Location Scouting Report

[James Steven Beverly]

We went out scouting possible locations for Blood Moon Rising this weekend and less than 6 miles from my house were these old abandoned tin mines cut out of the granite bedrock of the Franklin mountains which are the tail end of the Rockies. It was incredible. I'm not sure if we can get permission to film there as the mines are under the direction of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department but we've gonna give it a shot. I had been looking for caves and was not too enthusiastic when my computer animator and graphic designer, Steve Harney suggested we go take a look at these ruins but I figured it was good exercise if nothing else and would be something I hadn't done in a while so what the Hell. It's a 4 mile hike over some fairly rugged trails to get to the mines:

 

 

but the entrance to the area where the trails are is less than 2 miles from my house so it wasn't too big a pain to get to. The weather was relatively warm for this time of year though the wind was cold as ice. We started out about 11:00 AM and made good time. I brought a small backpack with a little food and a couple of drinks and both a video camera and a digital still camera to record the area and show my DP Mel later on. (He's not much of a hiking guy :D ) I also wanted to check out vehicle access for bringing in the trucks just in case we decided to use it if it were available. The first area we went to was the ruins of the old smelter. The mine was in operation in 1903 to I believe around 1905 so the ruins are over a hundred years old:

 

 

The guy in the purple coat is our guide and the liaison to the Parks department. I thought they might work for a shootout scene the main character has with some Guatemalan rebels in Mexico to buy guns that try to double cross him on the deal and plan to kill him instead. It has an interesting feel and would make for some great blocking and camera movement I think:

 

 

The mine it's self is about 3/4s of a mile away on a lateral, dipping road that was FAR easier to traverse than the terrain we had been crossing up to that point which made it a joy to travel right up to the point were we realized we had missed the trail and had to scale the side of the mountain across an open cactus, loose rock and mesquite covered grade that would have challenged a goat. The positive thing was it put us right at the entrance to the mine. The entrance to the mine was small, maybe 4 ft tall by about 3 ft at the base and shaped like a triangle which suprised me. It kinda looked like something outta Star Trek to tell you the truth. There is a a grate on hinges sort of door over the entrance, I suppose to keep vermin and snakes out. Harney, the guild and the rest went on in I took some video of the entrance then also headed in. The tunnel was about 30 maybe 40 feet and opened up to about 5 feet inside:

 

 

It moved into a kind of slit trench that was maybe 60 ft up and opened into the surface above. There were gratings over the upper portion which let in natural light and kept people and animals from falling into the mine:

 

 

This picture is deceptive, those grates are enormous, matbe 30 to 40 ft wide by 70 to 100 feet long. The slit was fairly large and the granite made it very stable and safe to be in.

 

 

That's Harney in the shot. I wanted to give the shot some perspective so Mel could see what kind of space we were dealing with.

 

 

This is another shot of Harney with his son at the other end of the trench. This mine have 3 or 4 shafts most very short but one of which maybe 500 ft which would work well for a chase scene I'l like to do. The mine has 2 levels this is the upper level:

 

 

What you're looking at here is the railing that protects you from falling into the trench. The grating is about 25 ft above us here. The natural light is terrific but what's very cool is that you can light while standing on top of the grating so it gives us some VERY cool possibilities to do some Mario Bava style stylized lighting set up. One of the problems though is we may have one HELL of a time getting Mel's big Genny in there. What we may have to do is use 4 wheel drive trucks and haul up a 12K and an 8K. along with all the lighting equipment. I don't want too much light in a cave setting anyway so I may not be a problem.

 

There was a road that did go up to just above the mine. I decided to take a stroll up the mountainside and reconnoiter the situation. When I got to the road it looked a little rough but doable. It looked like it might be promising so I went back down and met up with our party. It was getting a little late in the afternoon and we did NOT want to get caught on the mountain after the sun went down because it get's colder than a Hell after dark in the desert especially with the wind. There were also 2 pre-teen children and a 13 year old girl with us so we needed to get moving. I still wanted to walk the road to see if it was usable to get equipment in so Harney and I climbed to up to check it out while the guide took Harney's 3 kids back down to the trail. The hike up to the road was a repeat of the hillside jaunt only steeper with more loose rock but it was close enough to the gating to run cable for lights so we soliered on and hauled our asses up it. We got to the road and stated to walk down it checking the condition. It was somewhat over-grown with some small washouts and large ruts that would have to be filled in but it WAS in good enough condition to handle heavy vehicles.....OR so we thought and with good reason:

 

 

As you can see by this shot of Harney ON the road, it looks pretty good as far as trail roads go BUT here are some shots from the road of the washout caused by the 2006 floods we had:

 

 

and folks THIS is a WAYS away so when we got to this point on the road it was COMPLETELY carved out by the torrent, in fact I was just messin' with ya, those pictures at the beginning were us coming DOWN not going up. We followed the washout to the trail because it was easier to go ahead than go back, at least that's what we THOUGHT. there were sheer granite faces of exposed bedrock that were 6 and 7 ft high we had to climbed down and small boulders everywhere. It was a damn mess. I didn't even think about getting some shots of the granite rack faces until I was well past them and it was too late. This area might wake for part of the journey sequence though so maybe it was serendipitous. We finally made it back to the trail relitively in one piece and walked the 4 miles back to the car and civilization. I was truly a small adventure and well worth the time. I'm going to try and set up a meeting with the parks director here and take Louie (our guide) with us. But before that, we have another scheduled scouting trip to nearby Oro Grande. There suppose to be another mine out there and some interesting terrain.

