The Side of Bali You Don’t See | BTS with the ProArt PX13

A day at home rather than a trip. Harry lives in Bali and this is the one video in the bundle about the island, filmed with Don Rob as second camera and framed as showing the side of Bali people don’t see — meaning the working routine of a resident rather than the beach clubs.

The substance is in three stops: a village temple he goes to instead of Tanah Lot and is welcomed into for nothing, the subak irrigation system in the rice fields beside his house, and his own account of why he lives here. Along the way Don Rob gives the clearest statement of their filming philosophy anywhere in the bundle.

Obs: this video is sponsored by ASUS and a large share of the runtime is laptop demonstration. The pages built from it record the travel, cultural and craft content only.

Key moments

• [00:18] Bali as the digital nomad capital — his phrase is that the job titles are as mystical as the island.
• [01:22] Rob’s workflow: edit immediately, and carry the machine into the field so you can check a shot while you can still reshoot it.
• [02:28] Muay Thai, his first lesson, taken instead of the usual morning gym or run.
• [03:02] Two cameras, two orientations — long form and vertical — because both are needed now.
• [03:02] Why the small camera: it is less confrontational to film someone with.
• [04:07] The economics of living here: activities at about a quarter of UK prices, and a trainer who comes to your house, which he says you couldn’t arrange at home at all.
• [04:07] An aside that some of the view will be gone in a few years.
• [04:39] Pasut Beach, north up the coast, 30 minutes from where he lives and never visited before. You can ride motorbikes on the sand.
• [07:41] Rob’s line on equipment: being a great photographer isn’t about how technical you get with the gear, it’s about standing in front of more interesting things.
• [08:16] The decision of the video — he skips Tanah Lot, which he expects to be very touristy, for a village temple where the people outside look friendly.
• [08:16] He is invited in by a man who introduces himself as Richard, and given an offering to carry.
• [08:46] Balinese Hinduism has far more holidays than most countries; Galungan is the big one, and Nyepi stops all activity for 24 hours.
• [09:17] A year living here and he had never done this.
• [09:17] Rob on editing: cut at least half, and keep the raw moments so you’re the same on camera as off it.
• [10:52] What he takes from it — gratitude for small things, and thankfulness for the bad as well as the good.
• [11:23] They were welcomed in and asked for no money at all.
• [11:23] Asked why Balinese people are so happy, his friend Daniel’s answer is that life is simple, you enjoy the work, and everything comes from God.
• [12:34] The rice fields by his house, and the subak system.
• [13:06] Why it works: the fields have different owners but the water is shared, and nobody steals it. His comparison is that in England the top field would take the lot.
• [13:06] Farmers as the backbone of Balinese society — and now the only people around doing hard physical work, since everyone else is a digital nomad.
• [13:38] The number one reason he lives here: a community that makes you a better version of yourself, and one whose negatives get far more coverage than its positives.
• [15:16] He interviews a farmer in the field — what he is doing, how the water is shared with fields that aren’t his, what he makes of the tourists moving in around him, whether he would sell, and what makes him happy.
• [16:29] Dinner at Sacred Grill, to make the point that Bali’s food scene runs to the luxurious as well as the cheap. Any cuisine, any day.
• [17:35] Daniel’s own recommendation for anyone visiting: Ubud, for relaxing.

Extracted pages

• Place: Bali
• Country: Indonesia
• Person: Don Rob