DVD’S / MERCHANDISE ORDERING

1.  Where can I buy Departures related DVD’s and merchandise?
http://www.departuresentertainment.com/shopping.html

2.   Can I buy the DVD’s /  Merchandise anywhere else other than on your website?
Currently all Departures product is offered exclusively through the Departures website.  We are working on specific retail outlets, however it will take some time before Departures items are available in retail stores.  We will keep everyone posted.

3.   Can I pick up the DVD’s / Merchandise at your production office?
Unfortunately this is not possible, under any circumstances.

4.   When will DVDs be available outside of Canada?
We are pleased to announce that as of Oct 1st, 2010 international fans of the show will be able to purchase from our online store.

INTERNATIONAL PURCHASES PLEASE NOTE:

Shipping rate will be based on your home country and the speed of delivery. Please note our DVD’s are NTSC (North American format) English language ONLY.  We do not have PAL versions of the DVD’s available at this time.  There are no region codes, so these discs should play on any computer.  Depending on your player and TV, you may be able to play NTSC DVD’s, but please ensure this prior to purchasing the DVD’s.

Please also note that your packages may be subject to the customs fees and import duties of the country to which you have your order shipped.  These fees and duties are the sole responsibility of the buyer, and may have to be paid prior to receipt of the product.

There will be absolutely no refunds for any issues that may arise based on the above notices.

5.   Any chance the series will eventually be released On Blu-ray and PAL Format?
At this point the cost of manufacturing a Blu-ray or PAL Format disc is beyond our scope, however as technology becomes available we may be able to release them one day.  

6.   Where do I find the Departures Soundtrack?
The first volume of the Departures Official Soundtrack is available as a purchased download on our website.  When ordered and paid, you will be send a receipt by email, along with a link that will be active for two days, allowing you to download the full soundtrack.

We are working on a second and third volume we will release at some point this fall.  We currently have no plans to release the soundtrack as in physical CD form.

The soundtrack, and individual tracks, are also available through most major online music stores. Search any of the stores listed below for “Departures – Volume 1”:
iTunes US, iTunes Canada, iTunes Australia/N.Z, iTunes UK/EU, iTunes Japan.

7.  Is your shopping site secure?
Our site, and our fulfillment house that processes and ships your order, has been re-built, entirely from the ground up, by the Departures Distribution team themselves, based on many reliable and verified methods.  The site itself uses SSL encryption to protect your valuable information, and we do not ever sell or provide any information to any other parties whatsoever.

8.  What is the process for ordering merchandise?
Once you have finished adding items to your cart, you will select your province of residence, and method of payment.  We accept Visa, Mastercard and payments through Paypal Accounts.

If you are paying through credit card, you will be prompted to enter in all of your information, including shipping and billing details.  Once you click “Submit Order” the credit card will be send off for verification through secure SSL encryption via Paypal Pro.  If the credit card and address is accepted, you will receive an email right away and a page telling you so, otherwise you will be prompted several times until the error is resolved and the order goes through.

If you are paying through Paypal, you will be redirected to a Paypal site, and have the option to log on to your own Paypal account if you are set up with one.  Paypal is a great way to pay, because it also allows a user the ability to pay directly from a bank account / debit card.

When you have completed a successful order, you will be sent an email with the confirmation order number and details.  If you also ordered the soundtrack, a temporary link will be sent to download a .zip file (which contains all the tracks in mp3 format).  Mac users will be able to uncompress this file automatically, while PC users may have to download zip software to open the files.

Your order will then be shipped out within one week via Canada Post.

9.   How long will it take to receive my order?  Is there a faster way?
We are doing our very best to send out orders within one week of receipt, maximum. 

Canadian orders will take anywhere from 2 – 12 business days to receive from the date of shipping.  We ship everything Canada Post Xpresspost for reliability and speed of delivery.

US orders will be shipped out by Canada Post USA-Expedited service, which will take approximately 1 to 2 weeks.

International orders will be shipped out either Canada Post International-Surface or Canada Post International-Expedited services.  The time frame for each, depending on your country of residence, will be between 4 to 6 weeks (Surface) and 1 to 3 weeks (Expedited).  There will be two options, with prices to match.

10.  Do I have to pay tax or customs fees?
Canadian customers will pay HST or GST tax, the rate depending on their province of residence.  There are no customs fees for Canadian orders shipping to locations in Canada.

US and International orders do not have to pay Canadian taxes, so long as the product is being shipped outside of Canada.  However, you may have to pay customs duties in your own country.  These payments are entirely your own responsibility, and we will not be able to issue any refunds for customs fees that are not properly paid by the customer in their own country.

11.  Who do I contact with any DVD / Merchandising order related questions?
If you have any inquiries or notice anything with the confirmation that needs to change, you must email fulfillment@departuresentertainment.com right away.  They will have the ability to deal with any potential issues, and work quickly to resolve any conflicts.  Correspondence received through any other means or to any other email addresses will not be returned.

