Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1332040
control booth, where only the white characters in control of the means and opportunity can rise to enter it. In further research, the Art Department discovered that the earliest Paramount Recording Studio had in fact, been in a chair manufacturing factory and we followed that lead. The location list was comparatively shorter than on previous fi lms I'd done, but so was the time frame. Finding the studio building promptly was important so that the interior set could be designed accordingly. I particularly liked the look of one option I'd seen in the photos before leaving NYC. Centered on a block of 19th century industrial buildings stood the derelict Department of Water/ Bureau of Highways & Sewers Building, tall and square, now abandoned and boarded up. Its large arched windows and basket weave brick had just enough character to be interesting, and the buildings across the street were equally good for the action centered on the block outside the alley that leads to the studio entrance. What the street didn't have was an alley. The adjacent empty lot however, aff orded the space to build a faade and create the needed alley. The side elevation of the building also had two windows and a door required for the studio entrance, though they were bricked up. It would be a project, but doable. I loved a photo I'd found in my initial round of research: the Morrow Coal & Ice Co. It was a perfect reference for this faade the scale was great to off set the existing large buildings (and aff ordable with the budget), and the detail of the block ice would motivate delivery trucks coming and going, dripping cold water on the steamy day. But above all, I loved the sign: "Phone TO-MORROW for Your COAL TO-DAY." This was cleared for use and drawn up straight away. What the fi lm didn't have for most of preproduction was a director of photography. I had strong suspicions that the forty pages in the windowless band room had something to do with that. I was frankly a little intimidated by it myself. The four band members—Slow Drag, Cutler, Toledo and Levee—are dispatched to this basement room until called upon. They rehearse there, banter, argue and debate relationships and spirituality. George wanted the room to subtly evoke the hull of a slave ship. My fi rst options were fueled by my belief that the space needed depth and shadow, interesting shapes and angles to hold the attention. George argued that the human beings would hold the attention. Set decorators Karen O'Hara and Diana Stoughton had tracked down a video of what appeared to be the only electronic recording lathe in existence, and proceeded to make contact with the man who built it. Nicholas Bergh is an audio engineer who specializes in restoring old soundtracks, A. RECORDING STUDIO CONCEPT ILLUSTRATION BY JOANNA BUSH. B. RECORDING STUDIO OVERVIEW. SKETCHUP MODEL BY TRAVIS KERR. C. RECORDING STUDIO, VIEW TOWARD BOOTH. SKETCHUP MODEL BY TRAVIS KERR. A B C