“Don’t offer me money for Hopper Bopper, we realize everybody is in debt, please no sympathy we are okay.”
Category: Video Production
Frontline Reporting: Cheryl Angel Leads Women Procession for Silent Prayer to Backwater River Bridge.
Cheryl Angel, a Sicangu Lakota tribe member who has been at the Standing Rock camps since April, said she has personally seen what appear to be indigenous artifacts in the line of construction and that she believes the pipeline operators have intentionally hidden discoveries of sacred sites and knowingly destroyed them. 
“It’s a tremendous blow to our history. They are trying to erase our existence,” said Angel, 56. “That’s a blatant disregard for our culture. That hurts when someone purposefully tries to erase you as people from … the land we’ve occupied for centuries.”
Angel said she suspected the state might be taking action against the company simply because there is now international attention on the conflict.“They have no choice now, because the world is watching.”
Frontline Reporting: Standing Rock, Amnesty International Monitors Turned Away by Mandan Police
Police have responded to protesters in some instances with pepper spray, bean bags, and other controversial means, and used private security staff with guard dogs in one confrontation with protesters that included women and children. Amnesty International also reports that those recently arrested have reported being strip searched and forced to pay bail for minor offenses.Members of the media and legal observers have also been arrested or charged with minor offenses.
“People here just want to stand up for the rights of Indigenous people and protect their natural resources. These people should not be treated like the enemy. Police must keep the peace using minimal force appropriate to the situation. Confronting men, women, and children while outfitted in gear more suited for the battlefield is a disproportionate response” – Eric Ferrero, director of communications for Amnesty International USA.
Standing Rock, North Dakota
Dear Friends in the Los Angeles area,
On November 16, 2016 I will be leaving Los Angeles for Standing Rock, North Dakota to document (video and still images) the protest of the North Dakota Access Pipeline. I will check in with the Tribal Council in Fort Yates, ND and drop off donated goods. If you would like to donate items for the people of the Sioux Nation let me know I am happy to take them with me. Beyond my cameras and audio gear the space in my Kia Sorento is limited but I do have a roof rack. If by chance you have extra 9volts batteries, AA batteries and AAA batteries I could sure use them for the production.
Thank you all for your support. – Dave Banks
Life in the City of Angels: Artifacts of the Past
OMG ! Recently while tossing out artifacts of my past I came across this old advertisement for Bexel equipment rental. The camera which I’m holding became the game changer for broadcast television and gave me the world.
This is the back story of how I became the poster child for Bexel. During a transient stint in the early 80’s with ABC Network in Hollywood, asked by an ABC Executive Producer to come up with a better way of shooting video on location that would not disrupt her daily operation in the studio, have economic benefits and an incentive for more field production for her show. I presented in a show-and-tell my idea to the Executive Producer, fellow union members and ABC management. Next thing I knew KA-POW! WHAM!
In one fell swoop, I was brought up on charges by my very own union (NABET Local 57) the next day for introducing a new camera system called the Betacam (which was only available at Bexel at the time) I had stepped on the toes and embarrassed ABC management for lack of imagination. I was guilty of being the pipe bomb in their midst for embracing new technology that would ultimately change broadcasting forever. The Executive Producer loved the idea but in the eyes of the union, ABC management and with great resentment from my peers I had disrupting the status quo, I had passed the point of no return. So, I left my comrades behind with the shrapnel of old ideas. It was that camera, the Betacam which became my fast-pass to the world.
Maybe it wasn’t a coincidence that I had just finished reading M Scott Peck’s book, The Road Less Traveled. “Rules are made to be broken. Be bold enough to live life on your terms, and never, ever apologize for it. Go against the grain, refuse to conform, take the road less traveled instead of the well-beaten path.”
Life in the City of Angels: L.A. Riots 1992 Tour
April 17, 1993, Saturday, 2:30 a.m. I am fully clothed and laying in bed watching Sting in the science fiction movie “Dune,” while eating Girl Scout peanut butter cookies and drinking coffee. I am in a hotel room at the Wyndham Garden Hotel in Commerce, California along with off-duty San Jose detectives and ex-Navy Seals, all of who have been hired as freelance and assigned to me as bodyguards, and all of who are armed to the teeth. A Seal will drive our bulletproof Crown Victoria that is being rented by the production company for a thousands bucks a day, and one of the detectives will ride “shotgun.” Our team has been issued flak jackets, Kevlar helmets, pepper spray and Israeli gas masks. Ironically, the instructions for the gas masks are in Hebrew and none of us can reads Hebrew. Unlike the first intifada – the L.A. Riots of 1992 – 
I now have an official backstage pass to the “L.A Riots Part 2-1993 Tour.” I’m embedded with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Special Enforcements Bureau, in a platoon made up of thirty-six Sheriffs Deputies traveling in sixteen marked patrol cars and one “armored hostage rescue vehicle.”
