Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/629850
P E R S P E C T I V E | M A R C H / A P R I L 2 0 1 6 45 historical past: after initial use as an orphanage, it then served both the British and the Israeli armies consecutively as an army base. The militant and claustrophobic construction was used to accentuate the feeling of gloom and oppression present just before the war broke out. Small businesses and stores chosen to front the street—a pharmacy, post office, grocery store, glassmaker—all represent the modest daily life of the times. The family goes to the pharmacy to place calls to family and acquaintances who live outside Jerusalem. This is the only area that was built as an active interior set in the Schneller Compound. A long shot follows the family as they enter the pharmacy from the street and highlights the public life of the family in one selected space. We made wonderful use of the beautiful architecture of the existing Ottoman interior, but had a Sisyphean task of restoration in representing items that no longer exist The key point in my personal design process was meeting Amos Oz himself. His memories of his childhood home were useful to me in designing the Klausner family's house. Amos sketched the house on draft paper exactly as he remembered it, including AMOS' ROOM KITCHEN LIVING ROOM BATHROOM BACK YARD "The film industry is a reflection of the place in which it exists, and therefore the Israeliness present in this film generates a different atmosphere from that of an American movie. Looking from the outside in, an Israeli set looks like an army operation; expressed by the crew's personal commitment to the project and their mutual effort to meet the target." the study—a workroom, a space for receiving guests and a bedroom all mixed in together. Austere and dreary, yet at the same time it was extremely rich in books. To my surprise and delight, the way he portrayed it was exactly according to my vision. Although it is customary to build the set for the central house of the film in the studio, I decided to build it on location, thereby portraying the Klausner home in a more organic way. The location found was a suitable shell, but the interior had to be restored from the foundation up in order to match the film's period: doors, windows, weldings and iron forgings, plumbing accouterments, light switches and sockets, etc., were all substituted with comparable elements of the time. In order to create a dense feeling, the entire space was covered with stacks and stacks of books, conveying the impression that