“Entropy and chaos are always upon us.”
Parts Unknown DP Zach Zamoni on shooting on locations around the world
A few days ago on a post about Charleston I mentioned an episode of Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown that was shot in South Carolina. So I think I’ll take part of this week to touch on how that show is produced. Zach Zamboni is director of photography on Parts Unknown and has won 3 Emmys on the show for Outstanding Cinematography for Nonfiction Programming.
Here’s a talk Zamboni gave where gives some glimpses into how that show is produced. At the 39 minute mark he mentioned that they shoot between 40 and 100 hours of footage for each one hour show—and probably average 60 hours per show. Each shot is shot between 4 and 12 days. It’s a super look into the technical and creative decisions that go into each show.
If you’ve never seen the Part Unknown it’s a fascinating show shot around the world with an emphasis on food and culture. All eight seasons are currently available on Netflix. The Charleston episode somehow covers both fine dinning—a cameo by actor Bill Murray— and The Waffle House.