Hay Day! Mexico
Our local crew provides logistics, pre-production, and filming services in the wilds of Baja California for the digital gaming app.
Conducting interviews in the abandoned lighthouse.
The Client
Hay Day! Maybe you've heard of this online game where you build a farm, little by little, raise farm animals, and grow your own food. Interactive games like these have been a mobile phone staple for many years. Hay Day! is a perennial favorite since 2012.
As part of its marketing strategy, the brand has taken on the task of looking for incredible stories about its worldwide users with a series called "Meet The Farmer" on its YouTube channel. That's how the Hay Day team found Moisés, a fisherman from Guerrero Negro in Mexico's Baja California Sur who loves their game.
Hay Day requested support from our Mexican production company to solve all their logistical and technical needs for this new adventure in Guerrero Negro. WhereNext Mexico producer Daniela Beltran assembled a front-line crew with people from Mexico City and La Paz, Baja California Sur.
WhereNext Mexico producer Daniela Beltran in the field during our project with Hay Day in Guerrero Negro.
Pre-production and Scouting in Baja California, Mexico
Our team consisted of an audio manager, a drone operator, a production assistant, and a producer. Guerrero Negro is located at the northern limits of Baja California Sur. It has little tourist infrastructure, and getting there is arduous. A major part of the pre-production work was figuring out the best way to get to the destination. Three days before the client touched down in Mexico, the local crew began pre-production and scouting Guerrero Nego.
Meanwhile, our Mexico City team flew to La Paz to meet up with the local team and then undertook a 10-hour overland trip to reach Guerrero Negro. Once everyone was on-site in Guerrero Negro, we connected with the story's protagonist, Moisés, and continued scouting the best locations for the shots we needed.
Finding the Perfect Filming Locations
During our initial location scouting trip, we identified a series of excellent shooting locations: vast deserts with perfect sunsets, salt flats with turquoise blue saltwater lagoons, silvery dunes bordering the sea, an abandoned lighthouse with a mystical beauty, the largest salt factory in the world, and a lagoon dotted with colorful fishing boats. In addition, we located convenience stores, a small local supermarket, and some restaurants to take care of food during the shoot.
Without a doubt, Guerrero Negro had the otherwordly landscapes that we needed for this shoot.
Exploring the otherworldly landscapes of Guerrero Negro, Mexico.
The Story and Field Production
The client team arrived three days before filming began. Since they were traveling from the United States, they flew to Loreto, a small, touristy city on the Sea of Cortez, and from there traveled five hours to Guerrero Negro.
Once the whole seven-person team was in place, the creative work began. Moisés opened the doors of his home and introduced us to his family and his work so that we could film every aspect of his day-to-day life in Guerrero Negro.
Since we only had three days to film Moisés's story and tell the story of his relationship with Hay Day, the scenes were not shot in chronological order, which added to the complexity of the whole project.
On the first day, we filmed in the dunes, a beautiful place where locals usually go on weekends with their families for a relaxing day at the beach.
Filming in the giant dunes surrounding Guerrero Negro.
That same day we went to the home of one of Moisés' sisters to film a spectacular family meal. It is worth mentioning that Moisés has a huge family, so each meal turns into such a celebration. Shrimp, clams, and other seafood delicacies were prepared between laughter, conservation, and plenty of beer.
The next day, we filmed at the salt plains, an incredible place that looks like a valley of snow. From time to time, cracks open up in the salt pans, revealing small turquoise-blue saline lagoons. Moisés told us that many Guerrero Negro locals use these small lagoons to heal ailments and diseases.
A member of the client team enjoying the surreal landscapes of the Guerrero Negro salt plains.
On the third day of filming, we documented Moisés's work as a fisherman. Several days a week, Moisés has to drive about 30 kilometers north of Guerrero Negro, to reach the lagoon where he has two canoes. Then, he and his team searched for Pacific Geoduck saltwater clams (Panopea generosa).
This clam is only found for a couple of months each year and is highly prized, so during these months, Moisés and his team dive to depths of more than 100 feet to fish for these delicacies. They then take their day's catch to a local warehouse, where they negotiate the price. From there, the clams are exported all around the world, just like in Hay Day.
We wrapped up the shoot by interviewing Moisés in an abandoned lighthouse, which several locals use as a place for fishing and oyster farming. The old lighthouse has a visually arresting beauty; surrounded by rusting piers and thousands of raucous seabirds, it made for a highly photogenic location for the interview.
It’s a Wrap
After we wrapped, we escorted our clients back to Loreto, where we spent the night before heading to La Paz. Our local team enjoyed a delicious dinner and toasted a successfully executed production.
The Result
Our client was extremely happy with how our Mexican team produced and managed this shoot, particularly given the logistical difficulties of filming in this challenging location. The smooth and seamless nature of the pre-production allowed them to maximize their time in the field, without wasting a minute on unnecessary travel time or last-minute organization. Since everything was ready and in place for the client team upon their arrival, they could get right down to the business of the shoot.
The client feedback was especially positive for our WhereNext Mexico producer, Daniela Beltran, whose organizational skills, professionalism, and production chops were invaluable in the field.
Our Mexican production company team in the field with our clients from Hay Day.
Learn More About Our Mexican Production Company
Read about the journey which led to the creation our production company in Mexico. WhereNext’s founder Gregg Bleakney cycled the length of Mexico, in four months, during the course of his two-year marathon traverse of the Americas, from Alaska to Patagonia.