Photoclubalpha

Hi guys. For the past few months I’ve been photo-journaling and helping some friends with an art film project. Most of their projects are dance films. Their current dance film, Ashlock, is about a lead miner who lived around 100 years ago. The location for this particular scene is inside a huge limestone mine that is located about 45 minutes south of St. Louis, Missouri. We drove almost a mile into the mine in order to find a good location for shooting the video.

All of the guys involved in this film are dancers from two local professional dance companies, the Saint Louis Ballet and the Big Muddy Dance Company.

Nice set. Interesting location. Looks like it is wide enough to not feel claustrophobic.
Liked the last one best.

Sury

Agree with sury, last one shot.

Thanks guys,

sury wrote:Nice set. Interesting location. Looks like it is wide enough to not feel claustrophobic.
Liked the last one best.

Sury

You definitely won’t get claustrophobia in that mine. It’s huge and you can easily get lost driving around in it.

Sig

Nice shots and the last one is very interesting. Dancing lead miners? I would not have thought about that.

Very interesting.
Seems odd that in the world of digital imaging that one must trek that far into the earth to find an interesting background.
Maybe "feel" has something to do with it.
Kindest Regards,
JT

Almazar80 wrote:... Dancing lead miners? I would not have thought about that.

Well, you know... lead poisoning.

This particular scene is of a miner's strike and fight. It's kind of like West Side Story where all of the fighting is choreographed dancing.

Sig

jbtaylor wrote:Very interesting.
Seems odd that in the world of digital imaging that one must trek that far into the earth to find an interesting background.
Maybe "feel" has something to do with it.
Kindest Regards,
JT

Yes, there's a different "feel", and since these guys are good at finding fee-free locations, shooting on site can be a lot cheaper for them. Because this is a no-budget art film they are taking the less expensive route. The only expense for this scene was the rental fee for the lights. Plus, we got to roam around a pretty cool mine.

Just a couple more shots from the mine: working out the composition of the scene, and marking through the choreography.

Sig

For the scene leading up to the mine we used the entrance of a different mine in another town, Crystal City. We used this location in order to incorporate the bridge leading into the mine. Originally, we were going to use the inside of this mine for the miners' strike scene too, but it was flooded from the Spring rains.

Sig

Checking out the mine entrance with the director. Striking a pose for the scene. Listening to notes/corrections from the director. Shhhh... you're not supposed to notice the fake lamps on the miners' hats. The video camera shots aren't close enough for anyone to spot them.

Getting directions. Waiting for the other actors to get set. Practicing while everyone gets to their starting positions.

I must say the work was done beautifully. Especially where the film was filmed.

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Hi Smulnik;

Must say that I find the work that's going on these captures very interesting as I love everything about movie-making.


Thank you for sharing your exciting experience. Maybe you'll share the final product of all the hard work as well?


Yildiz

ValeryD wrote:I must say the work was done beautifully. Especially where the film was filmed.

Thanks Valery! The guys put a lot of effort into finding picturesque locations for their movies.

Sig