job logistically: big, spectacular and often remote locations are required, so we'll have to scout a lot of places. We also need good weather, which means heading up-country to the north because it's winter in the southern hemisphere.

Met by Viktor and Jan from Starlite [Czech production company] who've flown out a day earlier. Drive straight to the offices of Velocity Films to meet the local producer, Carmen Amos, and her team. I've worked with her before… she's great. Meet the AD Andre, art director Stuart, prod manager Greer and location scout Rick Matthews. Rick is one of life's great characters and looks like he was born in the bush. He's going to take us to places that we couldn't even imagine were possible to access, so I feel confident after talking to him. Been through lots of photos sent as jpegs before coming to South Africa, but nothing really beats seeing these places for real so I'm excited about that.

Day 2:
After one night in Jo'burg we're on our way. The real adventure starts here. We take a private charter flight up to Hoedspruit on the edge of the Kruger National Park. Spectacular flight through mountains and across plains, with Africa below. Check into the Kapama Lodge and head straight out on a scout in the local game reserve. Almost immediately we see zebra, impala, wild hogs etc. The sun's going down so there's a rush on. We find the first location fairly easily: a waterhole where we might find some local elephants. They're not there tonight but we see an amazing sunset, with single trees caught as silhouettes in the African landscape. This is going to work really well for my "hero's" camp.

Check horizon co-ordinates for both dawn and dusk - perfect to shoot there all day. If it was all going to be this is easy… But then a sudden shout: "Andy, back away now." I freeze, look around and realise I was a couple of feet away from stepping on a crocodile. Not a big one but he would have taken a nice chunk out of my leg. The sun goes down and it gets cold quickly. Head back to the lodge for a beer and a schedule meeting to figure out the next few days. Good start but have a feeling it's going to get tougher.

Day 3-5:

These next few days are tough: long hours on the road and some pretty rough off-road stuff as well. We're in the Eastern Transvaal, into the Kruger Park, close to the border with Mozambique. The logistical nightmares start to stack up. Every time I find somewhere I like, it's usually miles from anywhere else, so it involves figuring out permission, crew transport, accommodation and local help etc. The shoot is evolving but it's painful rather than organic, mainly due to the variety of locations required (we need mountains, rainforest jungle and Serengeti-style plains) and the vast distances between them. We also have agency and clients arriving who want to see and approve everything. On top of this, there is art dept, wardrobe and props to figure out, and it's all "period" - which it means it has to be authentic or at least appear to be.

It's a big job, getting bigger. Is there enough time? Are we going to Zambia or not? The Victoria Falls are part of the original script but the film has grown. The question is whether we can we shoot everything else in the schedule and still go there. Big discussions. The agency wants to, the client is not sure - can we find somewhere else? They're worried the Victoria Falls are so spectacular that they will dwarf everything else and become the "star" of the film. I argue to go. I think it's all going to be spectacular anyway and I want the ad to be as epic and cinematic as possible. Even so, I waste about a day and half going all over the place looking for an alternative. Find beautiful places but nothing of that scale. Let's face it, the Victoria Falls are incomparable. Decision made: we're going there after we finish the main shoot.

Day 6:

Tech scout. It's a long day. John Mathieson, my DoP (Gladiator), arrives after flying in from London via Jo'burg and Hoedspruit overnight in one hit. He must be knackered but hides it well. I must say I am very excited to be working with him on this.

He's the most talented DoP of his generation and for something like this, that requires both the look, and an understanding of, the "big movie genre", he's perfect. I knew him years ago and we have many mutual friends/colleagues in the business, so hooking up again is like having a long overdue "catch up". He's delightful company, very funny and tells the best film "war stories" ever. Knows everybody, too. Long day, bed for barely six hours. It feels like I've been shooting for days already.

Day 7:

Kapama Game Reserve/waterhole. First day's shoot. Up at 4.30am because we need a dawn shot sequence. Ride out to the location in open-top jeeps. It's bloody freezing but that's going to change, so you have to be prepared for both extremes. Temp lights, plastic tables, tepid coffee, actors in make-up. Leading my camera crew around in the dark trying to set up first shot, placing the lead actor exactly where the sun is going to rise right behind him for the dramatic "dawn of time" silhouette that I'm after… got to get it set quick. John has ordered an enormous Russian long lens which has been flown in from the UK at great expense. We call it the Terminator. Production wanted to cancel it and save the money; I fought to keep it for John. No point hiring one of the best DoPs in the world then cutting off his hands.

