In February 2018 Alex & Chris from MediaCity Training were asked to deliver training in Muscat – Oman. Given how grim the UK weather can be, this time of year – we were obviously super excited.
As a trainer, I’ve been asked to go to many places around the world – but this was our first time training in the Middle East, and also our first time training via an interpreter. He was fantastic, and I think was considering a career in video editing by the end of the course!
Muscat is a stunning place, and outside of the training we had a fantastic time exploring the local area and beyond.
One trip we were able to take whilst out there, was to the Omani desert – which was nothing short of life changing. The trip took us 3 hours outside of Muscat, travelling in very beaten up 4×4 vehicle (which was an experience in itself..!)
The thing that most struck me we arrived at the camp was how quiet it was. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced true silence like it. I often mention in training that when shooting & recording audio – its best to try and be aware of all the background noise in the location which you’re shooting in. If you take a pause even now, and have a listen you’ll begin to hear so many different sounds all around you, from road & air traffic, to air conditioning. True silence in the modern day, at least in the United Kingdom is pretty much unheard of (pun intended). I’ve always fancied a visit to an anechoic chamber – true silence is definitely a thing there, however I hear that it’s difficult to stay in for long, as the human mind isn’t used to total silence for long.
However, in the Omani desert – i actually heard true silence, and it was really quite special
Because I can never resist the urge to shoot a nice timelapse – I set my Osmo+ up on a moving interval and recorded both the sun going down on our first night at the camp, and them coming up the following morning. I’m now using this footage as training material in my Premiere Pro courses – which was a very nice bonus!
