Juan Carlos Oganes' film-making and work blog.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Preparing for interior scenes



First post of the year. Been 8 days of not only relaxing a bit but planning for next week's scenes. As the new year opens, there's a lot of movement in the army for many officers are being changed in their posts and sent elsewhere. The new ones will take a couple weeks to settle down in their new office so -in order not to lose momentum and rhythm- I'm changing the schedule to shoot interior scenes a bit ahead with Bolognesi, Ugarte and all the Peruvian and Chilean officers.

Went downtown to warm up connections with the cultural center I'm filming in and also went south of Lima scouting for a bigger country farm house as the one I scouted a year ago feels small now to my taste. A good friend Abelardo suggested a place who's owner is his father's close friend. Went there and it's simply perfect for exterior scenes. The interiors are modern now so they have to be shot elsewhere, but the outside is simply beautiful and even painted with that tone of pink typical of the era. It even has its own church! One curious anecdote is that while walking the offices inside I stumbled upon and old student of mine. His face seemed familiar until he told me I was his teacher back in 2002 in an institute I used to work at. Little things that light your day.

After that, went downtown again to check on some old houses around the Jirón de la Unión, a tour-de-force for anyone interested in old Lima. It's funny how houses and places that were "the place" in their heydays back in the late 19th century/early 20th are closed now and surrounded by modern buildings and businesses. I walk around people that seem (and I'm sure they are) ignorant of the big past and history they are walking among like the Palais Concert and the Courret Photography Archive where most of the photographs of the era were taken and saved.

History is everywhere!....we just have to look deep and pay more attention.
Wish I was a millionaire so I would buy those places and turn them into a museum or something before they become lost and demolished or turned into a low-class downtown joint.