Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1109293
A L I T A : B A T T L E A N G E L | P E R S P E C T I V E 9 5 B u i l d i n g I r o n C i t y A L I T A : B A T T L E A N G E L B Y C A Y L A H E D D L E B L U T E W I T H S T E V E J O Y N E R , P R O D U C T I O N D E S I G N E R S This narrative covers the year and four months of physical production that was Alita: Battle Angel. The long slog that would follow for another two years, creating visual effects environments, I leave to they that know those travails best. Heroic endeavors all. The Alita landscape consists of Iron City, where "everyman" resides, and Zalem, the looming superstructure above. The remnant of a space elevator, the conduit connecting these upper and lower worlds, was long ago severed. Now Iron City serves Zalem. A spiderweb of pneumatic systems siphons all the wares Iron City produces up to Zalem. We read Jim Cameron's early notes in the fall of 2015, where he referenced Panama as one of the science- based locales where a space elevator could exist. Equatorial proximity makes the concept possible. A. IRON CITY ON THE FIRST DAY OF SHOOTING. THE TAQUERIA IN THE FOREGROUND AND IDO'S CLINIC TO THE LEFT. THE CLEAN LINES AT THE TOP OF THE BUILDINGS ACCOMMODATE LATER VISUAL EFFECTS SET EXTENSIONS.