The photography of a desert

My new function, A desertIs an intense and surreal neonoir, which plays in the high desert of the American southwest, who follows the photographer Alex Clark when he tries to resume his lost creative spark.

Just as I approached the script A desert Was very different from other scripts that I wrote before. Before I wrote a page of the script, I decided to first create the work of Alex, the character of the art photographer I was interested in. For a few years I shot how Alex would shoot and accumulated a large collection of photos. Some of them can be seen prominently in the film how the photo of the drive-in theater and the pictures in Alex 'Book Death of the new West. (The title of the book is an allusion to the work of the prominent new topographics photographer Robert Adams, who recorded the development of the American West.)

I immersed myself in Alex 'artistic practice by undertooking several road trips in California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah, a unique and exciting way to really understand the character. These trips also served as a springboard for ideas for A desert And was well spent in terms of scouting.

The following photos had a significant impact on the design of the script and the conceptual core of A desert.

Kino – Victorville, California

Discovering this closed cinema was one of the most important things that happened in photography of the development of development A desert. The boring cinema that ever exists, the text “The Movies” can be felt like that Repo man Version of a cinema. What you cannot see from this perspective is that massive dirt hills had been pushed against its inputs and exits to prevent people from being a strange generic grave. When I discovered it, I thought about our current relationship with the cinema. The theater is also a massive military base, which has become an important location in the film. We actually shot a scene in which Alex drives to this cinema, but we cut it A desertAs I thought, people would be distracted, how badly Baloney looked “the films”.

Smith's Ranch Drive-in-Twentynine Palms, California

It was another important moment to take this photo of a drive-in film screen in Twentynine Palm. Connect A desert As a film in which I would examine the idea that films as a mirror can act for our own experiences. The picture above hangs on the wall in Alex and his wife Sam's bedroom, and Smith's Ranch Drive-in shows prominently in the finale of the film. I have always had an affinity for the drive-in, even if the poor image quality and the terrible audio come through this shitty loudspeaker or your car stereo system. One of my earliest childhood memories is the drive-in. It's summer, the sun just went down, I'm in the back seat, nipe on an ice -cold soda and watch Return of the Jedi Do not coil on the screen. It won't get much more American than that.

Billboard – Baker, California

Advertising boards and remains of advertising boards like this scattered the landscape in front of Desert Highway in the southwest. The advertising boards are often empty, which always reminds me of a drive-in film screen. The concept of advertising boards as an analogue to the film screen – especially in the open area of ​​the desert – is very part of the DNA of A desert. In one scene, Alex stares at an empty advertising table outside of his motel room and reflects. It happened by chance that there was accidentally an empty advertising board in the parking lot of our motel location, since it later existed in the film on the drive-in film cream. This photo became the cover picture of Alex 'Book, Death of the new West.

Disappeared military base – Victorville, California

In the work of the new Topgraphics photographers Alex, Alex will often find a feeling of irony in the pictures, similar to in this case. When I discovered this disused military base in Victorville, which spread and rotten in the hot sun of the high desert, I was fascinated. Several scenes in A desert Turn around the inappropriate going into the intestine of an abandoned military base. Apparently it is too expensive to tear down the structures properly so that they have just left them so that the elements can slowly do their thing. There is a preschool and prison nearby, both of which seem completely appropriate for this corner of the desert.

Road idea – Calico, California

Similar to the advertising boards, these monuments are located in the entire desert on the side of the two -lane streets and highways. In particular, this has really turned out, with its flowing American flag against the background of the Calico Hills. Calico is an old mining city that became Ghost Town tourist trap and is presented in one of my favorite noations of the 50s. The Prowler. I wanted to grasp the flag that fluctuated as much as possible in the breeze, so several attempts were made. Take the time to wait for the best moment help me think about Alex 'process and his observation and the patient eye. This photo was also on the last page in Death of the new West And is a sum of the artistic statement of Alex, which is quite summarizing on the nose, tries to convey his collection of photographs.