During the Tobaski weekend (7/2-7/3), I was involved in a big commercial shoot. It was for one of the two biggest internet companies called Qcell as it started 5G service for the first time in The Gambia. This project was joined by more than 4 production companies and individuals, counting about 15 people in total. Accordign to my boss, Gambian film production has not grown for a while because there has not been any collaboration between companies and people, mainly due to ego. However, this weekend, eveyone was there willing to collaborate and learn from each other.
My role was equipment supervisor and also assistant gaffer. More than 20 actors/actresses came and we decolated a part of the market in Banjul, the capital city. It was supposed to be a 2-day shoot. However, due to rain on the second day, it became a 3-day shoot and we worked from sunrise to sunset. It was definitely intense and it tired all of us. But at the end, everyone seemed happy and I was so glad to be a part of it. For a 1-minute commercial, we spent so much time and energy. Objectively, people might ask why we would do that. But I have seen the passion to put in just 1 minute, which makes people moved when finically watching the project.
It is a great feeling to share this experience with such cool people. It was a long weekend, but definitely I learned so much.
