Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1332040
from tarpaper and hot mopping. All the roofs of downtown Los Angeles are silver or white. As the production started to scout, the real difficult part was what surrounded the roofs. There were palm trees everywhere we scouted. We looked at a dozen or so roofs and right when I started to think this was a "Roof Too Far," we scouted a roof in Koreatown, just south of Wilshire Boulevard. It didn't work., but from this roof we spotted a building three blocks to the south that looked good. After riding the tiny elevator to the 5th floor and climbing two flights of stairs to this roof, we were ecstatic, no palm trees. It worked There were brick buildings on the east and south and I knew we could get Declan and Eugene on board because the view south was the best (backlight). Although the south side was not the real street side, there was a parking lot between this building and the one to the south, giving the illusion of a street. The existing parapets were all wrong, and Art Director Zack Gonchor, working with Set Designer Adam Mull, did an outstanding job getting the parapets designed and drawn up. During their location survey, it was determined we could use available fiberglass parapet caps on the existing parapets. On our street side, we designed those big slopped parapets that accompany a brownstone cornice and corbels. As hard as this location was to find, it proved even harder to load into. The production had been warned the elevator was sensitive, what we didn't know was how many times it was going to break. An easy set to design turned very challenging to install, and a two-day load-in, ended up taking seven. Consequently, the set ended up costing three times more in labor than what was budgeted. Now the Art Department was way over budget on the very first set. Key words, first set. The roof was the first day of shooting and the first set we spent money on. We had a shot at making up the overage if we were smart about the remaining sets. In theory, it seemed like a good plan. As long as it didn't hurt the look. The construction budget was so low that I couldn't get a construction coordinator and went with a union scene shop. The built sets were to be shot last and this would allow for the most time to refine designs and back into the remaining money. Help came from the DP Declan, who was a real team player Almost every time I told Declan I couldn't afford to let him see some facet of a location, he found a way to avoid it. So much of what one does on a low-budget period film is find locations with loads of production value, and then edit out the contemporary elements and enhance the period elements. The famous Fais Do-Do was used as the nightclub, Blue Morocco. Obliviously, I wanted the club to have a blue theme. Problem was, the Fais Do-Do is all based on red. Walls, drapes, everywhere red. Now if the roof had not gone way over budget, there would have been funds to paint the walls blue. The solution was to change A. & B. TAR BEACH. KOREATOWN LOCATION. SET PHOTO. A B