Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1332040
BUNKER Facemaker, Fast Forward, Noodles and Wild Card, character names all…a pint-sized cast with superhero skills. Where does the story introduce them In a fortified classroom of course. We called it the "Bunker." Fifteen script pages chock full of gags. Back pocket, we have a standing set at Troublemaker Studios. It wasn't planned that way. It's just evolved. It's no small thing to have access to your own creative history, to an endeavor you know intimately. Designed as the Titty Twister Bar for the series From Dusk Till Dawn (based on the original movie, which we also worked on), we'd morphed it into The Kansas Bar for Alita: Battle Angel. I walked back into this old friend and studied it anew. It would make the perfect H bunker to "protect" our superhero kids. A couple of raised eyebrows glanced my way, to be sure. Robert however, locked on the potential. He stood in the middle of the set where we'd all spent so many…years. With its bones scraped clean, it was a bold block of brutalism. All rectangles, concrete and hard edges, it was the perfect foil to the organic shapes of the alien world. With a 60-foot by 75-foot footprint, the set turned out to be the perfect size for all the wire work, gags, stunt pads and crane moves. Spot on for budget and time, we could focus on making it cool. We carved in more weight. Set decorators Jennifer Long and Bart Brown jumped in with spill-proof desks and chairs, unbreakable toys. And multiples. All dressing cleared out in a snap. Details counted. Prop master Jason Hammond could prep for the daily gags. Wheel's wheelchair could easily maneuver about, with its off-camera steering rig. The added feature: We turned the Bunker into yet another set, the Heroics ops room. Drape and banners. Custom desks, monitors and mission plaques. Shaina Hedlund was the graphics superhero. VAULT DOOR The script described a vault door leading to the bunker. "Make it massive." Got it. An unwieldy set piece and little kids acting had to work together. Paul, Steve and I often joke about the complexities of designing vault doors. We've done it before. We D E F G H