Hang - Gaffer
We were out in the Angeles Forest for 3 nights. The weather was a particular challenge on this shoot as it featured sun, fog, rain, sleet and hail - followed by snow. On day 2 we woke up to 3 inches of snow, and since we were all in a HUGE RV down in a gully, we decided to get up to the highway and use a turnout as our base camp. We brought two generators on this shoot, a small 60amp and a slightly larger 100amp. For the opening scene at the hanglider crash we needed lights, so we towed the generators down a very steep rutted road to the shooting location. I then rigged up pulleys and a rope to lower the generators down the hill. Using existing lighting and limited resources was important on this shoot. Given the challeneges we faced, including the changable weather and rough terrain, I am proud of the look of the film. Anecdote: for the final scene we needed to move a huge mound of dirt to create a flat spot for the lead actor to lay down on his back while the lead actress hung from his arm. I figured out we could use the lift gate of the grip truck as a huge shovel. So I lowered the gate and threw the truck in reverse towards the dirt mound as fast as I could. Once the lift gate dug in, I raised it and tilted and pulled away. Instantly we had a large flat spot. This dirt mound was the only thing keeping me from backing right off the 500+ ft cliff!