Operating in the desert

[Lars Erik]

Hello friends,

 

I'm going on a 4-week shoot in the Arizona deserts. My question it his:

 

Will I have to pack the rig in as if it was raining? Due to the sand.

 

BTW, do you think I'll need antlers? Dumb question to ask really, but need a confirmation. And yes, I will call that Bryant fellow who makes them. :D

 

 

Best regards and thanks

 

Lars

[bobgilles]

I highly suggest using one of Jerry Hill's arm gators to cover the arm all day, I use one with a Master's arm and can adjust the weight while it is on. The arm is probably the most critically exposed part of the rig in sandy environments, I can deal with cleaning pretty much everything else, but if some debris gets into the arm, it can be a nightmare. Try to cover the rig between takes and steal as many shower caps as you can from the motel to slap over the mattebox when you land for breaks. Remember that compressed air can do more damage as you can blow grains deeper into crevices, believe it or not, distilled water can often be safer than air (sounds crazy, but true). I remember Mark O'Kane telling me that he actually would open up his GPI monitor and pour distilled water on it to bring it back to life after the salt environment shorted it out on Waterworld. Amazing, that freaked me out at the time since they were over $15,000 back then!