travelling with gear
 

Well, i'm doing a full shoot in another country, and there will be 5 of us traveling. I've never travelled out of the country with a full filming gear, including cameras, tripods, sound, etc. Its nothing too fancy, its for a documentary. I will be applying for a filming permit soon, but my question is, what sort of hassles will i be facing at the airports? SHoudl all this be carry on? Do we have to sign some forms that will allow us easy entrance/exit from country to country? ANy one wi/ any experience, pls help out. Thanks

Contact the Customs office at your departure Airport. They can provide forms that you list all your gear on. Once they process it, it provides you a record of what you left with so that returning with it won't be a problem.

so i shoudl only worry about the initial depature airport? what about international airports, do they charge duty on electronics like i will be bringing? Thanks again for the help

this is what i know - what rob said is right but you should check with the embassy of the country you are travelling to. if you do get permission to film in the country, with the proper paper issued, then not so much of a hassle when you enter their country. in most cases, they do not encourage foreign crew with equipment coming in to work on a tourist visa.

china for instance, you'll need a place a huge deposit when you wanna film there. some countries require you to provide an invoice on the value of the equipments you are travelling with. taxes (not refundable) will be charge accordingly. normally we just put in a very figure such as $100.00 for the camera and so on just to make live easier.

also, don't know whether its just me or not, but after 911, country with close relationship with the states tend to be very strict with all rulings which were very much relax then. i'm refering to our neighbour singapore.

good luck.

ed