BEHIND THE SCENES: DESERT SOUTHWEST

This entry was posted on 11/22/2006 10:28 AM and is filed under production

Filming in Tucson Arizona offers some very beautiful and exotic scenery. Naturally, we had to feature some of that in our movie. In these scenes, Lionel picks up an H2 Hummer and leaves town to find his sister Perdita at her home but discovers that she went to her parent's home up in Phoenix. On the way up to Phoenix, a nuclear blast disables Lionel's Hummer and forces him to walk back to Tucson on foot with the radioactive remains of Phoenix billowing past him.

Obviously, we're not resorting to the use of stock footage for that effect, we'll be handling all of that in Post Production using Lightwave 3D to create those visuals on the computer. I slammed a simple previsualization together on the Production Stills page but the ten seconds it took me to slam together for the previz doesn't do the effect justice.

We thought the H2 Hummer, was the perfect vehicle for Lionel to drive across the desert to Phoenix. Since he can choose any car or truck abandoned in the city, why not have him drive the best? For audiences who have never driven an H2 Hummer, especially in countries where gasoline might cost more than ten times what it does here, we thought it might be another cool part of Lionel's adventure.

But finding a stretch of desert highway we could block off for filming the Hummer scenes without cutting off a road people need to get between far flung destinations, which we could afford, was a small challenge. Our solution took about an hour with me and my Producer Gabriele Andres scouting for a location just outside of the city. It took about an hour to find a six mile section of deadend highway with nothing but a mine at the end of the road whose operations end every Friday at 5PM and closes down each weekend. What a perfect setup, huh? That's how we managed to "own the road" for filming without spending a dime on anything but the gas to get there.

Below are some behind the scenes photos from that day:

 
James Arnett frames up Actor Santiago Craig for the connecting shot between the Golf Course and the Pit.
Actor Santiago Craig between takes at the Golf Course.
The H2 Hummer Lionel pulls a corpse from and drives out of town.
A closer view of the H2 Hummer Lionel pulls a corpse from and drives out of town.
Front view of the H2 Hummer which will be modeled in CG to be blown down the highway in the nuclear blast.
James Arnett and Bruno Loya filming in the shopping center's rear loading area in Marana.
The cool dashboard of the H2 Hummer.
Corpse view of James Arnett and Bruno Loya filming in the shopping center's rear loading area in Marana.
James Arnett filming with the Canon XL-2 DV camera set to 24p and 16:9 aspect ratio.
Actor Santiago Craig driving the Hummer past the camera at the Golf Course.
Filming Actor Santiago Craig pulling up to the locked gate at the Golf Course.
Filming Actor Santiago Craig climb out of the Hummer from the side of the vehicle.
Filming Actor Santiago Craig climb out of the Hummer from the rear of the vehicle.
Actor Santiago Craig leaping over the locked Golf Course gate.
James Arnett, Bruno Loya and Actor Santiago Craig moving to yet another location.
Actor Santiago Craig leaving in the Hummer.
Actor Santiago Craig driving the Hummer out of town.
James Arnett, Actor Santiago Craig and Bruno Loya discussing the staging of next scene.
Actor Santiago Craig offroad with the Hummer.
James Arnett and Bruno Loya filming Actor Santiago Craig pulling up in the Hummer.
Filming Actor Santiago Craig climbing out of the Hummer.
Filming Actor Santiago Craig driving from the back seat of the Hummer.
Bruno Loya catching a snake on the side of the dirt road.
Filming the camera-shy snake.
Actor Santiago Craig with his new pet.
Filming the Hummer speed by on a desert highway, which is a closed ended section of empty road surrounded by plenty of desert and mountains.
Filming the Hummer speed by on the desert highway like we own the whole road. On the weekends, it's a deserted stretch of desert highway.
The Hummer after being swept away by the nuclear blast that vaporizes Phoenix in the CG scene.
Actor Santiago Craig climbing out of the Hummer on a clear day which will be darkened with nuclear fallout and dust in Post Production.
Actor Santiago Craig opens the hood of the Hummer to try to get it started. The electromagnetic pulse from the nuclear blast has fried its electronics.
Setting up to film Actor Santiago Craig climbing out of the Hummer after the nuclear blast.
Filming Actor Santiago Craig climbing out of the Hummer after the nuclear blast.
Actor Santiago Craig climbing out of the Hummer on a clear day which will be darkened with nuclear fallout and dust in Post Production.
Under the hood of the Hummer H2.
Roadrunner & Coyote cartoon type cactus.
They're everywhere around us in Tucson Arizona.
 

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