Noah Marshall

in Bogotá, Colombia
Noah Marshall, a director at The Sweet Shop, recently spent a fortnight in the Colombian capital, Bogotá, shooting a short film for Schweppes.

Day 1: We land in Bogotá in a thunderstorm. It's absolutely pelting down and I can't see anything out of the plane window. I'm a bit freaked out and when I glance at Ian McCarroll, my DP, he looks equally alarmed. We stumble off the plane and into the production van, and drive off into the tempest.

During the 45 minutes it takes to get into the centre of Bogotá, Warren 'Zulu' Keuning, our line producer, gives us a condensed version of Colombia's recent history. It sounds as though the country has undergone a lot of change - much of it for the good - with the government holding peace talks to find an end to the long civil war.

We start scouting as soon as the rain clears and begin to get a good look at the city. We also start to feel the affects of being 2,600 m above sea level. It feels weird - as though I've become suddenly asthmatic. Tony Whyman, my producer, thinks that having a cigarette might help; it doesn't.

We have come to Bogotá to shoot my short film entitled Consequence. I need locations that show a good contrast between rich and poor and, like many cities in South America, Bogotá has plenty of those. Being situated high in the Andes, the city also has a great geographical look to it.

Day 2: We head off to scout locations. It's really difficult as there are so many places that could be used, and I shoot hundreds of stills, yet barely scratch the surface. The strange thing about being at this altitude is that the temperature is only about 20 C, even though we are right on the equator. The weather patterns are like those in the tropics, with huge downpours followed by dry spells in quick succession, which makes for dramatic skies.

We eat the first of many steaks on this trip. There is a Colombian saying that's used when something is going wrong: 'This is as bad as a day without meat." Not surprisingly, the vegetarians amongst us get the odd raised eyebrow.

Day 3: We start looking for a house to use in the opening scene of the film - the sort that is owned by a very wealthy individual. The houses we see are huge, as we want one with large grounds, but they tend to be very tacky, drug-lord kinds of places. I want something with a bit more style and it also needs to be very modern as this scene is meant to be set in the present day. We see one up on a hill, and after a lot of negotiation we are allowed to shoot there. Needless to say, big dogs and armed staff seem to be the norm.

Day 4: We begin casting callbacks. It's a surreal experience, to say the least, with everyone was speaking Spanish while I play the smiling mute behind the desk. My film is about a man who reflects on something that he did in the past. It was something bad, but it gave him his start and now he lives a prosperous life. He feels guilty and remembers the event that changed everything, so I need a cast for the present day as well as the past.