Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1184216
made a USLHE-stamped dustpan (not strictly required, but one of the many fi nds Ian Greig, the set decorator, picked up from a collector). Ian and property master Gerold Schmidt teased out the details from Art Department research in the items they found or made. The compressed timeline was a challenge, but the specifi city of the research, I believe, helped to streamline the process. The Build Shooting a fi lm in the early spring means you are building your sets in the winter. And the Nova Scotia coast is cold in the winter. After the initial scout, I stayed in Halifax for an extra day to meet with Matt Likely, the Art Director and an old friend. I had spoken to Matt as soon as I thought the fi lm might shoot in Nova Scotia and was happy to see him. He had started putting together a local crew and had a few key personnel he wanted me to meet. I was concerned that we wouldn't be able to fi nd a crew that could accomplish what was needed in the time available. But my concerns were unfounded. Matt helped me fi nd a team of incredibly talented, hardworking craftspeople who remained positive in some of the most extreme conditions imaginable. After a short delay, offi cial preproduction began in February, and building began almost right away; feeding the crew drawings as fast possible. Most of the sets were produced modularly in Halifax and sent down to Yarmouth as soon as the site was ready for them. One day, just before the lighthouse pieces were ready to start shipping to the site, I received a note that the scaff olding crew had stopped working. The tight deadlines couldn't aff ord a delay, so I quickly gave Vince a call (read: distressed call). He informed me the waves were breaking over the 30-foot rockface to the east, and that the sea spray was freezing and had encased the scaff olding in ice. Ocean water freezes at a much lower temperature than freshwater, but the air temperature had dropped below minus 20º Celsius. So with the site unsafe, everyone was brought back to the shop and we waited a few days for the weather to break. Luckily it did, and we re- doubled our eff orts to get back on schedule. Every member of the crew was extremely professional. There wasn't a cowboy among them. And they showed me what, with proper safety precautions taken, could be done effi ciently, on a miserably cold, wet, windy, snowy spit of land on the Nova Scotia coast. Three nor' easters came through as the crew built and then shot the exteriors on Cape Forchu. During this time, the crew simply—got to work. When the engineer came back with his requirements for the lighthouse and subframe, he A. EXTERIOR LIGHTHOUSE ASSEMBLY. DRAWN BY ART DIRECTOR MATT LIKELY. B. EXTERIOR LIGHTHOUSE WITH THE TUBE AND CLAMP SCAFFOLDING COMPLETE AND THE ASSEMBLY OF THE BRICK CLADDING GETTING STARTED. SET PHOTO. C. THE LANTERN HOUSE BEING INSTALLED. SET PHOTO. D. BUILDING THE KEEPERS' HOUSE IN THE WINTER. SET PHOTO. E. FINISHED LOCATION SET. SET PHOTO. F. EXTERIOR FOG SIGNAL HOUSE ON CAPE FORCHU. PRODUCTION STILL. G. KEEPERS' HOUSE COMPLETED. BILL GERHARDT, THE HEAD OF THE GREENS DEPARTMENT, DRESSED OUT THE ASPHALT PATHWAYS THAT CRISSCROSSED CAPE FORCHU, INCLUDING THE ROAD THAT RAN IN FRONT OF THE HOUSE. SET PHOTO. A