Having had perfect days on the scout, as the light started to come up we could sense clouds forming and a strange wind blowing. A sign of rain? A storm coming? Mmm… it felt ominous. More worrying was how it would affect the clarity of the sun "globe" as it rose - which I'd planned the entire sequence around. At first I thought we were screwed: light up but no visible sun where it should have been. A thin layer of dense cloud/atmos on the horizon keeping it hidden. Bollocks! Agency and client are looking at me. They don't say it but I can read it in their faces: "What's going on?" Even Martin, the creative director of the agency, who had championed and supported me from the beginning to shoot the job, was looking a bit worried. I put on my best "It's going to be fine" act, but inside I was thinking: "Jeez, the first set-up and the shot's not really working." Oh boy, I couldn't have wished for a worse start. But suddenly the sun did pop out and, incredibly, the thin layer meant we could shoot straight at it without flares (as if filtered). In fact it quickly turned into being perfect and much better than we might ever have dared hope. Using the Terminator, John had the shots nailed. We went from zeros to heroes in a matter of minutes. It was awesome and epic… a great start in the end.

The rest of the day was pretty amazing, too. We managed to get some elephants "playing" in the foreground of the waterhole campsite and they were very curious about us and our equipment, especially the crane. Everyone was happy and elated. We packed up rather quicker than normal, though, as the local rangers had spotted a pride of lions not that far away. Got out in one piece thankfully, without being eaten. Adrenaline pumping, we made a dash back to the lodge for a few hours' well-earned rest before getting up again at 5am, packing bags, checking out and moving to our second day's locations over 100km away.

Day 8:

Blyde River Canyon. After a two-and-a-half-hour drive, we arrive high up in the mountains. Spectacular location and already a huge crew is in place, from camera, lighting, grip and art dept trucks to hair and make-up, wardrobe, animal wranglers and catering, plus a cast of hundreds. Today we're shooting "Holub's caravan" - 20 people in shot, plus packhorses and luggage, all traversing over rough terrain. Later we're going to film 80 Zulu warriors in traditional costume attacking the caravan, and the face-off between Holub and the tribal chief. This is a big day and it feels like a huge movie set. Considering we are in the middle of nowhere and far from any town or city, that's one hell of an achievement. Any logistical obstacle was dealt with and overcome. Carmen, Greer and Rick from Velocity were absolute heroes and kept anything "bad" away from me. Jan, Viktor and Martin couldn't have supported me more.

Spent too long on the first set-up. It did involve a tricky crane position and some more Terminator but I over-shot it a little. Guess I was starting to enjoy myself, but it meant that subsequently I was really rushing. That can be tough and very demanding on everybody when you're doing big, tricky scenes with lots of people in shot. With the light dropping fast nerves were fraying, but we just managed to get it all. Phew!

Two great days in the can, including two pack-shots, two drinking shots and two product shots. Big smiles and confidence coming from the agency/client video monitor area. Now they're starting to believe it's going to be great. Packed up and back to a new hotel 40km away. We all deserved the beer we drank in the bar.

Day 9:

Jungle and rainforest at Drifters/Shangana tribal village. We left the hotel at 6am and travelled 5km to a nearby rainforest area called Drifters. First up was a top shot observing Holub's caravan hacking their way through dense jungle. We set up another overhanging crane shot so the camera was 40/50ft above the caravan; sprayed down the jungle with water hoses; filtered in some atmos smoke to give it that steamy feel; and were ready to shoot by 7.30am.

The crew were rocking by now, a great vibe, everyone working really hard but inspired by the quality of the footage we were shooting. You dream of these moments as a director, when everyone is on the same wavelength, in a "zone" and pulling for each other. When it happens you know it and want to bottle it.

We finished there by 10.30am and relocated to Shangana, an authentic tribal village 10km down the road. To start with we shot some additional jungle C/U footage using a steadycam, to complete the sequence we'd shot earlier in the day at Drifters. We also had to shoot Holub's reaction to seeing the Victoria Falls for the first time: his complete "awe and wonder". The reason for this was that we were taking only a skeleton B-crew/second unit to Zambia, and the main actor wasn't available anyway, so we had to fake it. It was pretty hard to do, considering that at that stage we didn't know the vantage point and/or height we would be shooting from at the Victoria Falls later. We had to repeat it a number of different ways, giving the actor a variety of eye-lines so we had coverage for every eventuality. A scary thought, but it worked out just fine in the end.

