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The practicalities of filming in Sumbawa were relatively easy when compared with the rest of the series.

There was a semi-reliable mobile phone network and a town with shops for supplies within 45 minutes drive of the village we were staying in.

The crew were especially grateful to be able to swap their usual tents for a basic but comfortable hotel.

One of the trickiest things was finding buffalo for all the athletes to use for the week.

Well-trained water-buffalo are prized possessions in Sumbawa which can earn their owners a good living in cash and other prizes.

Those with the best trained pairs were reluctant to allow novices to use them for fear they would be damaged and those which were completely untamed would clearly make the competition between the athletes unequal.

However, Hasim, Jamek and the owner of our hotel, who had herself been a champion trainer in her youth, helped us to scour the vast island for suitable pairs and even arranged for the production team to have a try for themselves.

I have never experienced such an exhilarating feeling as the water flies up in your face and you try to avoid getting your bare foot stamped by a half-ton hoof.

While the rest of the team were filming the athletes training to perfect their jockeying technique and bond with their buffalo, much of my week was spent working with the tournament organisers to arrange the final day.

We had to work out how to make positions for our fixed cameras stable in the knee deep mud without the risk of anyone getting an unexpected close up from off-course buffalos.

It also transpired that the rules varied between different villages on everything from when the judges start the clock (at the start line or when the jockey gets on) to what prize the shaman will win if his magic is strong enough that no one ever hits the doll.

It was essential to make sure that the athletes’ trainers, their families and the judges were teaching them the same thing to give the best chance on game day.

To capture the excitement of the competitors travelling at high speed, the director wanted to be able to film the races in super-slo motion.

This is normally done on sports events using specialist video cameras connected to huge servers to capture the huge volumes of data generated.

Even if we had the budget to bring an outside broadcast truck halfway across the world we would not have been able to get it across the streams, brushland and paddy fields to the tournament field.

The next best option was to use 16mm film running at very high speed through the camera.

This meant that the camera loader had to change film in a damp muddy paddyfield at lightning speed after every 5 runs or so to avoid missing any of the action!

Chris O'Donnell , Production Co-ordinator

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