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International Locations: Desert and Dry Landscapes
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Filming in the desert presents unique challenges, but can reap massive rewards. From Lawrence Of Arabia and Ice Cold In Alex to The English Patient and Star Wars, desert locations have always been a powerful cinematic tool.
Australia
Desert and semi-desert areas cover two-thirds of Australia, so it’s no surprise that the country is a favourite destination for filmmakers looking to shoot in dry landscapes. From Crocodile Dundee to Pitch Black, Red Planet and Siam Sunset, Australia’s hot dry summers provide a wealth of opportunities for desert locations, from lunar landscapes to endless sand dunes. Flinders Range and Coober Pedy in South Australia, Mount Isa, Longreach and Winton in Queensland, and Victoria’s North-West region are all destinations where impressive location services offer plentiful experience. Their reputations rest on their attention to detail: to cope with the intense heat of summer, for example, much of the accommodation provided is entirely underground. For deserted, sparse outback locations look to Broken Hill in New South Wales, Western Australia, and of course the great Ayers Rock at Uluru in Australia’s ‘red centre’.
The Americas
Anyone filming in the badland of the Dakotas, the cacti filled Yuma desert of Mexico, or the barren wastes of Patagonia in Argentina have to tread carefully, for they’re filming in the footsteps of hundreds of Hollywood westerns and period dramas. On top of that, America’s popularity as a tourist destination means that many desert locations are instantly recognisable; Death Valley and Monument Valley, for example, are famous for their striking deep red colours and the long shadows falling behind the enormous sandstone formations. At sunrise and sunset the vivid shades of violet blue and red in north-eastern Arizona’s Painted Desert create almost unnaturally powerful colours.
Makoshika State Park in Montana wins a mention, as the Sioux translation of its name is ‘bad spirits’ – or ‘bad lands’. Strange rock structures of sandstone knobs and caprocks characterise Makoshika’s dry, desert feel, created by wind and water erosion which have so far revealed ten different species of dinosaur fossils.
Equally, though, the Americas possess a range of arid deserts with a more generic scope. British Columbia in Canada offers different types of scorched localities with a landcape stretching from the dry, sandy fields of the Okanagan Desert to the parched mountainous wilderness in the valleys and foothills of the Rockies.
Finally, a mention must be made for Chile’s Atacama desert. Stretching in a long, thin rectangle for 600 miles between the Pacific Ocean and the Andes, the salt basins and lava flows have created a strange atmosphere so akin to the lunar landscape that prototype Moon Rovers were tested here. The Atacama can double for Baja California, the Namibian Desert and the Sahara, at only a fraction of the price.
Africa/Middle East
The North African coast is one of the most popular locations for desert shooting, mainly thanks to its proximity to Europe. In Morocco you will find Ouarzazate, where Lawrence Of Arabia was filmed, and Erfoud, which boasts powdery 200-metre-high dunes. Tunisian locations include the strange desert rock formations of Onk Jemal, also descriptively known as the Camel’s Neck Mountain. And if you were impressed by the isolated atmosphere of Luke Skywalker’s childhood, then Chott el Gharsa, with its endless dunes is the place, where the set from Star Wars still remains.
Far away in South Africa, Kersefontein’s preserved landscape offers a desert panorama just an hour’s drive out of Cape Town.
In addition to North Africa, some Middle Eastern states have begun encouraging filmmakers to shoot on location in their local regions. Jordan, for example, promotes Wadi Rum, a desert valley cut into the sandstone and granite where T E Lawrence was based during the Arab Revolt of 1917-18. The Israel Film Commission is opening up the Judean Desert and the Dead Sea to filmmakers offering a magical ambience originating from their biblical pasts. The Dubai Desert, meanwhile, is perfectly capable of promoting events other than golf tournaments: every night it hosts a display of endless horizons and a vast expanse of night stars.
Europe
The mystical corners of faraway locations are very tempting: however it’s not necessary to travel hundreds of miles to get the perfect arid look. Europe boasts a surprising number of desert locations, but perhaps the most unexpected of all lies near the city of Røros in Norway, to the north-east of Oslo. Here massive sand dunes perfectly recreate the feel of warmer climes. Similar vast, isolated dunes can be found on the Polish coast of the Baltic Sea, whilst the Meseta Central and Abro Basin in Spain’s interior hit extreme temperatures in the summer time, offering you the true feeling of exotic deserts.
Many of Europe’s desert locations have already been used – in spaghetti westerns.
Most of these were filmed in Spain, usually near Almeria on the mediterranean coast. The resemblance to the American Southwest and to the borderlands with Mexico are striking. The spaghetti westerns were also shot in the Canary Islands at Sioux City in San Agustin.
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