Oyster Slurp

The Ceviche Project takes its audience on a gastronomic tour through Mexico City in the virtual food experience, ‘Oyster Slurp’, which highlights tasty seafood and the best places to get it. The video features everything from seafood marketplaces to high-end fine dining, a little something for everyone’s palette.

Alejandro Marin Puente, the filmmakers behind the mouth-watering video and owner of Studio Jungla, spoke with the Travel Video Awards about his career creating travel content.

What can you learn about a different place through their food?

AMP: “Gastronomy is one of the biggest tourism drivers nowadays. People travel to taste new cuisines or even to try a specific restaurant. It makes sense because gastronomy is a huge part of every culture—it develops and evolves with the ingredients that are available locally; it is part of the colors, aromas, and textures of the places. It is also a part of the history. You can learn a lot about a place and its people through their food.”

How do you compensate for technical limitations on the road?

AMP: “I think that nowadays there are no technical limitations for filmmakers. Our tools have gotten so flexible, small, and accessible that you can produce professional looking content with just a backpack of equipment. I mean, 10 years ago you would never imagine that a single person could easily get professional aerial shots from a remote control, and now we take [such shots] for granted saying things like ‘he used his drone too much’.”

What Equipment did you use on this shoot?

AMP: “We used the Sony a7 with Sony FE lenses 16-35mm and 50mm, plus a DJI Mavic and Ronin. Simple and nimble.”

Can you explain your process in choosing locations to highlight in your video?

AMP: “I always put more emphasis on location that anything else in my videos. I believe it is the most important thing to consider. For this video, I chose locations as if I was shooting fashion photography. I looked for restaurants with great interior design and urban areas with monuments. Unfortunately, there were a couple of things we could not include in the video. We went to Casa Barragan, which looks amazing, and to the Luncha Libre to add some contrast, but we were not able to take out the camera.”

Any gear you currently can’t live without? What’s always in your go-bag?

AMP: “Portable LED lights! There is never enough lighting. I use the Westcott Ice lights—they are great and portable.”

What tips would you give to an aspiring travel filmmaker?

AMP: “Reach out to Tourism Boards and Hotels, there is a huge need for quality content. If you are starting out make exchanges, free trip for content. Before you know it you will be charging.”

How do you find your next project?
AMP: “I go to a lot of tourism events and try to make myself present with as many industry people as possible. There is always someone with a project, so if you keep yourself involved all you have to do is raise your hand. But, you have to go beyond just sending generic emails in hope that they will catch someone’s attention.”

To someone starting out in travel filmmaking, what is the one piece of equipment every beginner should have?
AMP: “Batteries! And a good compact stabilizer. You won’t find a lot of opportunities to charge your equipment, and a stabilizer will make your content look professional. For the stabilizer I recommend two: Zhiyun-Tech Crane v2 3-axis, and Glide Gear 100 Geranos 3-axis.

DJI Mavic Drone

Sony A7

Sony Lens 16-35mm F2.8 GM