In 2007, they decided to follow a field platoon deployed as a whole in the Karengar Valley of The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. They followed the group of fighters in the most dangerous battlefield of The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. They went to the station 10 times and filmed them. More than 150 hours of material, including not only the battle scenes, but also the fear and plight of the soldiers here. During the shooting process, although he was often in a fighting state, Sebastiane Jungle did not pay much attention to the difficulties encountered in the process. Generally speaking, there were not too many difficulties, mainly because the light often did not reach the best shooting conditions during the shooting. Sand and dust often cover the lens. Tim Hetherington also said that the difficulty lies mainly in the body, patrolling with soldiers and running in battle are huge physical challenges.
While shooting a battlefield documentary, there is always life-threatening danger. During the shooting process, there are no special soldiers to protect them. As the director said, it is absurd to let a soldier stay away from the battle scene to protect two reporters during the fierce battle on the battlefield. of. Therefore, they often shoot in an area roughly 400 meters from the place where the battle took place. At the same time, they are not equipped with weapons and only have cameras in their hands. Both directors have more than 10 years of field reporting experience. Although they do not have much experience in combat techniques, they are even more experienced than some soldiers in the field platoon, especially the 18-year-old recruits, for the field environment. As for the disputes about the relationship between the recorder and the recordee that often occur in documentary filming, in this film, the two directors are directly involved in the team. So when they are also in the armor vehicle, if there is a battle, they have to deliver ammunition to the machine gunner, otherwise, simply trying to be an observer will not be allowed by the soldiers to enter the armor vehicle to occupy a position. The two directors felt deeply about this. They were deeply embedded in the war machine, eating the soldiers' food, resting where the soldiers slept, and becoming part of the field platoon. They are not equipped with weapons, nor do they actually have to stand guard, but they need to wake up on time like soldiers to take shots of them standing guard. During the filming process, the filmmakers also had close contact with the soldiers and developed a deep friendship.
