Director of Photography, Filmmaker and Editor Hopi Chapman

Christopher Robin Hopi Boomerang Chapman is his full name but he is normally called Hopi Chapman. We met Hopi on Facebook some years ago and later alive at the #RIO2016 Olympic Games. This Director of Photography, Filmmaker and Editor works in the South of Brazil at Flow Filmes. But his heritage is from Amsterdam, the Netherlands. He spoke very well english, so we invited him for our blog to listen to his adventures and projects in Brazil and elsewhere.

BB: How long have you been working in the TV business?
Hopi: Firstly I studied Cinema and TV at the University of Amsterdam. Then I worked as a trainee for a local TV station called Belissima TV, doing script, camera, directing and editing of short videos. Thereafter I worked two years for the Amsterdam TV station “AT5” as a cameraman for a sports program. As a freelancer I filmed and edited a lot of commercial videos, for the perfume chain Douglas but also a video about the national liberty day, and a music event in Amsterdam visited by fifty thousand people.

Hopi commenting a documentary at the screening 2014

I have been In Brazil since 1999. For one year I worked as a cameraman and editor for a fashion program and an extreme sports program. Then I worked for two years for an advertisement agency, making commercials, filming, editing and directing. Here I learned a lot about how advertisement works. I made a lot of political advertisements too, participating in six political campaigns as a cameraman and an editor. And I started to give editing lessons in Adobe premiere and After Effects. The last 7 years I made a lot of documentaries funded by the state and the Brazilian government.

Making a film for an organization of bankworkers and their vacations in the south of Brazil, RS, SC, PR and SP

BB: Is communicating in the english language important for your job?
Hopi: Working in Brazil, mostly I do not use English although I did a few important jobs with Dutch and American people when English was fundamental to do the job. Speaking English is important in our business.

BB: On location at international events, is it difficult for you to talk with Brazilians ?
Hopi: It is not difficult for me to speak with Brazilians because I have lived for 19 years in Brazil. I speak Portuguese very well.

BB: Did you see a growth past years in international events in Brazil?
Hopi: Yes I saw a growth of international events like the Olympic Games and the FIFA World Cup soccer.

BB: What did this mean for your business?
Hopi: I worked on both events. During the World Cup I worked for a Dutch television company in Porto Alegre and the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro for Connecting Media who produced live webcasts for Facebook USA. It was great to be part of a crew that promotes these events to a lot of people.

BB: How was your job at the Olympic Games 2016 in Brazil?
Hopi: It was a nice job and great experience working together with Connecting Media for a company like Facebook and NBC. We had an international crew of Brazilian, American, Australian and Dutch crew members and it worked very well together.

Camera for live webcast facebook at Olympic Games 2016 for ConnectingMedia

BB: Do you work besides Brazil also in other regions on the planet or do you have plans for that?
Hopi: I worked in a lot of places in Brazil, Uruguai, the Netherlands, Germany and Spain but for now I have no plans to work in other countries.

BB: Are there any surprising challenges you had at events past years?
Hopi: At the Olympic Games we had the challenge to transmit by Facebook interviews with atletes, comentators and special guests. And it went great. One challenge I have this year is making a tv series for TV Brasil and university tv channels, called Culturando. It is about young people of the periphery who work together in groups, creatively and productively.

Filming and directing a documentary about the painter Karin Lambrecht

BB: You edit on Final Cut Pro. Do you still use it or did you update to Final Cut Pro X, Adobe Premiere, Davinci Resolve or AVID?
Hopi: I was only editing on Final Cut Pro for the last 10 years, but this year, after upgrading, my Mac did not accept it any more. I am using and Premiere CC a lot and I like it very much. It exceeded my expectations.

BB: Do you plan to learn other solutions, for example AfterEffects, Fusion or Apple Motion?
Hopi: I also use AfterEffects and give lessons in both After Effects and Premiere CC nowadays.

BB: Did you attended Exhibitions this year like SET EXPO, Church Expo, IBC or AES Brasil?
Hopi: This year I went to the Rio Content Market exhibition. It is a good opportunity to sell programs, documentaries and content to Brazilian and foreign TV Stations. There are people from all over the world.

Directing and filming a documentary about a group of artists, called Nervo Óptico that is shown on channel Arte 1, TV//RS and TV Justiça

Productions made by Hopi Chapman - Flowfilms:

Kaingang Wisdom
This documentary (Full HD, 26 min, 2015) shows the lifes of two ninety-year-old kaingang Indians, one living in the city and the other in the countryside. (Produced by Flow Films)

Tags: Olympic Games, WC2014, Worldcup, Rio2016, Broadcast, Video Edit, Videoedit, Post Production