The Call…..
3:15 a.m. The call comes in to prep the gear, check out and travel to a new location. Crap! Dune is not over and I will miss the best part where giant sandworms appear out of the desert floor and destroy the Harvesters that mine for the Spice on the planet Arrakis. In the hotel lobby I am informed that the production company has had second thoughts and now feels the thousand-dollar-a-day bulletproof car is too expensive. They do not want to be held responsible for any damage to it. Looks like I will be riding in a Deputy Sheriff’s patrol car.
Platoon Rendezvous…..
8:25 a.m. We have rendezvous with several other platoons of uniformed deputies in what appears to be an abandoned hotel parking lot. Some deputies are relaxing in their vehicles, others are outside, pacing nervously. It is here that I hear the verdict and sentencing of the defendants in the second Rodney King trial as I’m searching for a place to get some coffee. Several of the patrol cars have their trunks open with portable radios tuned to the KFWB all-news station. The newscaster’s flat voice echoes across the parking lot along with news of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a nuclear accident in Russia, a fire fight with the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas and a nifty review of Billy Crystal hosting the 65th Academy Awards and the shows ratings.
9:20 a.m. The platoon relocates to a substation located at the City Hall Complex in Lynwood. 
Falling Down For A Meal……
11:25 a.m.This is our first sit-down meal since Thursday night the 15th of April. “Today is Saturday the 17th of April” I think. I’m sitting in a chair at a table where both have been bolted to the floor. This is Angelo’s Burgers on Atlantic Boulevard in Lynwood. I am getting ready to eat a breakfast burrito, in the company of fifty deputy sheriffs in this small burger joint. After the meal we talk with the deputies and drink coffee when I notice a homemade sign made of cardboard and a magic marker on the counter where you place your order. “The Movie ‘Falling Down’ with Michael Douglas was filmed here on May 12th, 1992.” It was here at Angelo’s that the famous scene where Michael Douglas’ beleaguered character is trying to order breakfast from a fast-food chain called “Whammy Burgers” was filmed. The menu has changed from breakfast to lunch and Michael wants breakfast not lunch. In short, the movie is about a man in L. A. who goes bonkers. It’s ironic that we are sitting here at Angelo’s with deputy sheriffs having breakfast waiting for a city to go bonkers.
Saturday 2:15 p.m. It is not the result of the announcement of the court’s verdict that sends us racing at top speed from Lynwood to an amusement park north of Los Angeles. Apparently a scheduled rap concert has been oversold by a thousand tickets or so. As expected, some of the fans were upset, and out of frustration windows were broken at restaurants across the street from the entrance to the amusement park.
I love Scottish Food……
4:35 p.m. The deputies, our crew and assorted bodyguards are in a holding pattern at the upper entrance to the park. Everyone is hungry. With my supply of Atomic Fireball jawbreakers, Balance Bars and gum gone, the production company finally breaks down and decides to get McDonald’s quarter pounders for everyone. Half way through the order, McDonald’s runs out of quarter pounders and we end up with Happy Meals for most of the crew and seventy plus deputies.
7:46p.m. The sun has set. I tag along with a squad of seven deputies, taking in the sights and sounds of the park. I wonder if we can stop long enough to get a corndog. Occasionally families and kids looking for a way out of the park stop us and ask for directions. None of our group are familiar enough with the park and we are not much help in answering their questions. We have not been in the park longer than fifteen or twenty minutes at the most when there is an atmospheric change in the night.
Jurassic Park…..
There is now a lull in the sounds. The normal sounds of a carnival atmosphere where laughter and excited screams of kids on a wild rides are mixed in the night air have diminished. There is something different happening here. There is a different kind of screaming now. A disconcerted screaming that builds and continues until all laughter has been swallowed by the night. A swelling of emotions rises from my stomach and settles into my chest and heart. My instincts are telling me something that I don’t yet consciously perceive. It is at this point that time becomes a series of different scenarios in slow motion and other craziness in “quick time”.
Like locusts swarming upon a field of grain, kids and families are pouring out of nowhere, surrounding us. The deputies react by creating a circle in the middle of a concrete walkway. If you were to look down from overhead, you would see a circle of tan helmets surrounded by a sea of bodies. A sergeant is in the middle trying to hear the two-way radio above the human sounds. My eye is glued in the Nikon’s viewfinder, and the cameras motor drive whines with click-click-click-click-click. The framed faces are growing with expressions of dread, concern, and confusion as the volume of pandemonium rises to a higher decibel.
