Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1124104
far too draconian application of copyright law vs. fair use opportunities. One can just imagine the Art Department's collective groans when we learned that we had to design a regional Comic-Con convention requiring the requisite trademarked branding with less than ten days to design and manufacture hundreds of graphic assets. Short-Order VFX Backdrops Another original challenge the Art Department faced was having to create a very large panorama backdrop for the stage set, one that needed to depict the Habit for Humanity's backlot community. The problem was that it needed to be designed, shot and manufactured before the backlot's construction would be completed. There were no rental backings that worked and the show's managers would not allow one to be painted in the beginning when there was still time. Digital printing was the only option, but without a high-resolution image file of the location, we could not proceed. In order to turn lemons into lemonade, Hind Al-Shaneen, our talented ADG- PA, turned her SketchUp model of the backlot into a file with sufficient data for the visual effects team to create a photo-realistic digital matte painting over a weekend. Their digital file was sent to an Atlanta-based graphics vendor, who printed it onto fabric that for the cinematographer's lighting purposes was preferred over vinyl. Necessity became the mother of our salvation and the backdrop that resulted worked surprisingly well, and it was fabricated and delivered in days rather than weeks. Lessons Learned and Better Tomorrows When first getting a script, it is the Production's Designer unique role to look at nothing and see everything—all the possibilities. Designers are entrusted with the important responsibility to make something from nothing. So for me, making motion pictures on location is a version of from farm-to-table filmmaking, too often while having to walk through the fires of production. Though always challenging and potentially rewarding, location filmmaking can also be disastrous. What was most lacking in the making of The Act was any proactive attempt on the part of the producing managers to address and report back to the studio the fundamental details of the deficiencies that were identified during the early days in Savannah. From the outset, the studios and their producing partners must be the first to ask and answer the most fundamental questions of whether the chosen region has sufficient human and physical resources to ensure for the successful realization of their productions. They cannot apply Donald Rumsfeld's doctrine of "You go to war with the army you have, not the army A. SOUTHSIDE BACKLOT HOUSES IN PROGESS. B. SOUTHSIDE BACKLOT HOUSES. SKETCHUP MODEL BY HIND AL-SHANEEN. C. FINAL 2D VIEW USED TO MANUFACTURE A 120-FOOT X 15-FOOT BACKDROP. SKETCHUP MODEL BY HIND AL- SHANEEN. FINAL ARTWORK CREATED BY CRAFTY APES, VFX. D. PRODUCTION CONCEPT ART. GRAPHIC DESIGN BY T. WALSH. E. LIVING ROOM ALTAR TO GYPSY ROSE. PAINTING BY SCENIC ARTIST KIM DAVID. F. INTERIOR OF DEE DEE AND GYPSY'S KITCHEN AS SEEN IN ITS FINAL PHASE OF DECLINE AND DECAY. PHOTO NBC UNIVERSAL. A B C