Malaga airport

Being left alone is a bitter end to the trip. I have a commute at the other end, and it all feels a bit flat, returning to world where no-ones what you've experienced. It is quite depressing for young travellers I think. They travel around the world, have crazy adventures and then BAMM, back to normality. I think it is quite hard to adjust to.

Fortunately for me, I have 15 hours of footage to trawl through and make a documentary. The edit would eventually take two years, often left at the mercy of other projects, but also proving quite difficult in itself. The cahllenges include editing yourself and a country, trying to do justice to the experience, surrendering to subjectivity, and finding a 'tone' that works. It deserves a blog in itself, but it is simplier to say that for critics who feel that the film is in someway lacking, I recommend you try going on a journey yourself and compressing it into 85 coherent minutes. I tried to keep the random nature of the adventure, these four strange travellers taking an unusual journey. And I think it works...

Fes - Ceuta - Gibraltar

The journey out of Morocco is easy, except the customs, where we are fleeced. This kind of corruption is stereotypical of African customs - maybe unfairly so. But on this occasion it really annoys Paul, who is dead against the principle. It is a shame, as it momentarily leaves a bad impression of an otherwise fantastic trip.

We arrive in Gibraltar quite late, and get into a quaint British pub just before last orders. It is a fatal move for Paul, who has fish from the hotplate - and gets chronic food poisoning.

I don't get to witness this - as I have to fly back to teach my students back in Worcester.

Fes فـاس

Hassan, our guide in Fes, tells us that the Pope has died. I feel a little strange at the news - but life goes on, especially on a Sunday in the busy medina at Fes. It gets more exciting when Paul and I explore a little without Hassan, and we simply parade around the streets without any agenda.

It isn't as good as Marrakech in my opinion, but it is far more cosmopolitan. I even get looks from Muslim girls, which is great for a ginger bloke! Filming the medina is impossible, as there are so many crevices and you can get no impression of scale. So I hope that people can get some impression of it's fun and vibrancy just from the little sequence in the film.

Tarmac

We do a journey entirely on tarmac today, which is worthy of a mention itself. We speed up to Fez, where we set up camp and have an early night - tomorrow is a day without driving.

Erg Chebbi عرج شبّي

This is our only real escapade in the 'dunes' of the Sahara. It is a shame that the weather is a bit overcast, and Paul can't get his epic photographs, and we choose instead to shoot a quick advert for 'Jolly Ploughman'. Strangely enough, the pleasure of this weather is that the flies aren't so irritating, and I get a bit of a break from their buzz! I consider this the turning point now, as we are heading back into the more obvious direction of home, and there is a small sense of relief! I've really enjoyed the journey, but the desert is not my favourite place.

Fesh Fesh

One of the fundamental moments at which the group got frustrated at the video being filmed was when Martin got stuck in fesh fesh, a fine powdery sand. A problem with filming these sorts of events is that you aren't actually helping! It applies everywhere - I remember that I didn't end up in my brother's wedding photos because I filmed it. Similarly, people wonder how camera people can film wars and not get involved, but you can't... you are there to document - and failure to do so means that you are failing in your role.

I tried explaining this to the guys, but they weren't in the mood. However, they appreciated it when it came to watching the film, and subsequently enjoyed the sequence.

One frustration of mine is that I didn't film Ali's Palace at Merzouga. My batteries had died and the power converter had busted also, so I couldn't film our musical jam, or our berber tent! It is really annoying, as it would have been a great addition to the film. Paul later realised that the supply battery had gone dead in the car, and we hadn't broken the power supply after all. It was a shame I couldn't film Merzouga, but at least I could finish the film.

The Shop At Zagora

The experience of the shop at Zagora was another example of how crucial these sequences are for the film. The interaction in the shop was great, with Paul and martin taking the opportunity to 'do the shopping' in one swoop. I was never even pestered, having discovered that the camera acts as a nice little camouflage to sales people. They simply are not interested if your eyes are fixed upon an LCD screen, as they cannot engage you!

It is my experience in the evening that was left out of the final film. I began to feel quite claustrophobic, as I was used to living by myself, and I was the only one in the group who did so. I think it is fair to say that we all felt this way at some point, and it is nothing particularly unusual when you consider that we are four males, all 10 years apart, together for three weeks, and things can get a little similar after a while. It is important to remember that at this point, we had been together for quite awhile, and I think I was beginning to want a nice bath with a cold beer in my small flat.

The Girl Who Just Watched & The Men Who Watched With Her

When we wake up, we realise that we are being watched, by a young girl. Bare in mind we are in the middle of nowhere, and there is no-one else around. I think that it may be a trap, as Paul and I cheekily stole firewood from beside a village the night before. But she doesn't say anything, she just wanders around, looking at us. It becomes a little bizarre after a while, and we feel like we are in a zoo, and she is too shy to come up to us, so Paul and Martin walk towards her and sit either side, and watch the vans too. She gets the joke, and soon she is walking amongst us.