Somewhere in the park ahead of us panic strikes like lightning and like the delay of thunder, so is my reaction and that of the seven deputies. We catch the first swell of the crowd seeking safety. It is a stampede of hundreds of people coming right at us, and we are a mere wall of eight people. The noise level of crying, shouting and screaming rise again to a decibel level higher then an AC/DC concert. I hear a deputy shouting ” Was that gunfire ? Was that gunfire?”
The mob recedes and confusion fills the void. Again gunshots or firecrackers are set off somewhere in the park ahead of us and a larger tidal wave of families in sheer panic descend upon us. Unlike the 1992 riots I covered nearly a year ago to the day- this had the element of the vulnerability of families caught in the middle of a total breakdown of civil order. They have become a captive audience for Mad Hatter’s Wild Ride and Freak Show. A group of teenage boys and girls run up to us screaming that a park security guy is getting beat up behind us. We turn but can’t see anything but a wall of humanity one hundred yards deep. 
More deputies arrive out of nowhere and we make our way across a sea of glass shards, white plastic coat hangers, price tags and paper images of cartoon characters. A helicopter flies overhead with its powerful spotlight shining down on the throngs. The beam creates a massive shadow from the tree limbs and scaffolding which slowly crawls over the entire area like a black web.
A Table, Chair and a Chef……
Passing by a restaurant I notice that the doors are cracked I peer into the darkness and silhouetted in the foreground are chairs, tables and serving trays stacked on top of each other. Beyond the barrier, a young man dressed in his chef’s whites stares at me with a dazed and anxious look. I can only assume that he has chosen to stand sentry with fire extinguisher in hand as the world outside goes for a roller coaster ride into a momentary lapse of sanity.
The park is now quieter as the deputies contain and prod the visitors to the main entrance. I pass a long line of kids at a pay phone trying to call their parents to come and get them while near by is a marble statue of a rabbit riding a horse waving goodbye to his guests.
April 19, 1993, Morning Coffee and the Times….
This morning I read in the L A Times, “The park reopened Sunday to an enthusiastic spring break crowd as law enforcement officials, park managers and a music promoter tried to pinpoint blame for two melees that damaged both the park and its reputation as a place for family entertainment. An all-night repair job replaced broken windows and looted merchandise in time for Sunday’s 10 a.m. opening” 
I later learned that the “melees” cost the park an estimated 2 million dollars in damages, 40 people were emergency evacuated and that it took 450 deputies to move 40,000 people out of the park. Urban legend has it that a body was found underneath a roller coaster ride four days after the riot. In ShowBiz news, there is big buzz about the release of Steven Spielberg’s film “Jurassic Park” It’s about a team of genetic engineers creating an amusement park full of cloned dinosaurs – then all hell breaks out.
ABOUT
Dave Banks is a highly experienced and award-winning photojournalist, cinematographer, documentary filmmaker, camera operator and published author. He has over 30 years experience in international news and documentary production, primetime television specials and series, late night, non-fiction and reality television series and specials. Discovery Channel, History Channel, Bravo, ABC Television Network, Cosmos Studios (legacy of Carl Sagan), Oprah Winfrey (Grand Canyon Trek),
Dave’s videography and cinematography work has been recognized with thirteen Emmy Award nominations—resulting in three Emmy Awards, two International Monitor Awards and one ADDY Award for commercial writing. Dave specializes in producing and creating images in remote and hostile locations throughout the Middle East, Russia, North Africa and Asia. His client list includes ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX News & Sports, Warner Brothers, Mark Burnett Productions, Jay Leno (personal projects), Capitol Records, Discovery Channel, Cosmos Studios, Networks, The History Channel, PBS, MPH Entertainment, Channel Nine Australia, London Weekend Television-UK, BBC 1 & 2, NHK Japan, German Television, and Canal Television-France.
Some of Dave’s highlighted credits include:
Profiles from the Front Line. With the beginning of the War on Terrorism in 2001, Dave served as a solo journalist-reporter-camera operator in Afghanistan for Jerry Bruckheimer’s primetime network series. Profiles Television produced this 13-hour non-fiction series in association with Warner Bros. Later, Dave expanded his responsibilities through being contracted by the United States Department of Defense to cover the war on location in Afghanistan through 2002.
