April / 2000

ON THE ROAD
Discovering Trinidad
A Vancouver operator goes home to film her heritage, and finds lots of challenges

“I remembered life is about the journey”

by Kelly Mason

This month marks one year that I set off to Trinidad, West Indies, to shoot footage for my director reel. I was told that because I’m from this exotic country I should use my heritage as a vehicle to distinguish my unique style.

Well, the trip was certainly a unique challenge. And the vehicles we used definitely had their own style.

THE SUNSHINE CREW: Kelly Mason is surrounded by her crew on a Trinidad beach: (from left, back) Walt Lovelace (operator), Kerry Gibbons (best boy), Selwyn Henry (sound), Kelly, Marcus James (1st AC), Allanah (model, actor), Dale Trotman (key grip) and (front) Cardinal Trotman and Darren Trotman (grips).

To start with, my uncle had arranged a jalopy made of Honda, Toyota and Hyundai parts, with “Fairchild” written across the top of the windshield. How fitting, I thought, since I am of fair skin on a mostly dark-skinned island. I brought a production manager friend along to help me co-ordinate the talent, location, vehicles, caterers — the usual stuff needed to put together a successful shoot. Unfortunately for me, fortunately for him, my friend became a little too distracted by the beauty of the island. To be more specific, the women.

From that point on, I knew I was pretty much on my own.

A week later, after a somewhat panicked pre-production period spent trying to track down Carlos John, the head of TIDCO (Tourism and Industrial Development Company of Trinidad and Tobago), my camera crew arrived. Because there was no Film Commission, Carlos John was the man from whom I needed to get a letter to clear the equipment. However, the Miss Universe pageant was only a month away and his plate was full. He had to meet and greet hundreds of beautiful women from around the world.

I’ve had pretty good luck in the past getting around the lineup at a nightclub, or getting a grip to set a courtesy flag. But this was a pretty tough agenda to compete with. Without the letter, our equipment would be detained a month, and when TIDCO finally did get around to us they gave us only one hour to compile a detailed list of equipment — with serial numbers, make and costs of every single piece. William F. White Toronto was phenomenal in completing and faxing us the list in just under 50 minutes. The letter was produced, and when my 2nd assistant, Jean Francois, arrived with the camera equipment, it was easy sailing through customs.

My next challenge came at 11:00 on the night before principal photography was to begin on a six-day shoot. I got a phone call from my Trinidadian friend stating that he and his local friends were unable to participate in the shoot because they had been asked to do the Miss Universe Pageant. They were my entire technical crew, besides camera and sound, and they were also providing all the vehicles, including the flatbed truck we needed to transport the equipment to our first location 2 1/2 hours away.

I was too numb to panic, so I walked into my local pub and asked friends if they happened to know anyone who owned a flatbed truck, and who might want to put their drink down so they could show up at 5:00 in the morning. “Hold on, let me talk to my partner,” one of my friends replied, and five minutes later he came back with a large, strong, good-looking black man, who announced: “NO problem, see you at 5:00.”

I didn’t get much sleep that night; I only thanked God and hoped they would show up.

‘GOD’S PROPERTY’: Kelly Mason, on the back of a truck nicknamed “God’s Property,” checks some reflector boards she found among a cache of film equipment from the 1960s.

The next morning, right on time, up drove a beautiful, big flatbed truck with “God’s Property” written across the windshield. Out stepped Dale Trotman, the big man I had met at the bar, his brother, Darren, and his father, Cardinal. They turned out to be accommodating, efficient and had the common sense of grips 20 years in the business.

“I found this bobbing in the water, do you need it?”

On one occasion, while handheld on my knees to shoot some schoolchildren, Cardinal slid a pillow underneath. Another time we were driving along a steep winding road. Marcus James, my focus puller, had been taking light-meter readings. All of a sudden we came to a stop, Dale jumped out saying, “ I think you might want this,” went to the middle of the road and picked up the bubble that must have blown off the meter.

On the second day, we were shooting up at Toco Bay, where the giant leatherback turtles come every year to lay their eggs. We had to hike a couple of miles along a beach to get to our location. It was difficult going, especially since the tide was right up to the edge of the jungle. When we finally reached our destination, Marcus handed me the SRIII. I looked down and realized the eyepiece was missing. The short eyepiece could have popped off anywhere and, as we know, one cannot operate without the eyepiece.

As Marcus went running off in a panic, thrashing through the water, up walked Cardinal and said: “I found this bobbing in the water, do you need it?”

At the end of the day, when we were wrapping the equipment, we realized the protective cap for a magazine was missing. Again, it could have been lost anywhere, so Darren and I grabbed a “torch light” and started searching for this flat, grey item that matched the colour of the sand. Then, Darren said, “Over there!” and ran ahead about 15 feet into pitch black where he found the cap. In the end, we returned every piece of equipment.

I couldn’t have asked for a better crew.

On the subject of equipment, something extra special happened in Trinidad. I was fortunate to acquire all of my grip, lighting and communications equipment from a sacred hiding spot.

THAT WAY’S GOOD! Kelly Mason, on a location scout at Maracus Beach.

A source on the island informed me of a shelter that had housed this gear for over 30 years. Apparently a local filmmaker had gone to London and made a feature film called Bim. It did well on the festival circuit, and finally he made enough money to purchase a couple of old nine-lights, redheads, blondes, reflector boards, stands, flags, bags, walkies, etc. He brought them back to the island in hopes of pioneering the industry there, but he died of a heart attack a couple of weeks after his return. We dusted it off, made some repairs and brought it back to life, the first time his equipment had been put to work since his death.

I felt that perhaps part of my mission was to carry on this man’s dream.

Shortly after I returned to Canada, I travelled to the United States to receive constructive criticism on my reel. So my stuff needed a little more work! I remembered life is about the journey.

* * *

A postscript: Since March, 1999, Carla Foderingham of TIDCO, myself, and the collective members of the film community of Trinidad and Tobago have had some meetings to implement a Film Commission. In October, we organized filmmakers from England, France and Venezuela to take part in a number of forums — which I also had the opportunity of attending as a representative of North America. Since then, the new Film Commission has assisted five commercial shoots, four music videos and two features.

So, in the future, if you’re looking for a luscious tropical backdrop or blue-water beaches, consider Trinidad and Tobago. And call the Film Commission; they’ll take care of you and “everyt’ing will be irie.”

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