Cheap approach to Afghanistan?

Hey folks,

I'm looking for ideas of cheaply reproducing the Afghani desert and bazaar someplace on the West Coast, preferably in Oregon. Has anyone ever pondered this, or have any off the cuff ideas?

Time frame is current.

Yea, I've been thinking about those kinds of things tons of times. Smile

Now, I don't know what kind of nature you have access to in Oregon, but for wide shots it would be easy to shoot in open terrain with a locked off camera, and then add Afghani-stuff in the horizon. You know, traditional sky replacement, and a line of mountains instead of a US skyline. And then some yellow color correction, because US films that take place in exotic locations are always tinted a bit yellow to demonstrate that it's exotic.... ish. Smile

For close-ups of the bazaar, I say you need a real location/set/props/costumes/people. The actual bazaar booths themselves kan be any kind of improvised dirty wood, concrete, steel, boxes, whatever you can find, but what's gonna sell it are the Afghani-looking extras in costumes, and all the props. Get reference pictures of bazaars, and I think you'll find you need bags, sacks, exotic vegetables and spices, and for absolute success, live poultry. Smile

Good news is, build one bazaar booth and it should be easily duplicatable in post, if you dress it differently and move it around.

Good luck! I'd love to see how it turns out.

- Jonas

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvord_Desert

Last edited by headshotriddle7 on Sun Sep 18, 2011 10:02 am; edited 1 time in total

The desert's easy. El Mirage Dry Lake in the Mojave. It looks like freaking Mars, and it's a $15 day pass to do whatever you want. Go on a Tuesday and you'll have the whole place to yourself. It's a bit of a drive from Oregon, but it's doable.

The souk is a little tougher but there are a number of places in the California desert where stone buildings were once built and then abandoned. All that's left now are walls and rubble. Some sacking and boards for awnings and as much cheap junk displayed on boxes as you can scavenge will give a fair impression with the right camera angles. Depending on your needs, you could build just one or two stalls anywhere with a greenscreen backdrop and lay that footage over some purchased souk stock footage.

Just some thoughts.

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Thanks Jonas and Bob, both suggestions are helpful. Oh, and thanks headshotriddle7 for the photo...that's really a cool image.

There are a couple shots of a trio of old Landcruisers driving between the tents on the outskirts of the souk. I'm taking a bit of artistic license with the scene...I'm looking to create a more classical nomadic look with the tents. I need to do more research to figure out where the realities of the souk and my vision should merge.

Two of the characters in this scene also have a scene in Mexico, so it might be practical to shoot all of this footage down there.

Chickens, goats, spices...I wonder if there are markets in Mexico that I could dress to look like a souk?

Ok, it's a bit far from you but I'm in a similar situation and I am shooting green-screen plates in a part of southern British Columbia called Osoyoos which looks remarkably like the Shahi-Kot Valley in Afghanistan. Here is a link to my production log with photos of there area http://www.digijunkie.com/the-long-shot/?currentPage=2

Good luck.

Craig

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Craig Cerhit
Producer

www.digijunkie.com Production advice they don't teach you in school.