Next up was the big tribal scene where Holub and his crew are taken back to the village after the earlier stand-off and the viewer doesn't know if they've been captured or invited. This was probably the biggest set-up of the whole commercial and the most difficult to pull off, so thank God it was the last. It was a night scene, which involved all of our original Zulu tribesmen, supplemented by more specialist warrior dancers and villagers, plus Holub and his caravan. It also involved complicated fire special FX and a huge lighting rig cabled up to two generators parked over 100m away. It took quite a while to get ready and after three days of hard shooting, travelling and minimal sleep, I could sense that all of us, to a man, were starting to flag. With the euphoria we'd experienced and shared earlier in the day having now dissipated, we all had to dig deep and make one last super-human effort to pull it off. But we did, and shot some amazing and gorgeous-looking stuff. We all knew instinctively that the commercial was now in the can and was going to be spectacular and special. The warm glow of knowing this washed over us all. Both agency and client were ecstatic.

John Mathieson had done an amazing job but he had to leave at this point (literally jumping into a waiting car on wrap to be driven to the airport), to go straight on to another movie. We'd been so lucky to get him for that short window of availability but sadly he wouldn't be joining us in Zambia. We all thanked him profusely. I also said a big thanks and goodbye to Rick Matthews, our location manager, who was not coming with us either. While everybody did an amazing job he was just incredible. He's a one-off - from another planet! We then dragged ourselves back to the hotel for another quick sleep.

Day 10:

Travel to Zambia/scout the Victoria Falls. Up early again, bags packed, into another pass van and off to the nearest local small airfield at White River. We met up with our air charter company who had flown up from Jo'burg that morning. Once again it was a small prop plane captained by two young pilots (a guy and girl), who looked like teenagers and barely out of school. Hey, this is Africa and nothing should surprise you.

The Victoria Falls, and the Zambesi River that feeds them, form the border between two countries: Zambia and Zimbabwe. Because of the political unrest in Zimbabwe it was far too dangerous and inaccessible to shoot from there, so Zambia was our only option. However, it has no real film industry or accompanying infrastructure so you have to take everything in with you: personnel, crew, equipment etc. To be honest, the Zambians are not used to it, so it's a bit of a challenge at immigration and customs even if you have all the paperwork and declarations in order.

Despite the problems, Carmen and Greer from Velocity had it all sorted and had also sourced a great local fixer called Lawrence Thompson who had his own company, Location Challenge. Basically Lawrence was a one-man-band. With his impeccable English accent (he'd obviously been educated in the UK at some point), he smoothed our path effortlessly on our arrival into Livingstone.

Zambia is a poor but relatively stable African country and despite the obvious poverty that hits you as soon as you arrive, the people are friendly, sweet, helpful and not discernibly aggressive. However it's a bit of a shock to check into the Royal Livingstone Hotel, one of the most luxurious palaces I've ever stayed in. Built on bank of the Zambesi River, it's a stone's throw from the Victoria Falls. It's an incredible location but somehow it doesn't seem quite right to have such an obvious disparity between rich and poor in such close proximity. None of us were that comfortable with it, despite welcoming the unexpected luxury after such a hard couple of weeks; it made us feel a little guilty and ashamed, I think.

Having checked in (it was now late afternoon), we quickly regrouped and went for a quick scout. To replace John M, Carmen had sourced a local South African DoP, Lars Cox. He had flown in ahead of us, taken some great pictures and done his homework. With only an hour of light left he wasted no time in taking us to the best places and vantage points to shoot from. Then it was back to the hotel, a quick dinner in the restaurant that was way too fancy, and another stolen sleep.

Day 11:

Victoria Falls. Another early start because the best light was either first thing or late in the afternoon. We only had six rolls of stock, so I had to ration myself and spread it out over the day. Being in Zambia, there was absolutely no chance of getting any more. Shot some amazing and spectacular footage - the place really is that awesome - including POVs and a reverse of Jan (the producer from Starlite) dressed in Holub's outfit/wardrobe to give us a connection shot.

Wrapped it all up but too tired for an end of shoot party, so a quick dinner and then to bed. In the morning we had a bit of spare time before getting back on the charter flight, so a couple of us dashed to a helicopter centre for an aerial trip over the falls. It never happened... there was a problem with the chopper and we couldn't wait while they fixed it. But we got to experience something similar. As we boarded our charter flight to take us back to Jo'burg we were telling the pilots about our disappointment that morning. With a twinkle in his eye one of them said, "Leave it to me", and as we took off he banked the plane to the left and flew us low over the falls - an unofficial change to his flight plan. It was an incredible end to an amazing shoot.