Discovery Channel Eco-Challenge Australia. Mark Burnett Productions and the Discovery Channel contracted Dave to direct the six million dollar, five-hour prime time epic mini-series. Dave led a staff and crew of over 300, including fifteen camera crews and countless helicopters, aircraft, boats, and all-terrain vehicles. 200 competitors from fifteen countries participated in a 335-mile race over the most hostile terrain imaginable. Months in the preparation, the staff and crew were deployed for two weeks from the Australian Outback interior to the Great Barrier Reef. This immense project was brought in on time and on budget, and became the highest-rated Discover Channel mini-series of a five-year period.
Discovery Channel Adventure Race. With the success of the Eco-Challenge-Australia, Discovery Channel contracted Dave to direct their next flagship primetime mini-series in the Southern Alps of South Island, New Zealand.
The Quest for Noah’s Ark. Notwithstanding the Turkish government’s “off-limits” status for access to Mt. Ararat, Dave, as a solo filmmaker, covered a cast of modern day “Christian cowboys” as they braved possible Turkish prison sentences on their quest for Noah’s Ark. Under cover of darkness, carrying all of his own equipment, and with the guidance of the Kurdish underground, Dave climbed the 16,984-foot summit of Mt. Ararat in twenty-six hours. After summiting, he avoided capture by the Turkish Army by hiding in the plains and valleys of Eastern Turkey. The Turkish government is now considering a scientific expedition permit, allowing Dave and his associates to do further research on Mt. Ararat. Such research would include the use of Synthetic Aperture Radar, Ice Penetrating Radar and Thermal Infrared Sensor. The planned documentary feature will cover the history of Mt. Ararat and quests of the men who climbed her.
Marathon des Sables. In the area of technology, Dave has consistently pushed the envelope to combine story telling and digital media. Quokka Sports chose Dave to produce twenty-two documentaries and twenty-five vignettes in the heart of the Moroccan Sahara Desert for the premiere of Quokka’s broadband division. Still images, video clips and audio journals were sent via satellite back to the United States during the six-day Marathon des Sables race for immediate broadband viewing. Dave is currently writing his next book, “Atlantis of the Sands,” based on his experiences covering this amazing race and the cast of characters who participate.
Lost Dinosaurs of Egypt and Solar Sails. From 2001 to 2008, Dave was contracted by MPH Entertainment and Cosmos Studios as a Senior Producer to take the then-brand new Sony HDTV equipment on location into the heart of the Sahara Desert in Egypt and to the Barents Sea above the Artic Circle in Russian territory during the production of two A&E Network documentary specials.
2006 to 2013 – Dave was repeatedly booked as a guest lecturer on documentary film production by numerous colleges and universities throughout the United States, including the Brooks Institute in Santa Barbara, California.
February 2014: Cue the Camels book release and media tour. Dave’s book is a behind-the-scenes, first-person narrative of the mishaps and misadventures of a photographer-documentary filmmaker at large in remote and hostile locations. At present, Dave is writing his second book Atlantis of the Sands, and is researching and photographing Angelenos for his third book, Life in the City of Angels.
Further Credits List:
Roadies. Executive Producer, Documentary series based on the behind-the-scenes lives and day-to-day activities of rock & roll, pop and country musicians tour managers, road managers, road technicians, musical equipment technicians and support crews.
Through the Lens of Adventure. Producer/Shooter. A continuing series of exploration and adventure highlighting the people, places and beliefs from around the world.
Tomb Raiders. Stealing from the Dead. Producer/Shooter, Egypt and Israel, 2 hour Documentary for the History Channel. The theft of ancient antiquities.
Profiles from the Front Lines. Solo Journalist/Shooter, Afghanistan and Germany. 13 hour series for ABC Television Network. Profiles Television in association with Jerry Bruckheimer and Warner Bros. Dave’s images were used in the promotional material for the show.
The Amazing Race. Country Producer, CBS Television Network. World Race Productions in association with Jerry Bruckheimer.
The Essence of Islam. Director/Shooter, Middle East. Primetime documentary. History Channel.
Under One Roof. Senior Producer, Koro Island, Fiji. Reality program series. Endemol USA, UPN.
The Solar Sail Project. Sr. Producer/Shooter, Barents Sea, Arctic Circle, Russia. Two-hour primetime documentary. Cosmo Studios.
The Lost Dinosaurs of Egypt. Sr. Producer/Shooter, Sahara Desert, El Bahariya Oasis, Egypt. Two-hour primetime documentary. Cosmo Studios.
Digging for the Truth. Sr. Producer/Shooter, Golan Heights, Israel. Two-hour documentary. History Channel.
Discovery Channel’s Adventure Race. Director, New Zealand, South Island. Four-hour primetime miniseries. Six-day expedition race across the Southern Alps.
