Zapruder’s on the frontline
Solo video journalists doubled as producer, reporter, camera and sound to capture stories about the Australian Federal Police.
- Published by David Knox
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- Filed under News
Video journalist Sam Clarke spent 3 weeks on the ground in Indonesia to film tonight’s people-smuggling story in the premiere episode of Nine’s AFP: Australian Federal Police.
Clarke was one of three video journalists working for the new factual series produced by Zapruder’s Other Films. Along with Shannon Jones and Marcus O’Brien, the three liaised separately with a member of the AFP media unit as the organisation sought to stop crime from reaching Australian shores.
Anita Jacoby, Head of Production and Development at Zapruder’s, says working as a solo journalist required multiple skills but resulted in extraordinary access.
“It’s not the 60 Minutes model where you’ve got a producer, reporter, camera and sound. These were a one-person band being all-things to all people,” she says.
“They were shooter, producer, camera, lighting, interviewing –they did the lot. At any given time we would get a call that an operation was going down and could a video journalist get to the Major Incident Room? So they would go for a briefing and then they might be off on a story and we mightn’t see them for a couple of weeks.
“I think what they’ve achieved is remarkable. Look at the calibre of the pictures, the quality of the sound, the interviewing.
“In the beginning people are reluctant to let you in, but as you get to know them the access becomes better.”
Gaining the trust of the AFP was Zapruder’s first hurdle, but after former Commissioner Mick Keelty was interviewed for Enough Rope conversations began to turn to the idea of an observational documentary.
“The AFP has been approached in the past by Seven and Nine to do a series with them, but had always been reluctant to reveal what was below their skirts. It took a long time before the AFP felt comfortable with Zapruder’s to allow us in and do the series,” says Jacoby.
“In the past we had done stories they felt had the necessary integrity that they were looking to partner-up with. It might sound a bit wanky saying that but it was quite critical that they were confident in the kind of work that we did and that it was a good fit for them.”
Filmed in more than eight countries including Indonesia, Colombia and the Philippines, there are two series resulting from the three video journalists embedded into major operations. The stories span people smuggling, bomb disposal, international drug syndicates, child sex exploitation and disaster victim identification.
Counter-terrorism was a particularly sensitive subject, which will surface in the second series.
The 8 part series will bring home the little-known detail about how Australian Federal Police are able to operate in foreign territories.
“Most Australians have no idea what they do, so Andrew and I used ourselves as litmus tests. If we, as reasonably-intelligent people, didn’t know what they did you could assume the bulk of Australia didn’t either,” says Jacoby.
Crucial to Zapruder’s integrity was retaining editorial control over the series.
“We discussed it but we didn’t hand over editorial control because we as program makers can’t do that. There were a lot of processes of showing them a cut of the story and getting feedback from what they thought was suitable,” she explains.
“We also couldn’t compromise current operations and had to be very mindful where there were criminals involved. They didn’t want any cases or officers compromised if they were undercover. We would pixellate undercover agents so their identities weren’t revealed.”
But in tackling an ambitious series about a sensitive, even cloaked, organisation, Zapruder’s hadn’t planned for the time it would take to complete. Filming took place from mid-2008 to mid-2010 with the series initially promised by Nine for 2010.
“A lot of the stories were tied up in the courts. But Andrew and I didn’t realise that if you’re working with policing authorities on large cases they can be tied up in the courts for 3-4 years. Some criminals have unlimited cash they seem to throw at defence lawyers that can keep them in the courts for years. Then you’ve got the appeals process on top of that,” says Jacoby.
“So I don’t think we, probably in our naivety, had any sense of how long these cases could take to clear.”
One of the show’s biggest cases was known as ‘Operation Glatton’ uncovering child sex exploitation. Classification of this episode will even require a later timeslot.
“Federal Agents in Sydney go online and discover a child in the Philippines is being abused. So they have to try and identify who is behind it and they discover a number of ‘boy-lover sites’ here in Australia and start tracking them outside Australia,” says Jacoby.
“As a result of a bust in Sydney it opens up other leads they can go and track overseas.
“It’s fascinating to see how one case here in Australia leads to a number of arrests overseas. That’s as a result of good policing work here.”
AFP: Australian Federal Police airs 8pm Tuesdays on Nine.
23 Responses
@Shonia it really doesn’t matter how lovely everyone involved is and how hard they work there is no excuse for tripe like that. Especially after more than two years lead up. Its just bad and lazy storytelling. It says a lot about those involved when crap like “Border Security” is a better constructed show. For all the self important rhetoric dished out there really wasn’t much to back it up.
Rather watch Porn to be honest…why has Denton resorted to prostitution?
Stick to what you’re good @ Denton…live TV!
