One good thing about my job as cinematographer is that I get exposed to a wide range of viewpoints from many different organizations.

I just finished shooting a video installation that deals with the issue of exploitation. Video artist Paul Pfeifer will be installing this video piece at the opening of the new Wembley stadium in London that deals with that same issue of outsourcing cheap labor. Paul has a series of video works focused on professional sports events including basketball, boxing, and hockey. He digitally removes the bodies of the players from the games, shifting the viewer's focus to the spectators.

In this new work he replicated tens of thousands of spectators cheering at a famous world cup game between England and Germany in Wembley Stadium in the 1960s. In a statement about globalization, he is outsourcing the labor (in this case voices cheering) to the Philippines much as a call center would. Eight hundred people were seated in a theater in Manila and told to chant along with the bouncing soccer ball to things like, "Einz, tswai, dry, fear, zul!" and "Eng, lund." Their voices will come from speakers under the empty seats of the new Wembley stadium and the stadium's video screens will reveal that it isn't from a match in the '60s.

The people assembled in the Manila theater are being paid but are not told why they are doing this. Six cameras are moving around them and over them on cranes and dollies and a multitude of microphones are spread around. A director and a conductor prompt them from in front of the huge movie screen with the words projected. Each cheer has ten to twenty takes so by the afternoon some in the crowd are getting a bit rebellious shouting things or refusing to cheer. Basically the crowd gets exploited for the purpose of expressing exploitation.

Removing the participants from the intended purpose seems to be the point of exploitation here. They were paid, fed and comfortable sitting in an air-conditioned theater. But the rebels, rightfully so, must have felt alienated and possibly foolish not knowing what kind of clowns the video could make of them.

On a movie set, the situation isn't terribly different. I've never heard of a crew reading the script. They endure long hours, many takes and usually uncomfortable locations. On Indie films you find people not even getting paid. Film crews in general find it an opportunity to be working on a movie. There is a love of the craft that permeates out onto well run sets that makes the discomfort seem trivial compared to the group quest of making something important. Even the guy getting the coffee seems to feel an importance in his mission. Working on a well-run set is a truly inspiring place to be.

Hollywood movies are the only American product I can think of that is still manufactured in America. Modern manufacturing has split products into components which are themselves made from parts that can be made anywhere by anyone not even knowing what they will be used for. Last year I was in China shooting in a factory making the little black power supplies that seem to come with everything electronic. That little power adapter took a lot of people performing many simple procedures like winding wire on a plastic spool for the next person to put a piece of tape over going to someone who puts two of those spools together.

Well a movie has a lot of steps too, more than a power adapter. A 100-minute feature film has, let's say, a thousand shots, a hundred-page script at 10 shots per page. But unlike an appliance, the pieces of a film are made just for that film and can't be simply assembled from a lot of jobbed out shots. It also takes many people feeling empowered toward a goal to make a good one.

To think that life is supposed to be fair to everyone is a bit naïve. Paying little has little to do with exploitation in my book. Taking advantage of people comes from an intention of regarding your own needs above theirs. I have worked on digital Indie features that paid me with a tremendous sense of family and group achievement bringing to life something important. Sometimes the results suck but the experience is inspiring. I've shot on big budget features where the experience is equally gratifying. It's dangerous to generalize about types of films. The only times I have felt exploited is when my participation wasn't respected even though the pay was adequate.

The world is changing very rapidly and economic systems can seem upside down. It has been my experience teaching in this school that good values and respect should precede any project. Cebu is a very easy place to shoot in. Students get by with very small budgets for their projects because people here are very interested in being involved in student films and lending locations. I find no exploitation in a situation that benefits all parties involved. As long as we keep from disrespecting the public and alienating them, Cebu will stay a friendly place to shoot and a great place to go to film school.