Marathon Des Sables. Producer/Writer/Director, 25+ mini documentaries for broadband webcasting. Six-day foot race in the Western Sahara Desert, Morocco. Quokka Sports, Intel, Alta Vista,
The Quest for Noah’s Ark. Director/Shooter, Mt. Ararat, Dogubayazit, Eastern Turkey. Two-hour syndicated documentary.
The Discovery Channel Eco-Challenge. Director, Australia. Queensland, Australia. Five-hour primetime miniseries for The Discovery Channel. Mark Burnett Productions.
The Discovery Channel Eco-Challenge. Director, Morocco. Atlas Mountains, Morocco. Pre-event video for The Discovery Channel. Mark Burnett Productions.
World Afoot. Producer/Director, Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. Total Entertainment Productions
The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library Dedication, Production Coordinator, for Georgetown Productions.
Beirut L.A. Journalist, One-hour video journal of the 1992 LA riots. Independent, Dave Banks Media.
The Ultimate Challenge. Director, Five one-hour primetime reality and stunt specials for Fox Network. Trans-World International.
American Detective. Producer/Shooter, ABC-TV primetime reality series. Lorimar Television
Women of Valor. One-hour ABC-TV primetime special. Lorimar Television.
Oprah Winfrey Show. Producer/Shooter, Hiking the Grand Canyon. One-hour syndicated special for series. Harpo Productions.
Light the Darkness. Production Coordinator, World broadcast benefit for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent. BBC.
The Late Show. Production Coordinator, John Lee Hooker and Friends In Concert., Ninety-minute special. BBC, UK and the A&E Television Networks.
The Sea Shepard. Production Coordinator, One-hour documentary for the BBC.
The Cesar Chavez Funeral March. Journalist. Chavez Family independent production.
In Search of Tarzan. Shooter, One-hour documentary. London Weekend Television, UK
In Search of James Bond. Production Coordinator, One-hour documentary. London Weekend Television.
In Search of Dracula. Production Coordinator, One-hour documentary. London Weekend Television.
Eye Spy. Production Coordinator, Half-hour documentary. London Weekend Television.
ABC Wide World of Sports. Director of Photography, Technical Director. Live broadcast and tape segments, Expeditions, rock climbing, iron man marathon and Olympic events.
Geographic Assignments:
Afghanistan: Kabul, Kandahar, and Bagram.
Australia: Sydney, Cairns, Mareeba, Atherton, Gordonvale, Undara, Chillagoe, Mt. Bartle Frere, and Queensland Outback.
Egypt: Saqqare, Giza, Red Sea, The Nile River, Cairo, Valley of Kings, Hatshepsut, Abu Simbel, Armant, Aswan, Luxor, White Desert, Thebes, Safaga, Marsa al Alam, Karnak, Al Harrah and Baharia Oasis
Fiji: Suva and Koro Island
France: Paris, Le Mans, Nice, Cannes, Toulon, Marseille, Toulouse, Montpellier and Corsica
Greece: Athens, Thessalonique and Island of Patmos.
Israel: Jerusalem, Golan Heights, Ramallah, Bethany, Jericho, Temple Mount, Nazareth, Gethsemane, Kasr el Yahud, Allenby Bridge, Caphernaum, Sepphoris, West Wall Tunnels and Judea.
Italy: Rome, Naples, Florence, Solerno and Island of Ischia.
Jordan, Mount Nebo, Tell Mar Elias, Mukawer and Amman Citadel.
Morocco: Quarzazate, Sahara Desert, Oued Amsailikh, Tagounite and Atlas Mountains.
Mexico: Chihuahua, Sierra Madre Occidental and Barrancas Del Cobre
New Zealand: North Island, South Island, Southern Alps, Mt. Cockayne, Lake Catherine, Lake Coleridge, Black Hill, Glenfalloch, Potts River. Mt. Peel, Forest Creek and Lake Tekapo.
Russia: Moscow, Murmansk, Severmorsk and Barrents Sea Artic Circle.
Scotland: Edinburgh, Inverness, Orkney Islands, St. Andrews Highlands.
Turkey: Istanbul, Van, Doğubayazıt, Tabriz, and Erzurum.
Additional information can be seen at:
Blog: www.davebanksmedia.com,
Book: www.cuethecamels.com
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/davidnbanks Demo Reel: https://davebanks.wordpress.com/2014/09/22/daves-demo-reel/On Camera Interview: http://youtu.be/oGjuTAvQRms Vroman’s Bookstore: Book Reading and Signing Cue The Camels, https://davebanks.wordpress.com/2014/07/16/cue-the-camels-book-signing-at-vromans-bookstore-pasadena-california/
Exposure and Other Worldly Morsels 