Have Cameraphone, Will Travel: Interview with Fortylove.tv
Recently, Dubai transplant Adrianna Tan asked her Pakistani cab driver how he spent his weekends.
What began as mere Urdu practice ultimately produced an adventure-hungry traveler's golden ticket: top secret Friday night fish market wrestling! And so, armed with her mobile phone (read: camera), Adrianna captured a local event absent from standard travel guides and shared it online with the world. Follower fascination ensued.
With her friend May Yee, Adrianna has embarked on a mobile travel experiment of sorts. Called Fortylove.tv, their brainchild consists of weekly videos chronicling their adventures in and around London (May) and Dubai (Adrianna). Each produces one video per week - shared as a "postcard" to one another - for twenty weeks, culminating in 40 offbeat, intimate and often hilarious stories told through digital and mobile technology.
We pulled them away from pancake racing and rickshaw pimping to talk life, (forty)love and technology.
Next Great Thing: What was the inspiration behind Fortylove.tv?
May: We travel a heck of a lot. And we've always been interested in blogging - way before they were even called blogs. Fortylove is the natural combination of our love for travel and mobile technology.
Adrianna: When I was traveling around India a lot, I found myself among some really awesome people and places and wanted to share it. I began taking video footage using my Nokia N95, then going back to edit them into little 'shorts'. They were very raw, but people liked them, so I got the idea that I wanted to do something that blends video, travel and podcasting.
Next Great Thing: Why did you decide to document your travels with your mobile camera phones instead of digital cameras or video cameras?
May: Mobile camera phones require a lot less planning and people are just less afraid, less conscious of small cameras. If you bring a huge camera somewhere, people want to know who you're working for. If you use your mobile camera phone, you get to go in and shoot it as it happens. It's a lot more instantaneous.
Adrianna: The sheer tininess of these cameras also let us go into 'stealth mode'. If I was shooting a scene in the middle of a 'souk' [traditional market] in the Middle East, people just think I'm a tourist, not an intimidating journalist or filmmaker. While you do compromise somewhat on quality, we get a lot in return. You're almost 'not there', and you can be right in the heart of the action without everybody looking at you and your cameras and booms and stands.
Next Great Thing: What kind of handsets do you use? How are they working for you on this project?
May: Well I have a Samsung and Blackberry. I was using a Nokia N95, but we both use a Sanyo Xacti [for Fortylove.tv] It's pretty small and cheap and lets you shoot in stealth mode.
Check out the ladies' latest adventures at fortylove.tv. If you're lucky, they might even send you a postcard.