Noone cares what methods they use but the point being that whatever they are doing is distracting & the show itself is not having the desired effect. If it is ‘good’ television, then their techniques should be invisible and the story content should shine. No doubt it is low budget television & looks even worse actually. LIke a a glorified home video. Sadly, in this respect it fails to tick all the boxes…although I was hoping for more from the same company that produces Gruen. Having said that, Hungry Beast is no box of chocolates either! Money isn’t everything, reputation is 8)
@Shonia. I have and continue to do so. There is no excuse for lazy story telling like that, no matter how lovely everyone working on the thing is. After a couple years of hearing about the marvelous and groundbreaking work being done on this show and listening to all the self important rhetoric by those involved to have that as the end result and as your first episode is fairly laughable. That review posted by Hawaii5O was spot on.
The crew have to work very quickly to get this footage documented. It is not rehearsed nor can moments be replayed. From first hand experience with Zapruder I can not say a negative word against their methods. To all those negative comments – try it yourself and see!
Boorrring!
Need anymore be said:
ctchannel.wordpress.com/2011/04/26/review-afp/
I thought it was quite good, and loved Jennifer Byrne narrating, such a lovely, interesting voice. Also watched Sea Patrol for only the 2nd or 3rd time last night and really liked it.
Rated well, probably because many, like me, were curious. Bitterly disappointed so won’t bother with it again. Be interested to see next week’s figures.
Sorry, very amateur looking. Could’ve done better with home video. Yeah what’s with overuse of the transitions…almost try hard as a last resort to look ‘cool’. But then I guess thats TV. It certainly isnt documentary quality. These guys need to do their homework & watch the other shows. Sadly, even shows like Border Security, Customs & send in the dogs are better quality. Ratings may have been good last night mainly because of all the buildup and curiousity, but interest will drop off and won’t last long & if it does, will be because ppl are interested in AFP not due to the production values itself which if anything detracts from the story. What’s going on with Denton? Must be desperate for the work!
Well I will have to eat my words. Watched it last night and thought it was very average. No real point of difference between this and the many other factuals.
I would have thought that Denton and his team would have put their considerable intelligence to work and produced a different show that looked at such policing work from a different angle.
Well I gave it a go and watched it. Gotta say it was one of the lamest first episodes I’ve ever seen. The people smuggling story was a total non-event and the other story, totally forgot what that one was about, was comical. It’s highlight was some dude reaching for his bum bag! For all the time and money spent you would think they would have come up with something more exciting. God help them if those are their top stories. Also how about a more original approach to making the thing. Tinting flashbacks blue, going to town with the bloody swish-pan transition and completely ridiculous voice over like “they may not have made it to the lucky country but from the looks of this boat they’re lucky to be alive” is just lazy. I call Fail, but it’ll probably rate well so what do I know.
By the way, where are the people who accused me of being biased against Nine last week? Michael?
Very sloppy work terrible picture quality it will flop disappointing after all the hype
wei ting – wow. chill, for starters.
secondly – had it occured to you that a 1 person team is also more agile and that VJs can often get into places and build better rapport with people/officers etc etc than a 5 person crew. That’s why Zapruders used vjs. trust me, cash was not the issue.
Correction: Should have read “3 weeks” not “3 months.”
And if they had a massive crew they wouldn’t have been able to keep them there for three months. It’s not feature film making it’s documentary I’m happy to forgive some average footage when it means the camera can get places a crew can’t. Subjects will behave differentlynif it’s just one person. Disgruntled superfluous porgessionals need to retrain and realise the world has changed.
@tmorgan96, if any show on Channel Nine will flop then how come Nine is the second most watched Channel in Australia?
Jacoby should be ashamed…Im sure the quality will be Real good with 1 person doing the job of 5. Not!.
This is a result of journalism schools teaching kids that a domestic $2000 camcorder, i.e Sony HDV series, can do the job of a $40000 XDCam.
HTF can 1 person do all of these requirements that should qualify for a “60 minutes style “production ? Shoot/frame/exposure , Audio levels and mic placement/spot SFX/buzz tracks (atmos to cover edits), lighting levels and equipment (ever tried to carry an assortment of flexi-fills, HMI’s/key and fill lights?), story content and direction on the go, legal/libel law breaches….
So instead of employing 15 people, Denton pays for 3…nice industry support there guys…And yes, I have already heard the responses like: “its the story that matters”, and ; “digital camcorders today are just as good as 16mmm film cameras”…yeah sure its the tools of trade and how you use them is what matters…..the proof is on the pudding.
Seems like a great show but it will get lost on channel nine. AFP sounds like a spin-off of RBT, or any other sort of channel nine show like send in the dogs, or customs. Would do much better on ten.
@Neil- Any show on Nine will flop. The End.
Still looks good.
Big fan of Zapruder’s Other Films. This is the first show in years that I have marked on the TV Guide for Channel 9. It would be interesting to see if the show “fits” with Channel 9 audience.