Shooting in Freetown: Ngardy's notes

Ngardy writes from an internet cafe in Freetown. Messages from her lately have come from her cell phone across the Atlantic to Allan. As she explains:

So, we haven't been to the internet cuz we've been exhausted at the end of everyday shooting and it is quite an effort to get to the cafe.

Shooting from 9-6 everyday - in the hot sun - very exhausting. Getting to be late after dumping the footage to hard drive, getting used to the dogs, roosters, and the 5-hr time difference has also impacted all of our sleep [DP Colin Akoon & PA Johnny Vong]. But spirits are high and we're having an incredible experience.

Shooting in public: pretty much you have to seek permission before you can even hold a camera in public if you are not a local. The general feeling is that foreign media has come here and exploited peoples' images. Understandable.

Yesterday, we had [team publicist] Wizzy and some team members walk around the streets. Since they were are focus and this took place around their office people we were fine shooting the cameras in public.