Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1332040
City Hall, which looked great as the interior H, Robert started shooting angles. "Let's put the tram in here" Transport and site access shot to the top of our design notes. The location's freight elevator proved impractical. We'd have to bring the tram in, one piece at a time, through the front doors. We'd designed and built two identical tanker trucks a few years earlier for a stunt sequence on From Dusk Till Dawn's second season. One of the trucks had to fl ip and slide. With the same team, Paul on point and Jaree Vaughn leading the welders, we could clear the path. A steel frame with bolted sections formed the tram's understructure. Steve took a value engineering pass, the lightest weight callout possible for the most strength. The fl oor was C, 0.185 wall channel steel. Sixteen gauge, two-inch- square tube framed out the elevations and ceilings. Great care was given to reducing weight. To avoid interruptions at City Hall, construction would install and remove the tram over a weekend. Symmetry won the day and simplifi ed design. Plus, with identical endcaps, the tram could take off in any direction. We also chose to make the interior identical front to back and side to side. This made for effi cient construction and a snappy, clean look. When you fi lm eleven kids in a small space, any edge to propel camera setups wins the day. It was an easy set to shoot. Paul drew plans to ensure all materials fi t within the bolt together sections. He eyeballed each MDF panel as it came off the CNC router. Each endcap was removable. Windows popped out in a second. (We knew the tram would shoot on green screen.) He sourced aluminum chairs at Walmart's online site, removed the legs and drew up a bench. Every part of the set could wild, seats, benches, walls, and the subway-style hand straps and poles. Set decorator Bart Brown searched the globe for those darn subway straps. Benches hid AC vents. Pumping in cool air from off camera was a numero uno requirement in the Austin summer. We've designed a number of food trucks for projects past, small sets where lighting is all the more critical (lessons remembered with great clarity). Three skylights in the tram's ceiling were a great start. Adam modeled custom sockets for uasar -50 LED tubes. 3D printed on our Prusa MK3s, these rapid prototyping opportunities tackle a common Art Department challenge, integrating electrical fi xtures into the set. The tram sparkled with light. Graphic Artist Shaina Hedlund came up with advert banners, including one for Great White Bites, a cereal we'd created for Sharkboy and Lavagirl. Since both characters appear in this story as adults, we had to connect the dots. Construction arrived on Friday afternoon at City Hall. The tram was installed and the crew wrapped before midnight. Pre-rig, light, stunt rehearsal and dress on Saturday. Shoot and strike Sunday. In all, construction and set dec tore down and reassembled the tram from the ground up three times. It shot at the downtown interior Heroics H, in a grassy backyard where it crashes into a gazebo, and outside at TMS where we set up various coverage shots. Finally, it moved to the green screen for interior fl ying shots. POSTSCRIPT While We Can Be Heroes is not the last project we worked on since the onset of these interesting times, it is the last endeavor we completed. Since then, we began prep on a fi lm that started and shut downtwice. To write about Heroes has proven a great tonic, recalling a bit of play, color and goofi ness. May we all savor the extraordinary wonder creative collaboration brings and once again experience that great adrenaline rush on which we thrive. ADG NOW WITH MORE SUGAR MORE SUGAR SUGAR SUGAR SUGAR SUGAR SUGAR SUGAR SUGAR SUGAR SUGAR SUGAR SUGAR SUGAR NOW WITH MORE MORE MORE MORE SUGAR SUGAR SUGAR SUGAR SUGAR SUGAR FORTIFIED WITH VITAMINS A BOWL FULL OF FIN-TASTIC FLAVOR A. EXTERIOR HEROICS HQ. CONCEPT ILLUSTRATION BY DANIEL LIM. B. TRAM MODEL IN SECTIONS JUST LIKE WE'D BUILD IT. MODELED BY PAUL ALIX IN VECTORWORKS. 3D PRINTED BY ADAM FONTENAULT. C. SHIP IN A BOTTLE. DESIGNED TO COME APART IN SECTIONS, TRANSPORTED TO AUSTIN CITY HALL LOCATION AND LOADED IN THROUGH THE FRONT DOORS. THIS SET WAS ASSEMBLED THREE TIMES AND MOVED FIVE. D. GRAPHIC ARTIST SHAINA HEDLUND CAME UP WITH THESE SUPERHERO- THEMED ADVERTS FOR THE TRAM INTERIOR. THE GREAT WHITE BITES CEREAL BOX DESIGN IS FROM SHARKBOY AND LAVAGIRL. I REMEMBER SWEATING EVERY FONT AND COLOR DETAIL…15 YEARS AGO. WOW. GREAT FUN TO BRING BACK THAT CONNECTION. ADDITIONAL IMAGES FOR THIS ARTICLE CAN BE FOUND ONLINE AT: ADG.ORG/PERSPECTIVE. Caylah Eddleblute, Steve Joyner, Production Designers Paul Alix, Art Director Jeff Adams, Megan Montemayor, Set Designers Alex Cunningham, Daniel Lim, Concept Artists David Colman, Storyboard Artist Shaina Hedlund, Graphic Artist Jennifer Long, Bart Brown, Set Decorators D