Quicksand Fans

Time to time I start a topic like this

In a mini-series "Lace" (that I haven't seen) there is a bog scene. The girl falls in a bog in the forest and is rescued by some guy. Very typical DID scene I stumbled upon an article about the shooting of the scene. The scene was shot near Moscow, and they say the bogs there is not warm enough even in Summer. (Been there, don't agree. See below). So, they decided not to use a real bog but to make a pit 3x3 metres.

What we can see - they did it horribly I guess, couldn't be worse. No mud, only water...

Such a cute girl deserves better mudpit.

Here is she slightly dirty (I can't call it "covered with mud") with (I suppose) her rescuer
there are two other photos in the article and some other photos that were not linked from the article, but could be easily 'calculated' by filenames:
http://lean-m.ru/files/images/kruzh_080703_01.jpg
http://lean-m.ru/files/images/kruzh_080703_02.jpg
http://lean-m.ru/files/images/kruzh_080703_03.jpg
http://lean-m.ru/files/images/kruzh_080703_06.jpg
http://lean-m.ru/files/images/kruzh_080703_07.jpg
http://lean-m.ru/files/images/kruzh_080703_09.jpg

(The direct links work for me; I hope, they will work for the others, too)

Now about classics. I stumbled upon an interview with the actress who performed the scene in "Dawns are Quiet Here".
The shooting was where it was suppose to be: in Karelia. Far to the North from Moscow. Where the water in the bog is REALLY cold (what was very significant in the storyline). The place for shooting were prepared simply and effectively: they just used some explosive to make a deep hole in the bog. The hole was filled with water and mud in a natural way. The depth was not very clear. Despite the temperature they repeated the scene many times. The actress can't forget the second attempt. The idea was: she goes under and waits there as long as she can. She proved to have rather good lungs. There was nothing to hold at, so to stay under the water she dug her boots deep into the mire. When she decided that it's time to get out, she raised her hands up (as it was agreed), and... nothing happen. Her hand didn't appear over the surface. The alarm was set by the cameramen who measured time in the metres of the exposed film. He first realized that she stays there for too long. They kept some planks for that purpose, so they put the planks over the pit, quickly found the actress and pulled her out. Next times she didn't go in so deep.

Really, to make an outstanding thing, a lot of efforts needed...

.

Interesting. Thanks for posting it. It might not be made well ,
but I may just need to pick that one up. Thanks again.

Ya know, if there was real quicksand or deep, thick mud an inch or two below the surface in the second picture, the overall set up would've been cool. If that's only water and no mud... yeah, I hear ya.

Thanks for the "behind the scenes" info on Dawns Are Quiet Here. Very interesting.

Thanks for sharing!

Excellent contribution Billie; thank you. And you make a very important point at the end of your post.

Whay everyone else said. Love the behind the scenes insights of how scenes are done... also shows the importance of location shooting too and how to best use your sites.

Makes one wonder how these would have looked if shot in bogs similar to Boggy Man's... just a thought...

bart1997 wrote:Regarding the scene from "The Dawns here are quiet": In case you don't know, this can be found here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwJmmNRn ... L&index=13
Action starts about 5:50, the sinking is at the end of the clip. Watching this made me really sad. There are very few scenes that are such intense like this one.

Thank you for the link! The scene was posted on DeepSinking by Dave or Fred (sorry, I don't remember who of you decided to buy the DVD). This link is better to me, as the movie is not dubbed into English. In fact, I have no problem to go and buy the DVD. The Soviet classics is easy to find here. However, now I don't want to watch serious dramatic movies, especially with quicksand scenes. There is some gap between my fetish and serious drama, I don't want to mix them. Also, this scene comes from my childhood, and in many aspects I take it as a real life story, not a fiction.

PM2K wrote:Makes one wonder how these would have looked if shot in bogs similar to Boggy Man's... just a thought...

I think we don't speak about "Dawns are Quiet Here", because that scene couldn't be done any better. The location is just the place described in the novel, and it should look exactly that way.

I only wonder, what the Chinese managed to shot in their series "Dawns are Quiet Here". They constructed the whole Russian-like village for shooting, they hired young Russian actors. They could do it excellent, or could make it very very bad, as the Chinese often do. It would be very interesting to see.

