John Shelde in Haiti

 

Haitian Life: Notes from Location Manager John Shelde

Location Manager John Shelde in Haiti

John Shelde has been a Location Manager for over 17 years working in Film, Television and Commercials. He splits his time between living in Southern California and Northern California ... the best of both worlds.



I recently had the opportunity to work on a Documentary Pilot project for The History Channel. Our subject was Tramp Freighter "ship extractions" and a captain who conducts this business in the Caribbean Sea. His job is to repossess ships that have been illegally seized, stolen, or detained in foreign ports. The third world ports in Haiti and the Dominican Republic were our backdrop.  We spent 4 weeks filming in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, in and around some of the most dangerous ports in the world. We filmed our hero ship at sea as well as from the air. I think I utilized every skill I’ve acquired in close to seventeen years of being a Location Manager while working in these conditions.


Through our local Haitian guide we arranged a payment of $35.00 USD to the gang lord at the port slum of Cité Soleil. This bought us one hour of “guaranteed” safety. Amazingly, as we drove though the thousands of people at the port, a figure would appear out of nowhere, tap on the hood and guide us through the masses. He would disappear, and another would take his place, tap on the hood and guide us through. We had one hour to shoot our shipboard interviews with the port as a backdrop. Exactly one hour later we were escorted back by the same method. At no point was any attempt made by the escorts to cover the .45’s in their waistbands.  $35.00  in petty cash well spent.

Rolling tape at the port  Port-au-Prince

Our ship captain, an American, has been granted land to build a house outside of the Port of Miragoâne. As he does with ships he brings to port in Haiti, he had a Voodoo ceremony on the property. He doesn't believe in Voodoo himself, but half of the people in Haiti do believe in it. Once they know the property or the ship has had a ceremony, they will not steal or do anything to chance a Voodoo reaction. He reasons the ceremony gives him a 50% opportunity to avoid any shenanigans with the locals and he has a Smith and Wesson to deal with the other 50%.

Voodoo Ceremony

Being up close and witnessing the struggles the people of Haiti face on a daily basis proved to me again that the more I travel the less I know. I expected disease, poverty and filth. That was the evident part of the trip. But to watch a beautiful Haitian woman walking through, an area of rancid trash and abundant despair, with a 20 lb. bag of rice balanced on her head, and all the while singing a wonderful song…very much at peace with her surroundings and her life. That was more than I expected to find. I learn again.