Location scouting

During this weekend I dedicated myself to search for locations where I can film certain key scenes of The Road to Celaya.

Went to look on several spots on a highway where we can shoot interior truck scenes, as well as some exterior shots. I mainly focused to look on spots that have the feeling of being a real highway. But I also think it is important to avoid important or visible landmarks, because we want to convey the idea that it is a highway towards Celaya. If we show certain buildings or hotels that don't match with the actual scenery towards Celaya, it will not be believable. That is why I am also avoiding shooting in known places like big parks, government buildings, or even the theater school as suggested by some.

I need default locations. For example, if I'm looking for a highway, it has to look the way a highway would like anywhere in Mexico. If I am looking for a "city outskirt" scene, we need a view that doesn't show a recognizable skyline. My impossibility to travel to Celaya, the place where the attacks occured, has to be compansated with sacrifice to many "visible" places where I shoot. Part of doing a movie is also showing the places, locations. But in this case I need to focus more on the story, and use locations as it should really be, just locations. If I am going to look for a place with gas tubes for the explosion scene, I need to use something similar, not the same.

Talking about tubes, during this weekend I also looked for a good place for the Pemex scene, where the explosives will be set by the guerrilla. I found a perfect spot! It is a water treatment plant southeast of the city, along the river that separates Mexico and the US. I was told by people that work there that I need to go ask an engineer for permission. Actually I saw the tubes I was initially interested are outside the water plant perimeter, but as I expected, the water guy defended those tubes were the city's property. That is why I went to ask first, in order to avoid any confusion. Before doing his scene, I shall get permission from this engineer in charge of municipal water and sewage. By the way, once I was inside the water plant, I saw some better tubes, that actually can resemble the Pemex tubes, mainly because of the valves.

The other location I am really worried is the rape scene place. I basically need a place where I can work comfortably with my actress, in order to recreate a violent rape. Even acting it would be tough, but I know she can do it. The problem is where to act it out. I need a contolled place. Preferably a closed place, in order to avoid problems. Right now I have two options: A baseball field and a house in the outskirts. Avoid the American image of a baseball field, it is a dirty, lonely, baseball field. Along the "dugouts" there are some sort of cabins, perfect for the scene I want to perform. I wrote the scene to be exterior, because it gives more raw into the rape scene as it happens in real life in the indigenous and poverty-stricken communities of Mexico.

Other simultaneous projects prevented me from having another meeting with my actors. And I also scheduled this weekend to go out and buy used clothing from Mexican flea markets. They're really cheap, but I need to look for the right sizes, and I have to dedicate a whole day for it.