🖤🪰Behind-the-Scenes: Filming Petroleum Flies!🖤🪰 

Rosa Tuirán, who produced our recent episode about petroleum flies, and Josh Cassidy, our lead producer and cinematographer, share what it took to film down in the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles, California. See Rosa and Josh in action in the behind-the-scenes video above and photos below.

Rosa Talks About Filming Elusive Petroleum Flies

“Climbing down a construction ladder to reach Pit 91 at the La Brea Tar Pits was just the beginning of this adventure. Working with asphalt made collecting the tiny petroleum flies very challenging."

Rosa carefully climbs down to Pit 91, an excavation site at the La Brea Tar Pits, where we filmed petroleum flies and their larvae thriving in the gooey asphalt. (Josh Cassidy/KQED)

"First, we had to spot the larvae swimming in the tar pits. Then, Sean Campbell, a paleontologist with the La Brea Tar Pits and Museum, carefully used a toothpick to transfer them into a petri dish. Sounds easy, right? Not with these tiny critters!

Adult flies were even trickier. We used an aspirator, a device that captures small insects without harming them, and we placed them in an aquarium for filming. Imagine trying to catch something as small as a fruit fly, flying around a dark, gooey substance. There were, of course, many unsuccessful attempts.

And forget about glamor in the tar pits! Once that tar gets on your clothes, it’s not coming off. So, making sure you have clothes and shoes that can handle asphalt is a must!”

Josh Films Petroleum Flies

“I’m used to filming in forests, ponds, even the ocean. But the tar pits were a whole new challenge. We had to be extra careful to make sure not to get even a drop of the sticky liquid asphalt on the camera equipment. Plus you don’t exactly want to wade out into the tar to get the shot. It took a bit of yoga to get the shots of the flies.” 

Josh Cassidy films outdoor shots at the La Brea Tar Pits among the replicas of mammoths that roamed the Los Angeles area thousands of years ago. (Rosa Tuirán/KQED)

Josh Cassidy films petroleum flies in the gooey asphalt as paleontologist Sean Campbell of the La Brea Tar Pits & Museum looks on.  (Rosa Tuirán/KQED)

Paleontologist Sean Campbell of the La Brea Tar Pits & Museum sits at the base of Pit 91 one of the La Brea Tar Pits’ excavation sites. Rosa and Josh climbed down the construction ladder seen in the background with film gear. (Rosa Tuirán/KQED)

Paleontologist Sean Campbell (right) looks for petroleum flies to film while Josh Cassidy (left) gets his camera ready at the base of Pit 91, one of the La Brea Tar Pits’ excavation sites. (Rosa Tuirán/KQED)

A row of the special collections at the La Brea Tar Pits & Museum. Millions of specimens have been excavated from the La Brea Tar Pits and have been carefully stored and preserved for scientific study. (Rosa Tuirán/KQED)