What about the photos that I shared here, the setting looks like typical Russian forest. It's realistic. A girl may walk in such forest... But the reason for a girl to fall in such a bog in the daytime is rather unclear. She wouldn't step into water! Of course, if she was frightened by something, say, she heard a noise and decided that this is a wolf or a bear, she could run through the bushes like hell and end up anywhere we want her.

But the Boggy Man's bogs look like bogs. They look dangerous to a Russian girl (if she's not a total idiot). She wouldn't go there alone. The Russians know what the bog is, and what walking there may result in. But if the girl is not alone, if she is motivated (say, she has to pick some very useful berries to prepare medicine for her granny), then everything may happen (and happens).

bart1997 wrote:Regarding the scene from "The Dawns here are quiet": In case you don't know, this can be found here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwJmmNRn ... L&index=13
Action starts about 5:50, the sinking is at the end of the clip. Watching this made me really sad. There are very few scenes that are such intense like this one.

Thank you for the link! The scene was posted on DeepSinking by Dave or Fred (sorry, I don't remember who of you decided to buy the DVD). This link is better to me, as the movie is not dubbed into English. In fact, I have no problem to go and buy the DVD. The Soviet classics is easy to find here. However, now I don't want to watch serious dramatic movies, especially with quicksand scenes. There is some gap between my fetish and serious drama, I don't want to mix them. Also, this scene comes from my childhood, and in many aspects I take it as a real life story, not a fiction.

PM2K wrote:Makes one wonder how these would have looked if shot in bogs similar to Boggy Man's... just a thought...

I think we don't speak about "Dawns are Quiet Here", because that scene couldn't be done any better. The location is just the place described in the novel, and it should look exactly that way.

I only wonder, what the Chinese managed to shot in their series "Dawns are Quiet Here". They constructed the whole Russian-like village for shooting, they hired young Russian actors. They could do it excellent, or could do it horribly bad, as the Chinese often do. It would be very interesting to see.

What about the photos that I shared here, the setting looks like typical Russian forest. It's realistic. A girl may walk in such forest... But the reason for a girl to fall in such a bog in the daytime is rather unclear. She wouldn't step into water! Of course, if she was frightened by something, say, she heard a noise and decided that this is a wolf or a bear, she could run through the bushes like hell and end up anywhere we want her.

The Boggy Man's bogs look like bogs. They look dangerous to a Russian girl (if she's not a total idiot). She wouldn't go there alone. The Russians know what the bog is, and what walking there may result in. But if the girl is not alone, if she is motivated (say, she has to pick some very useful berries to prepare medicine for her granny), then everything may happen (and happens).

Billie Bonce wrote:I think we don't speak about "Dawns are Quiet Here", because that scene couldn't be done any better. The location is just the place described in the novel, and it should look exactly that way.

No disrespect intended to the scene, Billy. I personally think the DAQH scene is the best one I've ever seen in a mainstream film, bar none. And I didn't even read the novel...

I was just thinking out loud... in case some producer out there is thinking of doing a similar scene one day. They could take their cues from that one...

Billie Bonce wrote:I only wonder, what the Chinese managed to shot in their series "Dawns are Quiet Here". They constructed the whole Russian-like village for shooting, they hired young Russian actors. They could do it excellent, or could do it horribly bad, as the Chinese often do. It would be very interesting to see.

You got my curiosity peaked!

Billie Bonce wrote:What about the photos that I shared here, the setting looks like typical Russian forest. It's realistic. A girl may walk in such forest... But the reason for a girl to fall in such a bog in the daytime is rather unclear. She wouldn't step into water! Of course, if she was frightened by something, say, she heard a noise and decided that this is a wolf or a bear, she could run through the bushes like hell and end up anywhere we want her.

Sounds good to me. The setting is very nice, and I agree something must happen to get the young lady in the bog in the first place.

Billie Bonce wrote:The Boggy Man's bogs look like bogs. They look dangerous to a Russian girl (if she's not a total idiot). She wouldn't go there alone. The Russians know what the bog is, and what walking there may result in. But if the girl is not alone, if she is motivated (say, she has to pick some very useful berries to prepare medicine for her granny), then everything may happen (and happens).

Not ruling out the total idiot idea.... perhaps a Russian equal to Paris Hilton? I would also go with the chased idea here too. She has no choice but to try her luck across the treacherous wastelands...

Billie Bonce wrote:

bart1997 wrote:if she is motivated (say, she has to pick some very useful berries to prepare medicine for her granny), then everything may happen (and happens).

For example, a situation such as this?