The Ciudadela fort and Cochrane explosion scene

Big plastic water tanks, special effects components, burnt oil, cables. All those aspects handled by an expert who knows the stuff puts things easier.

Well...here are the pics. Will post more facts soon. It's late and tired I am here.

Hammering all details of the cannon in place.

The Cochrane bunker scene.

Screwing the cannon pieces together.

Green screen chroma-key.

Painting the columns metallic color.

So far it's looking good!

Lovely lamby reminding me of baby visting us often.

One of the explosions for the Ciudadela scenes.

Another explosion.

Cochrane sailors burned by explosion.

Putting the beams in place after painting them.

Making the cannons look worn.

Rehearsing the scene actions.

Glueing the "bolts" on the beams before painting.

I know it looks ridiculous but...if it works, works.

Making the beams.

The green screen already lit.

Looking in a junkyard for parts for the cannons.

Sandpapering the found parts.

At wood store cutting woods in pre-measured forms.

Found interesting parts.

A good chroma key day

Today was a fine day and the results are good.
Used chroma keying for the krupp cannon firing and all the activities that involve the memories of a character in the film. As soon as we finished, transfered the footage into my laptop and checked for color accuracy and fiddled with some takes.

Seems it is pretty good. Looks a bit like the 300 film. A look I'm going for for those flashback memories.

A good day. Love it :)

Final composite after chroma keying and color correction.

Funny how results look a bit like the 300 movie.

Designing the Cochrane bunker

Now on location in the outskirts north of Lima.
Been away from here some days before the holidays and now back. All dusty like if we've been away for weeks. So dusty and windy here that even a day we don't clean and it's all covered in a thin layer of dust.

This next days beginning tomorrow will be mostly of artillery takes and close-up shots of Krupp, Voruz and Parrot cannons firing and the soldiers operating them while being shot down by the enemy.
Also designing now the bunker (in spanish called "casamata") inside the Cochrane for the scene where chilena navy soldiers operate and fire the Armstrong cannons against the peruvian Manco Capac and also the one where one shot from More's artillery at the top of the morro (scene filmed in february this year) hit the Cochrane and entered inside the bunker, injuring 27 chileans and putting the Cochrane out of the game for a long while.

It will take me days to finish building the bunker and hope to do it by this weekend. Hate to spend a lot of resources for a scene that is so short in the final film but necessary for it connects to a consequence that is important and relevant for the story to be understood (apart from being a fact historically).

So, almost midnight and so tired after cleaning, sitting here and designing the bunker.
Tomorrow, artillery shots all day round.

All these details will have to be covered.

Cochrane navy soldiers.

Flags and symbols all around

So this is "Independence week" as the 28 is approaching. As it happens all the years since I can remember, the streets are flooded with flags, cockades, flagpoles, ribbons and all things with national motives and symbols. A very patriotic time that starts usually by the start of July and builds up as the 28th approaches.

Since little as I lived near Tacna, I remember playing around with friends portraying passages from our independence or wars and that sensation of holding the flag, that very unique sensation is what I recall very vividly: the sensation of holding something of great significance. At one moment I think I went too far by playing with it that police came by and said something like: "Kid, ur not supposed to play with this". I felt embarrased but I wasn;t doing anything irrespectul deep inside. I was livign the pride of my nation very much within.

This week is mostly about meetings and arrengaments to continue filming past the 29th as all is stopped for the holidays and much of what I can progress is on hold in a way. That puts me a bit uneasy as time is what I need most.

At least I have time to recover from this cold/flu I caught. Whenever Im on location and stay there, the tight schedule and constant stress has me up most of the time, now here being home, seem like my body's mood is just to sleep and be motionless. Nothing like your own bed, they say.

Go away, flu. I need to get back to work!
Meanwhile, got myself another cockade to wear on my sleeve.

Another Marca Peru video: Loreto, Italia

Oooh. Time of new things coming out, like this new Marca Peru video now talking about Loreto -our beloved State in the amazon rain forest- filmed in Italy with the same motive as the prior one done in Peru, Nebraska. It's well done and also sells the motives and culture typical of our jungle: delicious plant food, tribes and ritual, dances, etc. I did enjoy though the Peru, Nebraska a bit more. This one is very good too but somehow the prior one seemed more to my liking. Matter of tastes I guess. Anyway, here it is. Our mission to promote Peru all over the world is gaining momentum!