San Telmo Productions offers Complete Video Productions Services in Argentina for Syngenta Corporate Video

Last week we provided a local English-speaking film crew, equipment and logistics for a corporate video for argo company Syngenta. The producer was the Edge Picture Company of London, and we all got to try out Sony’s new pmw-f3, an HD camera which is going to battle the Red One for getting that film look on an HD camera.

Capturing a typical farm dinner with Sony's new pmw-f3 HD camera, which has 35mm sized sensors and an incredible depth of field.

Our bilingual gaffer Roman pushes a dolly while UK Producer Sophia looks on.

The locations were a farm and vegetable market in Rosario, about a four hour’s drive from Buenos Aires. All equipment had to be brought in from Buenos Aires! As you can see from the shoot, it was a small crew with a lot of cool toys and an even cooler vibe.

Southern Patagonia, Land of Ice and Fire, Your Next Film Location

by Amelia Batho, contributing blogger

Regarded by many as the final frontier of the New World islands, the archipelago Tierra del Fuego (Land of Fire) off the Southern most tip of Argentina is a mysterious land waiting to be discovered by film makers.

Far from inaccessible, the regions capital city Ushuaia is a transportation hive with an international airport that receives regular flights from Buenos Aires and Santiago, Chile and ferries and buses that are able to access all of the breath taking landscapes found in the region.

Another major plus to the city is that all shopping, whether imported or locally produced, is tax free! So it’s also a great place to stock up on any supplies.

As a full service production company with a network of local fixers, field producers and technicians throughout South America, San Telmo Productions can make sure you next shoot in Patagonia goes off without a hitch.

The city is located on one of the many islands found in the Beagle Channel, a strait separating the islands of the archipelago. The strait is named after the ship HMS Beagle which conducted its first survey on the area in the 19^th century. Aboard that ship, of course, was Charles Darwin who, when he  first caught a glimpse of the glaciers, wrote ‘many glaciers beryl blue most beautiful contrasted with snow’ a testament to the unique beauty of the region still seen today.

What else awaits the intrepid film maker? Islands inhabited solely by penguin colonies and remarkable glaciers. World Heritage Site Los Glaciers national Park can be found a bit further north in the province of Santa Cruz. The park hosts a blanket of ice which covers 600,000 hectares and feeds into 48 glaciers – the most famous one, Perito Moreno, is an impressive 30km long and 5km wide.

Praise for San Telmo Productions

Another Happy Client who used San Telmo Productions for complete production services and local production fixer for a series of educational videos:

“We found San Telmo Productions on the Internet and were a bit nervous, because
we’d never filmed in Argentina. They were able to pull together a six
day shoot, 12 actors, multiple locations and everything came out on
budget. We also found that there were a number of delightful extras,
like extra production assistants and private security, so our shoot
went off without a hitch. Ginger Gentile and Gabriel Balanovsky are wonderful. The
footage is spectacular.”

-Jonathan Dariyanani, Independent Producer for K12, Inc.

San Telmo Productions Wraps Filming Spanish Learning Videos for Joint Venture between K12 INC and Middlebury

Filming in Hotel Bauen Language Learning Videos for K12 Inc and Middlebury College

It’s not everyday that we at San Telmo Productions are part of a new global enterprise, but the New York Times recently reported on a new online language program that we filmed videos for in March in Buenos Aires. Middlebury College, a small Vermont college known for its rigorous foreign-language programs, is forming a venture with a commercial entity to develop online language programs for pre-college students. The college plans to invest $4 million for a 40 percent stake in what will become Middlebury Interactive Languages in partnership with K12 Inc.

San Telmo Productions Web Page updated!

In the on-going quest to improve our SEO (search engine optimization) we’ve redone our home page in html (it used to be in beautiful but not so search friendly flash) so check it out, we’d love to get your feedback! We’re hoping that more people will be able to find us when they are looking for film production services, local production fixer or original video, tv and film content.

Home: http://www.santelmoproductions.com/ (same url as always, but new look)

Documentary Landing Page: http://www.santelmoproductions.com/documentary-argentina.htm

Production Services landing Page: http://www.santelmoproductions.com/film-tv-production-services-argentina.htm

SpanishLanguage Landing Page: http://www.santelmoproducciones.com/

New Show Reel 2010 for San Telmo PRoductions

See what we´ve been filming, in under 2 minutes, from documentary to commercials to fiction.

Another Happy Client of San Telmo Productions: Cineflix Productions

Latest Happy Client, Tara Anderson of Cineflix Productions, on using local production fixer services for “The Nazi Hunters”:

 

“I had the fortunate pleasure of stumbling upon San Telmo Productions when I was looking for a fixer in Buenos Aires, Argentina. From the beginning, Ginger Gentile and Gabriel Balanovsky helped with all of my prepping needs for the documentary series I am working on. As soon as the crew arrived, I received feedback from them that Gabriel had coordinated everything to ensure the shoot would go as smoothly and efficiently as possible. We had a few hiccups throughout our visit in Buenos Aires but with Gabriel’s quick problem solving skills, we managed to obtain the footage we required. Post filming in Buenos Aires, Ginger and Gabriel have continued to follow up on outstanding documents etc and they have helped me out immensely. I highly recommend utilizing San Telmo and their talents for any future potential films / documentaries / series etc that you may have in Buenos Aires.“

Tara Anderson, Production Coordinator, Cineflix Productions

To find out how San Telmo Productions can help you on your next shoot in Argentina as a local fixer or providing complete film production services, contact us at info@santelmoproductions.com or via the comments section below.

Production Fixing in Buenos Aires: Nazi Hunters

Today, Gabriel of San Telmo Productions just set out to do location scouting for “The Nazi Hunters” a documentary series produced by NextFilms of Toronto Canada. Often, foreign TV crews want to resolve things in the moment (hence, the term production “fixer” meaning you solve problems in the moment) but a lot of times it makes sence to do location scouting beforehand.

For example, for the show “The Nazi Hunters” which centers on the Eichmann abduction in Buenos Aires, a lot of the locations no longer exist or are not fully known. Trying to find a house that looks similar to the safe house where the Nazi criminal was held before being taken to Israel in the moment would take too much time.

A few days of planning can save precious hours during a shoot, and in this case the crew will be here for very little time.

Local Production Fixer Tip: You can save time or money, not both

Argentina offers a wide range of locations and tons of state-of-the art film and video equipment, but for you to take advantage of this in a cost-effective way, the key is giving your local fixer the most time possible. For example, there are tons of Sony Z-1 cameras in the market place and can be rented for a low price (as well as other cameras such as the Sony XDcam, Red 1, etc) BUT as there are so many productions going on they need to be secured well in advance to get a good price.

By extention, the same goes for setting up interviews. Argentines put a lot of empahsis on personal connections and contacts. If the local fixer can visit the interviewee a few times before the shoot, build trust and talk about the project, the subject will be more willing to participate than someone calling a day before and promising foreign TV exposure.