Cynematik

After a challenging travel day, we were all worried about how the film shoot would go in Mexico. The day started with everyone feeling apprehensive and anxious. You see, EVERY film shoot is a learning experience because every film is different, ever story is distinct, every location is unique. The saving grace in filmmaking is the crew — or, more precisely — being fortunate enough to work with people you know you can count on. Pamela Jo and I have been working on film projects for over two years so we know that we can depend on the other in these stressful situations. We were fortunate enough to also have two of the crew members from the FILM ZAMBIA crew with us — Jeniece Toranzo and Jared Moschcau. We knew these two knew how to work under pressure and they didn’t disappoint us. We were hoping Michael Montesa would be able to join us but we didn’t give him enough notice.

New to the crew was Justin Moschcau (yes, he is the twin to Jared). We brought him (and a new piece of portable recording equipment) along for sound. It is a bit nerve-wracking to bring new equipment along because you never know if it’s going to perform as expected. Ditto on bringing a new crew member. Justin proved to be a valuable and reliable member of the crew.

At the end of the day, Marvin — a descendant of the Allreds and the McClellans — came by and offered to take someone up in his small, two-seater plane to get some aerial shots of Colonia Dublan. When the cinematographers hadn’t yet returned from 2nd Unit shooting, Justin agreed to take the camera, fold himself into the tiny seat (he is 6′6″), had Marvin attach the gyro … and away he went. They got some great footage of the colony, the orchards, the Paquime ruins, the ranches and the sunset. He was definitely a welcome addition to the crew and I’d gladly work with him again. All in all, it was a very productive day for all of us!