En
FrTwo Pictures a Day in Peru - 3
Third Week: August 13-19, 2024
Gilles Porte, camera on his shoulder, seated on the trunk-seat of the old Ford - Photo by Sophie (2nd assistant camera)
Gilles Porte, AFC, is currently filming Lady Nazca in Peru, a film directed by Damien Dorsaz. As in 2014 on 3000 Night, by Mai Nasri, and 2015 on Dans les forêts de Sibérie, by Safy Nebbou, Gilles once again offers us two images per day, taken by him (unless otherwise stated) along with his commentary. A sort of diary of things seen or felt, moments captured on the camera or smartphone.
Here is the journal of the third week.
Here is the journal of the third week.
August 13, 2024 - Cahuachi | Photo by Gilles Porte
“Cahuachi was the Nazcan capital for 700 years. And then, around 350 AD, violent earthquakes shook the region (…)” (Paul, sequence 26). The photo I chose to include was taken during technical scouting, a month ago. I didn’t know when I clicked the shutter button on my phone that the character in the distance was the silhouette of the guard of the Cahuachi site who was coming towards us. I duplicated him to simulate Paul and Maria. Believing that we had official permission, Damien and I wandered around like children in the middle of this new playground... After being interrogated for almost an hour by the police, I showed Damien this image. This ended up being THE shot we were looking for! Today, although it’s our day off, we wanted to go back to the Cahuachi site since we’ll be filming there in two days.
August 13, 2024 - Cahuachi | Photo by Gilles Porte (iPhone)
To thank the caretaker of the Cahuachi site (left) for allowing me to show Damien a shot, I take his portrait. He is beside archaeologist Alberto Alfredo Urbano Jacinto, without whom our filming in Nazca wouldn’t have been able to take place as it did.
August 14, 2024 - Truck | Photo Miggel Schwickerath (Nikon D750 and 70-300 zoom)
While shooting about ten still shots in an hour to take as much advantage as we can of the end-of-day light, Miggel immortalizes our small group which looks like ants in the middle of the desert while my generator truck is on its way back to the camp
August 14, 2024 - Sextant | Photo by Gilles Porte (iPhone)
While filming this shot, which will be the final one in the film, I notice that a star is shining very brightly above Maria (Devrim) as she scans the night sky with her sextant. When I get back home later, I learn that the great actress Gena Rowlands passed away the same day. Devrim and I were talking about what a great monument of the cinema she was just a week ago. With each of her appearances on a movie screen, she demonstrates that it is always through the cracks that the light gets in.
August 15, 2024 - Cahuachi | Still (Alexa Mini LF and Arri Signature 35mm)
This image taken from the camera doesn’t at all resemble the shot that Damien and I had planned on taking during our last location scouting (see photo at the top of the page) because certain unplanned circumstances (!) forced us to change our plans: a direct consequence of various delays that occurred during a change of scenery. When we arrived at the top of the Cahuachi pyramid, the slope we had chosen was completely in the shade. In five minutes, an entire crew rushed down the other slope of the pyramid, following the instructions of Alberto (the archaeologist) in order to take advantage of the last minutes of sunshine of the day. Damien trusted me and, decided to stay with his two actors to explain to them what was happening instead of looking at the frame. We had 17 “magic hours” planned over the 18 days in the desert. We will now have 18 out of 18 since this was our only day where we hadn’t planned on any!
August 15, 2024 | Photo by Gilles Porte (iPhone)
As I returned to my van, more than ever aware that my main challenge on this film would be to get the entire crew prepared for shooting at the same time and in the right place, I saw the makeshift makeup room near a tree. It is impossible not to be reminded of Out of Africa and its fantastic director of photography, David Watkin...
August 16, 2024 | Photo by Gilles Porte (iPhone)
As the clapperboard allows Sophie (2nd assistant camera) to protect the camera from the sand, Miguel and Julio meanwhile become one behind Devrim (Maria) to erase the footprints of a film crew...
August 16, 2024 | Photo by Gilles Porte
... by demonstrating an obvious spirit of research, doesn’t Lady Nazca already deserve to be officially designated an “artistic and experimental” film?
August 17, 2024 - EXT and INT car Day | Photos by Gilles Porte (iPhone)
Top, from left to right: Pépé (location manager), Paulo (1st assistant director), Loco (gaffer), Rafo (key grip), Damien (director) - Below: Imo (extra) and Devrim (Maria)
August 17, 2024 | Photos by Gilles Porte (iPhone)
I know that we have to shoot shots 52/1 and 52/2 between 12:00 and 1:30 p.m. so that the sun will be directly above Maria’s head. This is very important for the storytelling. Half an hour before leaving for this canyon, the sky is very overcast. Just as I am about to tell Damien that I will be unable to match this sequence with the next one, I see a tiny hole of blue sky in the immense blanket of clouds. In 20 seconds’ time, all the clouds were swept away by a meteorological phenomenon that I have never seen anywhere in the world other than in Nazca.
August 18, 2024 - 11:44 a.m. | Photo by Walter Toledo Santa Cruz, prop master
From left to right: Blanca (production designer), Damien (director), Vitu (DIT), Consti (production manager), Arturo (Video Assist), Giorgio (assistant location manager), Sophie (2nd assistant camera), Loco (gaffer), Marco Camacho (assistant location manager), Gilles (DoP).
August 18, 2024 | Photo by Gilles Porte (iPhone)
Analia Fiorella Laos Soari (script supervisor, left) in Nury Jennifer Isari Chiesa’s office (2nd assistant director) during their lunch break. On the wall, reproductions of Paul Gauguin who was one year old when he arrived in the Peruvian capital. “Stay firmly on your path and dare to be wild for two hours a day!” (Paul Gauguin)...
August 19, 2024 | Photo by Paulo, 1st assistant camera (iPhone)
Benjamin, Edgar, father and son, extras for a day, and me...
August 19, 2024 | Photo by Gilles Porte (iPhone)
Extras...
