Shooting The Breeze

Bye Bye Dubai

November 26th, 2008

Posted by Liam, in a dusty post-house.

After several weeks chasing around the world I find myself in dubai for a month of post-production. It’s the third time I’ve landed in Dubai since leaving London but it’s the first time I’ll actually pass through customs and set foot outside the terminal. After Kashmir and Lebanon I’m ready for the culture shock. I’m ready for hot water, electricity, a comfy bed and pint of beer, make that two pints of beer.

A lot of people say Dubai is like Las Vegas without the casinos or dancing girls; which is a bit like saying a glass of water is a like a rum punch, but without the rum or the punch. No, Dubai is nothing like Vegas. Take one part London’s Docklands and mix with three parts Milton Keynes, add searing heat and humidity, then give it a good sheikh and you’ve pretty much got Dubai. Don’t get me wrong and call me weird if you have to, but I actually like both Milton Keynes and the Docklands; okay, call me weird.

Let’s start again: Dubai is a great big, modern business park with huge, gleaming shopping malls and shiny, opulent, new hotels. There’s no oil in this part of the Middle East, so Dubai has been built with commerce in mind and as such, this town wants your tourist dollars and executive dollars. The high-rise condominium has practically been reinvented here housing all the foreign executives and rich young retirees in a vast array of penthouse suites and luxurious apartment blocks.

Dubai is a work in progress; stand on a street corner long enough and someone will put scaffolding up around you. Indeed, they should name the Crane as the national bird of the United Arab Emirates, there’s that many of them here towering above each building site. One thing is for sure, Dubai will be a great city… when it’s finished.

The post-house where we’re editing is like a mini Dubai, not because it’s modern and shiny but because it’s a building site. A team of workers armed with drills and hammers are renovating the office and they chose the day I started my edit to start ripping out the ceilings and gutting the rooms next door to our suite. Oh well, sa la vie, as they say in France; bollocks, as we say in England.

Lucky for us our edit is reasonably straight forward as we’re blessed with a lot of great footage. The only hard job is going to be deciding which shots wont make it into the final cut and for once I feel like Alex Ferguson deciding who to leave on the bench.

After two long weeks editing, we’re done and our cut is sent off for approval. For the past six weeks I’ve either been shooting, traveling or editing and now I wait and wait and wait. Lots of people have an opinion on the film, too long, too emotional and we brace ourselves for the reedit, which is all normal during an approval process. I then find out these people haven’t actually seen the film and they’re simply trying to second guess the Emir’s response when he sees it. Hokum!

After nearly two weeks sitting around not knowing what on Earth is happening I receive a call late at night from my producer, Stuart. It appears Haytham (our client) previewed the film with the Emir and most of the Government ministers. The film was really well received, grown men cried and were filled with pride. The film did its job, like we knew it would. Suddenly, those people who told us it was too long were now ringing up to offer their praise and to ask for extended versions of the film. Funny that…

After a month in this town and over eight weeks living out of a suitcase it’s time to go home. I’ve been away so long I even miss the cat! I’ve three days left in Dubai before catching my flight back to Blighty. Three days would normally be long enough for a visit to Dubai. You can sample everything Dubai has to offer in three days or less. I’ve sampled and resampled everything over these last few weeks. I’ve even got use to the heat.

Lately, I’ve been dreaming of the cold, damp weather I normally complain about back home. I’ve been craving a decent roast dinner for weeks, but above all I can’t wait to see my family. It’s hard being away from home for so long, but it’s also hard on those you leave behind. My children have had no father and Adrianne has had no husband for two months and in many ways we’ve all been on this long journey together.

I left London to do a job, not visit somewhere or someone, but to do a job. It’s been tough at times, exhausting, it’s been challenging and occasionally dangerous, but it’s been rewarding and memorable too. In three days it will be over, journeys end. I’ve travelled twice around the globe, been to places you’d never visit and met inspiring people that you wouldn’t normally meet. It’s been a privilege at times to walk where we have walked and see what we have seen but the greatest thing for me will be to walk in through my front door and see the smiles (hopefully) on my family’s faces because for me, this journey has been, from the very first day, a long way home.