The Location Managers Guild International (LMGI) is the largest organization of Location Managers and Location Scouts in the motion picture, television, commercial and print production industries. Their membership plays a vital role in the creativ
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48 • LMGI COMPASS | Winter 2019 Kyle Hinshaw us there to create the space that he needed. However, I took all of production's concerns to Vulcan, and they assured me and the design team that we were in the best spot to achieve the looks we needed. They had massive machines on site that could sculpt the existing lot into whatever topography we needed using existing material. Any additional aggregate could be delivered within hours. The price was right, so we decided to move forward with this plan. Nathan worked with his set designer to create a blueprint of the landscape that matched geographically to the Apollo 8 landing zone. I took this plan to the Vulcan Quarry, and worked with them on determining how to achieve this look with the aggregate and machinery on site. Vulcan demolished the remaining structures at our set and used their earth movers to grade and flatten about six acres of land. Then they dug a huge crater in the middle of the set, and created a 12' berm around the perimeter of the set, establishing a matte line for visual effects. This berm also hid the base of the crane that the lighting department used. The DP had an experimental fixture fabricated for the shoot that burned at 200,000 watts to simulate the sun. Once the set had been graded and the berm was in place, the quarry delivered multiple 100-ton loads of aggregate that were dressed into the set to match the powdery grey dust on the moon's surface. If we had not found that particular site, the moon surface may have been much less impressive. We simply could not have afforded to build a set that size on a backlot, or in some arena or stage. None of these options would have allowed Damien the look he wanted without massive visual effects. LR: Tell me more about the launch pad location at Cape Canaveral. KH: The launch pad was difficult to find on location in the Metro Atlanta area. After looking at many research photos, we were able to determine that we needed massive steel structures that could convey the immense scope of the Vehicle Assembly Building and launch pads at Cape Canaveral. It was not going to be financially possible to film multiple days at the NASA facility, so we had to find a way to double everything. We worked very close with Mike Staples, the film representative at Georgia Power who got us in to scout numerous facilities. Plant Scherer in Juliette's proximity to a large body of water helped sell the location as Cape Canaveral, along with the massive steel structures and working elevators attached to the coal plant. There were three missions being launched from Plant Scherer, the Gemini and two Apollo, which made for some creative repurposing of what the power plant had to offer. We staged a scene at the base of their SCR structure doubling the base of the launch pad, and built the upper gantry way and command capsule of the Apollo 8 on the roof to stage the scene where the astronauts walk out of the elevator and load into the rocket. The height of a Saturn 5 rocket is approximately the same elevation as Plant Scherer's roof. This put the horizon in the perfect location for the camera. Also, beautiful Lake Juliette stood in as a perfect replacement for Lake Solana at Cape Canaveral. The power plant was tough logistically because getting equipment to the top of the power plant was not easy—it took our construction department about three days just to load in. The plant itself had a lot of security protocols and safety precautions, so our location team had to go through training to learn their procedures and we developed a system to get the prep, shooting, and strike crews in and out of the facility as efficiently as possible. Photos: Kyle Hinshaw/LMGI Photo courtesy of Kyle Hinshaw/LMGI