Temujin Doran: When I have an idea for a film, I usually start out by composing music for it, but in a loose way, so it can still be changed later, when editing together with video. Then I just collect a lot of relevant footage, sound-bites and interview clips. Finally, I come up with a story, while editing sound and video simultaneously.

Temujin Doran: All music for these films was made on location – some of the tracks I created during the flight from London to Ottawa, and some in Resolute Bay, on my bunk-bed. All the tracks feature the same piano melody, which I recorded at home before we left.

You can listen to all the tracks I created, including some not used in the videos, at here

Temujin Doran: For filming, I use a Panasonic GH1 / GH2. It’s small and light, and lets you get away with much more than any big camera. It is also much more affordable. To tell the truth, a GH1 was all I could afford at the time. The image quality it provides is just fantastic. I found out that these cameras work way better than larger ones in low temperatures, even though I don’t know precisely why.

The con of filming with them is when you say you’re filming with a DSLR, most people expect you to be using a Canon. Personally I find Panasonic cameras better, although their form doesn’t exactly glow with professionalism.

Temujin Doran: When I was filming in the Arctic, the flip-out screen and view-finder of my camera started acting up, and eventually stopped working completely. Fortunately I could still film okay and, after about an hour of being back inside, both of them started working again.

The best thing you can do to protect your camera from the cold, is to let it gradually adjust to temperature changes, which helps prevent condensation on its sensor and electrical parts. So before coming in from the outdoors, I would wrap the camera in a small towel, put it in a zip-lock bag [take it inside and leave it the bag for about half an hour], and that seemed to work fine.