Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1109293
Steve and I had traveled to Panama some years earlier. Stone ruins jut out of grassy fields at the city core. Casco Viejo, a neighborhood of colonial buildings (I related these to Doc Ido's neighborhood) leads to concrete and rebar neighborhoods (Alita's slum district) and gleaming glass structures on the skyline (Zalem). These extraordinary contrasts were a real-world match to the Alita landscape. I began pulling photo references of Panama City and its neighborhoods, including Boca la Caja, El Chorrillo, the colonial Casco Viejo, as well as Colon, at the opposite end of the Panama Canal. Colonial Latin American cities we'd explored over the years, while working with Robert also made their way into Iron City. We'd worked in Mexico City, San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato and roads in-between. These settings tied in beautifully, as did early concept art, to producer Jon Landau's missive that Iron City not be dystopian. Drawing from our experiences in Panama, and all manner of Latin American locales gave us a tactile footing on which to visualize Iron City. Real life. Real journeys. Vivid sets. Quite by accident, I was able to reverse engineer the inspiration of early Iron City concept art. I've studied the layered textures of Havana's buildings since Robert Rodriguez turned us onto the book Robert Polidori: Havana back in 2005. In addition, we devoured City of Darkness, Girard and Lambot's book that chronicles the story of Hong Kong's Walled City of Kowloon, leveled in 1993. Kowloon was one of Cameron's key visual references. Digital set extensions would imbue the cityscape with Kowloon's vertical language as Iron City built upon itself over the centuries. It began by drawing a map. With script in hand and four-foot by eight-foot sheets of butcher paper laid out on a worktable, I began to "see" Iron City by plotting out the beats. Notes, sketches, arrows, dialogue snippets, dotted pathways. Keeping in mind the tone of locations in the Gunnm manga frames, the various "neighborhoods" began to reveal themselves. Ultimately, we developed a nomenclature so the crew could navigate its way through Iron City. At the same time, we began meeting with storyboard artist Marc Baird. We've worked with him for a couple of decades, so we can get right to it, blocking out scenes. He's fast, and exceptional at creating dynamic beats in a sequence. He immediately tackled the Kansas Bar, Market Street, Ambush Alley and Motorball, all A. PANAMA CITY PHOTO, A REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE IN A SINGLE FRAME OF THE CONTRAST BETWEEN ZALEM AND IRON CITY. PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES. B. IRON CITY FOOTPRINT: 175' X 350.' 61,425 SQ. FEET INCLUDES NOMENCLATURE FOR EACH SECTION OF BUILDINGS, SUPERVISING ART DIRECTOR TODD HOLLAND PEGGED THE STREET NAMES. C. A STORYBOARD BY MARC BAIRD FOR SCENE 11 IN IRON CITY'S MARKETPLACE. D. INDESIGN STYLE SHEET FOR AMBUSH ALLEY BY CAYLAH EDDLEBLUTE, INCLUDES GUNNM FRAMES AND MARC BAIRD'S STORYBOARDS. E. MOTORBALL PICKUP GAME. KEYFRAME BY STEVEN MESSING. B A