[James Steven Beverly]

They wouldn't let me post all the shots so here's part 2 of the report:

 

There are some other locations here in the area I want to use that I was already familar with. I didn't take any of these pictures but it gives you an idea of what I'm talking about. This is the famous 16th century San Elizario Mission in San Elizario Texas which is a burb of El Paso:

 

 

 

 

The Mission is absolutely beautiful and I LOVE the plaza. It LOOKS like Mexico. I could really do something with that. The great thing about it is I already have a relationship with the pastor. I wrote, directed and produced the Mission Trail Association's Christmas Nativity musical there a couple of years ago so that may be a viable location but just in case it's not this is the Socorro Mission also 16th century. not as pretty as San Ellie and no plaza but it does have it's own look:

 

 

Then there is Red Sands:

 

 

 

It would be great for part of the journey these two go through. One other place I'd love to use but I don't know if I can get permission is Mount Christo Rey. It's not quite Rio but it'll do:

 

 

 

Actually on side of the mountain is Mexico the other is Texas. Mel mentioned, it might not be a bad idea to have Border Patrol on hand because of the very REAL threat of banditos. Fortunately our special effects make-up man and FX costumer just graduated from the Border Patrol academy and is assigned near here so he'll be working with us anyway.

[James Steven Beverly]

There's also this incredible salt flat just north of El Paso:

 

 

 

It's weird I found a 'scope shot of it. Must be kismit, now I'll guess all have to use the location! :D then there's the Highway heading out toward Guadaloupe Peak:

 

 

Other places that keep coming up over and over again are Hueco Tanks which is incredibly scenic and should photograph well plus it's got these wild rock formations that are a climber's wet dream so we should be able to do something with that:

 

 

This is also park of the parks department but we've filmed video there before and Mel has a relationship with some of the people over there so again maybe doable. I think the whole point of this is trying ti find good places to tell your story. I gotta admit, I now believe location managers earn their money! I'll post more shots of the stuff as I scout. B)

[Paul Bruening]

Great lokes, Steven. Horror stories and Catholicism have been a big connector for a long time in movies. The mission loke will be fantastic. Like you, I'd re-write the script just to get to use that place. I'm enjoying your pics. The "stark isolation" theme is irresistible in desert scenes.

[James Steven Beverly]

Thanks Buddy, I appreciate the encouragement. Yeah, the christian iconography and the use of negative space play heavily into the look and feel of the piece. The whole idea that there is no help, no cavalry coming and they are on their own with a deadly killer that could be anywhere in that vast empty space is the central theme of the picture. Nowhere to run to, nowhere to hide. The piece is metaphoric for the aftermath of 9/11. B)

[Hal Smith]

Hi Cap'n,

 

I think you've got your locations, everything has a nice barren look to it.

 

There was a Kubrick documentary on Sundance last night, he had assistants shooting hundreds of stills just to find things like the right doorway for the whore who picks up Tom Cruise in "Eyes Wide Shut". Geez, you think maybe he was a bit OCD like Monk?

 

Happy New Year, I'll make a wish for you: May "Blood Moon" be in the can and in post production this time next year!

 

Admiral Halsey

[James Steven Beverly]

From your lips (or in this case fingertips) to God's ear, Admiral. :D Thank you for the good wishes!! I SAW that doc. Wasn't that cool and in a way kinda bizarre? I want to get to the point where I have the clout to use all that cash to have a professional photographer spend a year just shooting doorways. My favorite part was measuring the ad space size with a ruler then calling the papers to complain it was 3 Millimeters off only to find out that was from plate shrinkage during printing.. I heard though he really was a control FREAK on set and once fired a camera assistant for carrying a mag upside down. His wife i think it was said he figured you either cared about what you were do or you didn't. to paraphrase. I suppose i can understand that though. And YES Happy New Year with hopes that ALL your film making wishes come true. I'll have to start up the Resolutions thread againg and see how we did from last year. I think I'll do that manana! B)

Edited January 1, 2009 by James Steven Beverly

[Matthew Buick]

Wowee! Locations are REALLY on your side in this shoot!! Whatever you do, use the tunnel though.

 

Beautiful church, I bet it would be great to go and pray in there!

[James Steven Beverly]

Hey, as far as churches go, England's no slouch, there's that one in that picture you took. You otta shoot some film there. Since you're shooting S8, no one will know you're making a film. B)

[fabio pirovano]

Corniglia ,5 terre,Liguria Italy There is an ex railway tunnel that is the only access to a bay named guvano beach....this is and outstanding place for any thriller-horror subject