We are not there for too long though, as we head on to Zagora... which takes longer than expected. As Paul jokes in the film, I am not enjoying this at all! At least there is a swimming pool at the campsite, which feels incredible after days of being in the hot car with all the dirt.

I find later, when in Libya, this stretch wasn't that difficult after all.

Hissy fits

I guess that it is this part of the journey which I hated most, and was really difficult to edit. When Paul's shock absorber goes on the Algerian border, I childishly lose my temper. It is only in retrospet that I realise that, and it is harsh to have to admit. But my justification for including this sequence is two-fold. Firstly, it is the reality of the trip. We are in big machines which can breakdown, and you need to know how to fix them. Secondly, it is tempting to edit myself as a funny man with deep ideas (see the rest of the film), but it is important to reflect that I become stupid too, as it matches my personality.

This was the fundamental challenge that I encountered whilst editing this film and the reason it took me so long. In drama, you construct a character around a series of actions that try to express their realism. In documentary, people often become homogenised, and made to seem 'intelligent', or perhaps 'mad'. In character documentaries it is quite hard to shape the person you know, using the footage you have, that reflects the person's depth. Failure to do so makes people annoyed that you have misrepresented them. I hope, and believe, that Paul, Martin and Jack are all happy with the way they are represented, and that they feel I represented myself accordingly also.

Easter Sunday

This part of the film is titled 'The Day We Got Lost and The Man Who Broke Down'. As the title suggests, there was plenty of drama. This is the sort of day where things just pop up and change the scheme of things in your mind. I believe that the chance encounter with the Man Who Broke Down probably ranks amongst the most memorable experience in Morocco as it was such a privelege to be invited in for food and hospitality. And this isn't an experience that you can by, it is simply chance.

Put into perspective, if this event didn't take place, it would rob the film of a major part of interaction with the locals and the flashback at the Algerian border would be lost. More importantly, the video would simply follow us driving unhindered to the Sahara. This is why the event was so important in my experience and sequence was so important to the film. We got lost and were challenged, we overcame it, we helped someone else, and were rewarded. We the shower sequence starts and we sit by the fire, I think it is neatly reflects how we take stock of the day, and I really believe that a lot of our own characterisation happens at this point.

Camel Bones and Old Homes

After a journey through an evolving landscape, we end up setting up camp in a river bed near Ighrem. It is here that I find a giant bone that I decide to take back to England for the archaeology department at work. They are less impressed than I was at the time. They simply told me that it smelt bad and that I should throw it out.

There was also the wonderful old house which is featured in the film. I feel like a child when walking around tose kinds of places, as I imagine history has so many stories of this place. I imagine who has been here before me and who will come here after me. These deserted spaces are great for reflection, it was fun to put my life into context, and clarify my small position within the giant arc that is time and the giant space that is nature. I would love to pretend that this came about because it was Easter, but I think it was the feeling of being one week overland from home.

Good Friday

It is Good Friday and we spend the day heading further across the Atlas. Paul has a spark plug problem and for a while we are held up on the road to Sidi Farr. It is frustrating, as I film the event to illustrate the dependency that we have upon these vehicles, and the mechanical knowledge necessary to fix it. Yet I can't get it into the edit of the feature. The sequence was just a bit too technical, and I struggle to give it simplicity. I opt, in the edit, for the later sequence in which Martin gets stuck in the sand, as I felt that it is immediately a visual representation of the problem, and the subsequent solution.

Jbel Toubkal

We make a fairly easy ascent into the Atlas mountains and I begin to get excited that the landscape is changing dramatically, which is exciting for my feature. I certainly wasn't expecting snow in Africa!

I start to witness much more begging than before, and it immediately feels difficult. I felt harsh sometimes, cutting through a town in th 4x4 truck, throwing sweets and pens to children. I would be paranoid that these vehicles were such an obvious symbol of money and leisure, that we would attract crime. But we were incredibly safe, which was something that I wasn't expecting, especially as safety isn't the connotation that you perhaps think of with Africa.

مراكش Marrakech

I loved being in this city. The challenge here was to somehow capture its vibrancy, which was practically impossible. The problem is that the atmosphere is built by the smells, the sounds and the chaos that surrounds the medina. This is incredibly difficult to capture and my only solution was to include some footage of the souk, filmed at chest height. I believe that this, combined with the establishing shot from the restaurant, was the only way that I could represent the colours, sounds and activity of the city.

It was a diffcult sequence to cut for the film, as I ultimately used the restaurant as an oportunity to establish our interactions with one another as a group, and therefore the footage of us experiencing the town is marginalised in an attempt to drive characterisation further. It was ultimately a very hard set of decisions to make in the edit, and I tried to balance it with far more footage of the souk in Fez, which appears later in the film.

When and what to film?

As we go into Morocco I am presented with my first challenge - customs. It is notoriously hard at any African border and the perhaps the reputation precedes them among travellers. I remember being nervous just from hearing other stories.

