Juan Carlos Oganes' film-making and work blog.

Friday, December 24, 2010

Hurdles pass...Good work prevails













It has been quite rough these past weeks. Many changes and many difficult situations to face. Definitely this film is quite some tough project to pull off but I was aware of what could happen. I had to dismiss/fire the special effects guy Casanave after many months of confrontations for being too unpunctual, unable to follow indications and orders and for being a loud mouth. (Update: After all these time he has threatened for defamation. Curious...Where in the world is stating your opinion a defamation when there were even dozens of witnesses of this without me even saying a single word?) Anyway, I'll just leave it at that.
This film is serious and I can't allow people like that to come and spoil all the hard work of many of us. It was a huge mistake in hiring him as everybody told me. Everybody is a witness to that and I'm very sure he will have a hard time getting work elsewhere as word of mouth has spread quickly about his attitude issues without me even saying a single word...specially in the film business and with the Army.

But now I am very happy with the new ones. They are quite professional, punctual, discreet and hard-working people. People that make u feel at ease...not like the former guy.

I knew right from the start that only serious and professional people would stick around the heavy weather and work conditions this type of film involves and time has proven so. Now I know who's who here and who will finally get to the final credits.

Life goes on and the film is moving along well even among these busy holidays.
I'm very happy with the results so far. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger they say.

And on a side note, yesterday Thursday was the first film scene of Juan Manuel Ochoa as colonel Agustin Belaunde. Again I say I'm more than happy to have this wonderful actor aboard. He always puts his "touch" on every character he makes. Filming even as late as 1 AM in the morning isn't fun but working with him is enough to make it worthwhile.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Battle scenes: day 2



















Here some pics of the behind the scenes and also freeze frames from my actual camera.

Got hit by a rock in the head, by a bayonet in the ribs, with a rifle's butt in the hips and felt the blow of a firing rifle near my left leg...and all while shooting hand-held the battle scenes in-between the hundreds of soldiers.

Difficult by definitely and exciting day!! :)
The parts filmed were when the 3ro de Linea took over the Peruvian Ciudadela fort, the charges of Francisco Cornejo with the Cazadores de Pierola and the bravery of Justo Arias y Araguez with his Granaderos de Tacna. The gunfire and fights were awesome.

The energy flowing on the extras and the real soldiers was overwhelming. I could feel the excitement in them while doing this. One thing also was that no matter how much emphasis I put on safety, the soldiers got loose and careless and fired at will. Thank God they didn't harm anybody for real. Just bruises and cuts here and there.

Monday, December 13, 2010

Battle scenes: day 1






Finally, the difficult days of battle scenes started today.
It had a rough start for delays regarding the army were unavoidable...but anyway. Its an everyday thing.
Arias Araguez had his scene today at Ciudadela fort. Tomorrow I'll continue the scene by making the it explode as Maldonado -the young hero- did.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

More on-location pics and still frames



























Well, after many days of absence here I get to rest at least for a day while the Army does it's sudden schedule changes. I can say it's exciting to work with them and also same time a bit problematic as they have a busy agenda too to fulfill so we have to work things out around their time.

Using massive amounts of soldiers is quite straining and stressful but it's coming along. Just the shooting plan is really prolonging more than I expected. I can say for sure now that I will easily extend into next year but I want to just leave the mild scenes for last. Filming in December is quite a dilemma....too many holidays!

Here are more behind-the-scenes pics and also still frames of the film as captured thru my camera lens.