Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1381679
far one can go, before you start to lose a certain quality of substance. It might seem to be minor or incidental, but when the fundamentals fall aside, it becomes harder for the more imaginative pieces to grow. Even more so when the blossoms are ssed t e srill. As all these extraordinary locations in Berlin started to be sorted out, things became easy and complicated at the same time. There was a visual concept for the whole show, mainly dealing with the line of chess tournaments and corresponding hotel rooms at the various cities. This part was pretty straightforward, and the main task was to e stritl dierent. er it eer trnament every hotel room was not only meant to be very signifiant t reresented smeting else r Beth. Every encounter leading her to a sunny ini a ars attle a dilt letre a simle routine, a romantic attraction, all the way up to pure survival. The whole possible range of content. On the other hand, the series was always physically at the wrong place. Being in Berlin, pretending to be somewhere else…in America, or in other parts of Europe. This simple fact became quite a challenge, because I really didn't always know what would be "American" enough, or too "European." Surprisingly, sometimes when I thought a location would be tough to sell, there was no trouble whatsoever, and places I thought would be no problem were just the opposite. It goes without saying, you just never know… But I always felt all involved were happy to be a it and mre interested in ets rld rater tan an strit attemt t resemle sme seifi idea of reality. Reality is a term I always try to avoid, because I do not understand attempting realit en reerring t fitinal strtelling. Berlin as Las Vegas A. LAS VEGAS HOTEL MARIPOSA, CONCEPT DRAWING BY THOMAS MÖHRING. B. LAS VEGAS HOTEL LOBBY/CHESS TOURNAMENT, DRESSED SET AT PALAIS AM FUNKTURM. SET PHOTO. C. LAS VEGAS HOTEL ROOM, DRESSED SET ON STAGE AT CCC STUDIOS. SET PHOTO. A B C