During the production of the film, El Llano De La Paciencia, the audio crew faced some harsh environmental challenges that arose from shooting in the Atacama Desert. To help them capture dialogue and ambient sounds during the shoot, the team relied on DPA Microphones‘ d:screet 4061 omnidirectional, d:dicate 4017B shotgun and d:dicate 4018C compact supercardioid microphones.
El Llano De La Paciencia is the story of two old friends who reunite and travel to the Atacama Desert to dig up a meteorite they left buried 40 years ago. Carlo Sánchez Farías, sound production mixer for the film, knew DPA Microphones’ products had the necessary features to overcome the challenges of filming in the open desert. To address these problems, Sánchez Farías used a combination of two d:screet 4061s for close miking along with the d:dicate 4017B Shotgun and 4018C Compact Supercardioid mics to capture the performance of the Chilean actors.
“Recording audio in a desert is extremely difficult, as it is an intense environment, so production for this short film was very challenging,” says Farías. “We were up against severe weather and landscape conditions – battling heat, wind, dust and sand – but the mics held up against those elements. I have been using the company’s mics for the last year and chose them for this production because they have an outstanding audio quality and are built to be durable, while the design makes them light and comfortable. Over the five days of filming, I felt very calm and secure working with DPA mics.”
El Llano De La Paciencia is one of the four short films produced as part of Chile Factory, a collective project launched by the Cannes Film Festival; CinemaChile, Chile’s promotional audiovisual agency; and Chile’s Audiovisual Art and Industry Council, premiered on May 14 at The Directors’ Fortnight (La Quinzaine des Realisateurs), the opening event for Cannes.
