Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/619377
limited. Surprisingly, there were several empty, closed- down period department stores in the area around Cincinnati. I remember my excitement setting out to scout them; but one had been heavily modernized in the 1960s and definitely felt from that era; another was in the process of being renovated for reuse, and access would have been too limited. We finally settled on a great empty pre-war high school and planned to turn part of the old gym into the toy department with the running track above becoming a decorative mezzanine like those seen in much of the research. But late in the process the location deal fell through, and we were slightly panicked until set decorator Heather Loeffler, my longtime collaborator, mentioned that Mill End, the fabric store she had been shopping at, had several storage floors that might work. We immediately scouted it and, though the space was filled with debris ranging from a large indoor putting green to an obtrusive overhead ventilation system, it was a huge eureka moment. Once it was cleared and surveyed, I focused on designing the elements needed for the story: counters of toys "imprisoning" Therese, an elevator bank from which Carol could emerge, pause by the train set, and catch Therese's eye with rows upon rows of dolls Left: A dressed location meant to be a hotel room in the upscale Drake Hotel on Chicago's Magnificent Mile. The set dressing is a notable contrast to the motel rooms seen earlier in the film. Bottom, left and right: Carol's first motel room on the road trip, shot at yet another shut-down motel in Kentucky. This is the first motel to establish the acidic green motel palette. The Spare Time Diner was an extensive remodel, shot at an abandoned diner in Kentucky. between them. Another frequent collaborator of mine, Art Director Jesse Rosenthal, built a small model so that we could configure and reconfigure the necessary architectural elements. I designed large tiered display cases to be built in the corners, towering over Therese's head, adding to the feeling of repression and imprisonment. The existing mullioned windows were painted over as was done in most department stores of this era, but the treatment also enhanced the claustrophobia of the place. A wall of glass-encased dolls became another metaphor for this confinement, as are the tiny figures in the train set custom fabricated by a local train collector. Todd first used such miniature figures to astonishing effect in his groundbreaking Superstar. Heather also found a local box manufacturer, and I had Graphic Artist R. Scott Purcell design period toy boxes which were custom manufactured in multiples, going through many test printings to get the exact colors desired. I kept to the established palette in the colors of the toy store, avoiding the expected pink and blue and playing with the dirty pinks and greens used throughout the movie. To keep it from looking too designy, I mixed in some dirty blues and yellows in the signage, some primary colors in some of the toys, and red, silver and gold Christmas