Filming

I will film in the Amazon from late December 2010 through March 2011, shooting interviews at 4-6 different ayahuasca centers in the vicinity of Iquitos, Peru. I will use my questionnaire only on shamans and their long-term apprentices. When interviewing non-English speakers, I will have someone just outside of the frame volunteering to translate it into English, and then I will later use that to make English subtitles.

The filming won’t be on actual film, but rather high-definition video. The camera that will make it all happen is the Canon EOS 5D Mark II. It’s a digital still camera that also shoots 1920x1080p video at 30 or 24fps. The luscious color and detail this baby can capture will result in an end product that looks like it belongs in an an arthouse cinema. It has a 36mm wide image sensor, which is 10-20 times bigger than the ones found in most camcorders. This means it has exceptional low-light capability, which is exactly what I need for filming at night by the light of candles and kerosene lamps, which I will be doing a lot. It also has a narrow depth-of-field which means that while my subject is in focus, the background will be nicely blurred, which will give Destination: Ayahuasca the look of a professionally-made film.

I will also interview my fellow guests at these centers, to get reports of their visions, preferably the morning after the ceremony, while the memory and the emotional experience is still fresh. I want the viewer to feel what they feel, so ideally I would like to be there to record their story the first time they tell it. Although I only want the audio for voiceovers on the animations, some may volunteer to tell their story on video, and it may wind up as a clip on YouTube to promote the movie, or as an bonus feature on the DVD. Others can retain their anonymity by only having their voice recorded. It will be my announced policy that if any guest wishes to relate their vision into my microphone, they must approach me and request to do so. I will not be hounding any unwilling people to participate. I want to make every effort to respect everyone’s privacy and be sensitive to the emotional processes they will be going through.

I will also film a few establishment shots of the jungle, rivers, boat rides, mototaxis, and Iquitos, to give the viewer a feel for the local environs. I’ll also have a few quick shots of the buildings and grounds of each center, with a shot of the sleeping and dining accommodations, and a glance around the inside of the ceremony house, all without filming any of the staff or guests, to respect their privacy.

I’ll shoot the inside of the ceremony building after it has been prepared for a ceremony but before the ceremony begins. Lit with candles, I’ll show the viewer what the layout of the room looks like with its chairs and blankets and puke buckets. I would like to get some shots of the shamans pouring the ayahuasca and some of the participants drinking it.

I will not be filming during any of the ceremonies after the lights go out. This would require expensive night vision equipment, and it’s been done so well in other ayahuasca documentaries that I see no need to repeat it. Besides, I’m not interested in showing a night-vision view, because it doesn’t give you a realistic view of what a ceremony is actually like. A ceremony is pitch black except for the glowing tips of some mapacho cigarettes. Mostly people see their own inner visionary experience, so that’s what I think is most worth showing. I would, however, like to make an audio recording of one ceremony at each center in order to document the different styles of icaros, and to dub the sound of those icaros over the animated depictions of people’s visions.

Some time when no actual ceremony is taking place, with some dim light to film by, I want to use the chairs and buckets in a ceremony building to film some simulated scenes of a ceremony, just to give the viewer an impression of what it’s like. It does not need to be real, because this movie is about advice for ayahuasca ceremonies in general, it’s not trying to document any particular ceremony. I especially want to get a point-of-view shot of someone in a rebar rocking chair suddenly reaching for their puke bucket on the floor.

For the Preparation section at the beginning of the movie, and for the Integration section at the end, I will film the parts of the interview pertaining to those topics during the day, to match the time of day the interviewees will be talking about. For example, while an interviewee is talking about the process of a guest arriving at a center, I might cut to some shots of the center grounds, and when talking about preparing the brew, I could cut to some shots of preparing the brew, and when talking about the strict diet, I could show a plate of the diet food being served for breakfast or lunch. For stylistic consistency, we’ll see the movie cutting back and forth between daylight interview and daylight expository scene. The same goes for the Integration section, because when someone departs from a center and goes back into the world heading home, it’s almost always happens during the day. Flower baths and river swims happen during daylight hours.

For the Purgation section in the middle, I will film that part of the interview at night, preferably lit by kerosene lamp or candles. This section deals purely with what goes on during a ceremony, and ayahuasca ceremonies always take place at night. The final version of the Purgation section of the film will cut back and forth between these nighttime interview clips and animated depictions of ceremonial visions.