Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/619377
black, as they had been in that time period; set dressing often referred back to the initial photographic influences in order to get the right combination of elements and negative space. For me, a tell-tale mistake one can make in films set before the 1980s is overdressing: the 1952 New York of Carol was a rather impoverished one, and the use of blank expanses and negative space was important. Research showed that midtown Manhattan had many empty lots then, and we were able to effectively use one on the walk to Therese's apartment. The street scenes were where the palette was most influenced by the photographers of the era, and the set dressing truck carried colored lights and neon signs on to add touches of color. I also had R. Scott Purcell design a variety of street posters, including an Eisenhower one, which were printed in multiples on newsprint and used to break up long expanses of wall and give realistic character and period reference to the streets. Almost all the visual effects in the movie were used for erasure on the streets. I think only one small new element was generated in post, the lettering on the Drake Hotel marquee. Cincinnati has prominent new and very large street lamps and signposts; shots had to be planned carefully around them with removal in mind. I am proud to be able to say that almost everything in the movie was shot in camera. The design of a movie has a much larger purpose than simply building sets. In the creation of the visual world the characters inhabit, each element is an important piece of the psychological context, and I was fortunate on Carol to have a talented team of artists who ensured that every detail worked together in harmony. Our work as Production Designers often focuses on the drawings and builds that we do, but as we know, from the glam-rock England of Velvet Goldmine to the Sirkian suburbia of Far From Heaven, Todd approaches each of his films with a strong visual vocabulary that defines the psychological truth of the story. In my first collaboration with Todd, I'm Not There, we created many discrete cinematic worlds. By using distinctive palettes and locales and shooting on different film and video stocks, we expressed the different sides of a Bob Dylan character as played by six different actors: the folk dream world of Richard Gere's Billy; the swinging London (shot on black-and- white film) of Cate Blanchett's Jude; the Godardian '70s domesticity of Charlotte Gainsbourg's Claire and Heath Ledger's Robbie…and so on. ADG Opposite page, top to bottom: The exterior of a period New York City shopping street. Visual effects were used to remove the contemporary street lamp and signposts. All of the shop windows were designed and dressed. One of the store windows, for a millinary shop, sports a sign hand- painted by Jen Brinker. Modern elements in the glass reflections were also removed with visual effects. The exterior of Therese's street with period signage designed by R. Scott Purcell and hand-painted by the scenic painters. A playbill wall constructed as a masking piece, covered with period posters created by R. Scott Purcell. This page, left: The New York Times office set built into an old warehouse in Cincinnati. Below: Another view of the New York Times offices. Judy Becker, Production Designer Jesse Rosenthal, Art Director Audra Avery, Assistant Art Director R. Scott Purcell, Graphic Artist Alexander T. Cardosi, Brent Wachter, Scenic Artists Heather Loeffler, Set Decorator