12.  I ordered the wrong size T-Shirt.  Can I exchange it?
We do not have an exchange policy in place.  The women’s shirts in particular fit very snug, so please check the American Apparel website for proper sizing charts prior to ordering (shirts available in small, medium, large, extra large):
Men:  http://www.americanapparel.net/sizing/default_ca-fr.asp?chart=mu.shirtsM
Women:  http://www.americanapparel.net/sizing/default_ca-fr.asp?chart=womens.shirtsM

 

AIRTIMES (CANADA)

1.   When will it air in HD in Canada?
Departures currently airs from time to time on Citytv in HD.  Check local listings for details.

2.   Where does the show air in Canada?
Departures currently airs on OLN, CITY TV, and in Quebec (dubbed in French) on Canal Évasion.  It will also be available on the Accessible Channel for the visual or hearing impaired. Please note that schedules change often so check local listings.

 

AIRTIMES (INTERNATIONAL)

1.   Where can I find Departures outside of Canada?
Departures is currently airing on the National Geographic Adventure Channel in the following countries. Please check your local listings for show times, as they vary greatly from country to country:
Angola, Australia, Bahrain, Cambodia, Egypt, Ghana, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Macau, Maldives, Micronesia, Mongolia, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Portugal, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Spain, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, UAE, Vietnam, Zambia.

Departures also airs in the following countries (check local listings for information)
DR 2 – Denmark
TVB – Hong Kong
RTL Living – Germany
Halogen Network - USA

2.  When will the show air in my country?
We are working on expanding the territories the show airs in.  Details will be announced as soon as we have word.
           

SHOW INFORMATION

1.   What kind of camera / gear do you use on the show?
We shoot the show on the Panasonic HVX-200AP camera onto P2 cards, in High Definition.  We also use the Steadicam Pilot stabilisation rig, a hi-hat tripod, on camera microphone (the HVX-200 accessory mic) and an assortment of hard drives to ensure proper backup of footage.  At the end of each shoot, the drive is brought back to the Departures office and all footage is backed up to DLT S-4 before being logged and transferred through the Final Cut Pro edit station.

Throughout the post process, all work (except sound mixing and closed captioning) is done in-house using Final Cut Pro Studio.

2.   Who sang that song?
You can find our music cue sheets at: http://www.departuresentertainment.com/music.html
We are also compiling some of the shows music and most requested songs onto soundtrack compilations. More volumes will be released on iTunes in the near future.

3.   Are you hiring?
We operate a very small crew of handpicked professionals.  We are not currently hiring employees or interns for the show. We do recognize all of the work by our fans spreading the word and promoting departures and one day… we hope to give back.

4.   How do the guys afford to do this?
Departures is currently a 39 episode series funded by OLN and the Canadian and Ontario Tax credits.  While we do attempt to travel on a travellers budget, there are a lot of logistics and major planning involved in the planning, production and post production. Even though we operate on a small budget, there are some very hard costs.  We have a small team of professionals, an office where the show is run from, and a team travelling the world. Outside of just the travel itself, there are complexities gaining access to many of the countries we film in.  It would be impossible to gain the type of access and production value as we have merely through self-financed trips.

5.   Can I travel with the guys?
We have literally thousands of requests to join, help out, or even host the show.  Please be advised it would be impossible to accommodate such requests.

6.   I love to travel and would make the perfect host.  How can I get my own travel show off the ground?
Like everything else out there, persistence pays off.  It is always possible to go out somewhere and film a pilot episode to help you try and pitch to a network.  But typically it also requires many years of filming experience, as well as the right team of experienced producers, storytellers, editors, composers, animators, coordinators, etc to make it happen properly.  There’s a lot more going on behind the scenes than just a few friends travelling and having fun.  Keep this in mind also – filming such a show is not exactly vacation.  In fact it is work – very hard demanding work that requires everyone from the team to keep pushing themselves from day to day.  If you would love to travel and see the world, first weigh the odds and responsibility of having to haul 50 pounds of camera gear around as well as looking through a lens the entire trip and shooting every moment as part of a segment which has to eventually be edited into an entertaining episode. This doesn’t even mention the stuff it takes to actually run the business or produce a TV show.

If this does not deter you, go out there, shoot something better than what you can find out there, and find a unique spin on it.  Most broadcasters have information on their websites of how to submit a concept. 

Most of all, be patient.  It took many, many years and lots of people involved to get this show to where it is today!

7.   How do I get in touch with Scott, Justin, Andre?
Justin and Andre can be found on their own Facebook pages.  They both also have a Facebook “fan-page”.  We suggest you write to them at one of these options.  They may not be able to reply, but we know… they read every single message.  Be creative!