As a rule, filming anywhere near officialdom in any country is a bit of a stupid idea. Filming does not help your situation with the hordes of surly looking officers, all of which oversee the confusion of the Ceuta border. So I refrain from filming on the way in... despite my hyper-sensitivity to the situation. There are some great shots of the chaos to be had - especially the holding bay for foot passengers, which is basically a cage.

I regretted the decision not to film at the border as soon as we are the other side, as I felt that it was a situation that would have been great cinematically and embodies the excitement of African travel in one sequence.

I make a resolve to film it on the way out of the country, but on that occassion I am told to turn it off, and we are subsequently prey to corruption, the other stereotype of African travel.

Outside Gibraltar

Once we are near Gibraltar I decide that I'll talk a little to camera in a kind of diary style fashion. I really loathe this type of thing as it has become quite common on television, but my pieces to camera ended up being quite integral to the feature. In my defence, I think that these illustrate my emotion at the time effectively, but I can honestly say that you cannot detach yourself from your ego at these moments and you become very aware of how you are presenting an image of yourself. This is particularly the case in the edit where you can clip out embarrassing parts. I have to admit that the representation of myself in the film is manipulated somewhat, making me appear a bit more casual than in real life. Each of those diary parts was about 10 minutes unedited, and included themes such as post-colonialism and perceptions of Arabic culture. This all seemed a little pretentious in the edit and I tried to squeeze these themes in more subtly elsewhere.

Shooting ratios in Spain

We head from Bilbao towards Madrid and camp a bit further in St. Elena. I film loads of footage at this stage which ultimately makes up seconds in the title sequence. I film about three hours of footage before we enter Morocco and it ends up being five minutes of the final film. That is a shooting ratio of roughly 36:1 which is too high. Overall, it ends up nearer 10:1, which is suitable. I found that I shot less towards the end as stories developed in my head and I envisaged what I needed. This is a major problem of embarking upon a project and not knowing what will happen. You end up using lots of stock, a situation that you want to avoid on a low budget project.

24 hours on a boat

There is not you can do with 24 hours on a boat. After my twentieth walk around the shop I go upstairs to spend the remaining 23 hours in the restaurant, cinema and deck. I'm thinking what to make of this film...

A 'Business Breakfast', and we are on our way

It is the morning after a bad night's sleep, and Paul and I have a 'business breakfast' at work. Quite why we had to invite the Chamber of Commerce to a breakfast on a Friday morning I have no idea. Anyway, Paul and I are sat as representatives of the Digital Arts Centre, the university's flagship development.

I'm halfway through a bacon roll when one woman from the Executive Committee invites me to stand up and say a few words upon a new scheme that is no-where near fruition. I'm completely taken back by this, and stumble through 3 minutes of mumbly buzz words about 'widening participation, encouraging entrepreneurship' etc. I'm bloody furious at being unprepared and dropped in it. Paul says I need a holday. So around lunch time we get changed, leave the suits in the office and set off.

We arrive at Portsmouth and meet Jack and Martin, our fellow travellers. We get on the boat for Bilbao and the adventure begins...

The plan

So somewhere around this point I decided that I would clear the time out of my diary, calculate how much I could give Paul and then head to Morocco.

But there is one problem - I don't drive. In fact, worse than that, I don't really like cars. I find there are far too many of them in this world, and too many people driving them for small conveniences. It seems morally reprehensible to drive in a city, especially when there is a perfectly decent public transport system. And many of the criticisms that the system gets are over-exaggerated.

Anyhow, this is away from the point. I don't drive so I'm not much use on a road trip. However, this doesn't bother Paul. He is quite happy with doing all the driving, he'd just like decent company...

I suggest something else. How about I go along as a documentary filmmaker? I was eager to expand my programme making abilities and this seemed like a perfect opportunity. It had the natural narrative of an overland journey to the Sahara, which would be visual. It also had the interesting character dynamic of me, my boss, a farmer and his son. Why not?

It was all very opportunistic, but it was a great opportunity!

Paul makes a deal

I hadn't really thought that much more seriously about it as work was busy and I was pretty skint. It wasn't until Paul brings it up again that the road trip seemed a lot more appealing.

"Just offer what ever you can afford and still come along" he suggested. This made my decision easier. I was saving money for my first film Peppermint (www.peppermintthefilm.com), and I was reluctant to spend more on an impromptu holiday. I still didn't confirm that I would definately go, as I was concerned whether I would get the time off work.

But Paul was my boss, and that didn't concern him too much.

How it all began

Usually when you come back from holiday you are all relaxed and ready to take on the world again. But when I stepped foot into my office I was tired before I had even begun.

I had just spent Christmas and New Year skiing with friends, cramped up in a small apartment in the Alps. I vowed that my next holiday would be more relaxing and spent in a far more spacious environment.

Just as I sat down to my desk I was interrupted by my boss, Paul. "Now probably isn't the time, but I wondered what you thought of a possible road trip to Morocco this Easter?"

"I'll think about it" I replied, dreading the idea.