On the sand overlooking the water, swaying coconut filled palm trees are silhouetted against a picture postcard sunrise. This sounds like the perfect backdrop for a big Hollywood movie, but in actuality, it is the home of the International Academy of Film and Television.

Sharing a home with Bigfoot Entertainment on the Southeast Asian resort island of Cebu, Philippines, the school is a unique intertwinement of an educational facility and a state of the art production environment. On any given day you can see a student production shooting in one corner of the compound and a feature motion picture shooting on one of two NC-17 sound rated stages. I was one of three Hollywood mentors who started teaching at the school when it opened in 2004. This is an extraordinary opportunity for students who want a career in camera to learn and absorb as much as possible in one of the most unique learning/production environments in the world.

The capabilities to shoot almost any kind of production you can think of are here. There are four 35mm Arrifl ex motion picture camera packages, three Sony F-900 CineAlta camera packages, one RED camera package, a telescopic crane, state of the art Dolby mix theater, full foley and ADR studio, and several edit bays--the works. Since my start with IAFT, I have come back to Cebu three times as a Mentor and Bigfoot Entertainment consultant. I have taught courses in cinematography, high definition, and camera operating. In 2004 I helped train over 200 cameramen at ABSCBN, the largest television network in the Philippines.

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(Reprinted with permission from Camera Operator Magazine)