This summer our rock band was invited to shoot a music video in a real gypsum mine where the workers extract this mineral.
The temperature outside was +35 degrees above Celsius but the temperature inside the mine was only +3 and we had to spend the whole day there. You may laugh , but I took a fur coat and a winter cap with me when i was packing the things for this small trip, and of course, a flask of cognac, because I was afraid to get a cold.
Before entering the cave, we were given huge jackets and helmets, as well as large rubber boots and special miners' lamps. It's dark in the mine and there is water under the feet in some places.
I felt hot when i was getting to the entrance of the mine in my warm leather pants, in my leather rock jacket and in a warm miners' coat.
I thought that the heat would make me faint. But there was no possibility to change clothes inside the mine, it was too cold, damp and dirty there.
In the heart of the mine there is a cave that people have turned into a museum of horrors.
Tourist groups often visit this place with excursions. You can see medieval instruments for torture in the museum. We were going to shoot the video in this lovely place. Isn't that nice?
The lights' specialist arrived much earlier than we did. His task was to arrange the lights and to put his big lamps inside the absolutely dark cave.
He was checking his equipment via his laptop. We installed the drum kit right in the center of the cave. It looked very picturesque.
Of course, we did not connect the musical instruments and the vocalist sang without any microphone. The task of each musician was to get into the notes of our own musical score.
The shooting wasn't easy, because we did a lot of takes, and my fingers were frozen.
I had to take off my winter cap and my fur coat quite often, then I ran to our improvised stage in light clothes. After that again, I put on all these warm clothes again and drank hot tea .
We used some effects during the filming. We made large shadows of ourselves and ran projections on the walls of the mine from the computer.
Although it was cold, we felt very excited because it was a very creative process.
The final scene was to go to the light at the end of the tunnel. There were two large lamps there. It looked like this:
After shooting the video, it was necessary to collect all the equipment and go back on foot carrying all the instruments with us. The way to the exit from the mine took about 15 minutes.
We carried a lot of things. A special mat for our drum-kit was blown away by the wind in the mine and we were running for it. It was funny.
In some locations the mine was really dangerous. Certain areas on the ceiling were outlined in red, it was forbidden to pass under them.
What an adventure!- we thought when we finally left the mine.
Two dogs were sitting near our van and asking for food. It was usual life again.
And the heat of 35 degrees.. oh, no..
