the salton sea shoot

On Saturday I spent twelve hours in the desert; 102 degrees in the shade. In the middle of the Colorado Desert in Southern California lies the Salton Sea - a vast salty body of water with abandoned communities clustered along the shores. I've never seen anything like it in the U.S. before. Nature colliding with human possessions; years of erosion, rot, elements and animals eating away at everything; eerie and desolate. I went out with Mandy and a small group of her classmates as they began shooting their class final film project, tentatively titled The Midlands. We arose at 3:30am to pack the trucks with tracks, the camera, the dolly, lighting, generator, sound equipment, food and water, blankets, etc. and headed east. When we arrived at 7am it was already 85 degrees. Three actors, five crew (and me, who didn't really count), two locations, and thirteen hours of shooting before heading home exhausted and hungry (In & Out!) at 7pm.

*Most of these pictures are not mine...I took many pictures with someone else's camera so hopefully I'll be able to post those soon instead of these, which I stole...*

Our DP (director of photography), Nathan, in front of one of the abandoned trailers...right here is where I spent the first half of my day running communications and water back and forth, fetching props, learning to wrangle cable (I'm terrible), and taking photos of the action.

The abandoned motel, our second location of the day. Hornets' nest, pigeons everywhere. Wish I could show you a picture of the attached building where we filmed the last shots of the day (I say "we" but really I was outside "guarding the trucks" aka reading The Lovely Bones and watching skeevy photographers take turns throwing their hatchet at a palm tree while everyone else toiled in the filthiest place I may have ever seen). Piles of rubble, bird parts scattered, fake blood splattered, and the droning buzz of a thousand flies. We wore masks in order not to breathe in too much feces and asbestos (and who knows what else). There were at least two fashion shoots going on here that day as well...so surreal to see the models draped over the rocks and grafitti-strewn structures.

Nathan and Daniel, the audio director, at the edge of the empty pool. I did get to hold the boom mic and be in charge of sound for an entire scene. However it was discovered about three-quarters of the way through the shoot that the mic was on the wrong setting and the dialogue will probably need to be dubbed in post-production.

Staying cool at the water's edge. Water lined with dozens of dead fish, their eyes plucked out. We decided against a swim. Miraculously I did not get sunburned at all...way to go SPF 30 Sport!

Mandy the AD (Assistant Director), script and shot schedule in hand. She is amazing. The "sand" you see is actually all crushed shells and bones. Our poor actress got several puncture wounds on the bottoms of her feet from running to the water's edge take after take.

What a fascinating day!!