Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/686925
FENCE 30' SETTING OF THIS SIDE SCREEN TOWER (TRUSS) 24'Lx18'H (TBD) CENTER OF TRUSS TBD SCREEN SCREEN SCREEN and unattractive. The best wide view of the house was from the front driveway, so we decided to make an entrance there. This required setting paving slabs across the fragile ornamental pond surrounding the front of the structure. After draining the pond, black carpet was laid into the bed and a scaffold constructed on spreaders, on which was laid the pattern of cement- textured paving slabs and lighting posts. The effect was stunning, and well worth the extra effort. The second problem was a late "crisis" request from the producers to find a place for Earth, Wind & Fire, and their huge band, to play at the party. There was only one place they could be seen, which was on the roof of the adjacent bedroom block. The flat roof would never hold the weight, and was easily damaged, so the only solution was to build a roof above it, which was discreetly supported from the ground. Given the resources we had for this location, it was a major undertaking, but construction coordinator Marlow Sanchez found a fast and cost-effective solution, spreading wooden I-beam joists across, supported on steel tube goal posts, and the crisis was averted. I wanted the party scenes to have a fractured and dislocated feel to them, so I designed a lot of mirrors and cutouts into these sets on both the walls built into the location, and a series of mirrored screens that were used as mobile foreground pieces. The fireplace alone had hundreds of plexiglass mirrors cut by CNC and glued onto pyramid domes which hid any camera reflections. The effect of the reflections with the crowded party was spectacular. The second piece of location luck was in finding an authentic 1970s hotel in the city, that was also happy to welcome a shooting crew for a number of weeks. The Hilton in downtown Atlanta was built in 1976, and its interior hadn't been significantly updated since then. It made a perfect setting for the story's climax at the opening party of the 1978 LA Auto Show. In addition to building an elevator lobby, bars, restaurants and hotel suites into the hotel's fabric, we also constructed Opposite page, top: The 1978 Los Angeles Auto Show was staged at the Atlanta Hilton, which was built in 1976 and still retains that era's architectural character. The plan was drawn by Mayumi Konishi-Valentine. Below, left and right: The Hilton Atlanta entry looks much as it did when it was built. The car show set included several twenty-foot turntables to display the new 1978 models. Above, left and right: Two set photographs of the dressed car show, in 1970s patterns and colors. The back wall of the set is made of the zip-up façades frequently used in exhibition design. A perfect '70s pattern was found, and the units even came ready to be lit from inside. a large set for the car show on their pool deck. Set Designer Mayumi Konishi-Valentine undertook to re- create the colorful, tinsel world of the car show. For inspiration, we used stills from car shows of the period in Los Angeles, Chicago and Detroit. The two tennis courts on the deck were uprooted to build the car exhibits, but an even larger problem to overcome was what to do with the large (ugly) gazebo that covered much of the pool deck. Again, I used plexiglass mirror—such a favored material in the era—to entirely cover the underside of the structure, and create a striking double image when shooting from underneath. The auto show display was a large set for the film's relatively modest resources, and we had little money to spend on building a background around the set, to hide some of the urban ugliness beyond, so much of the perimeter was enclosed with fabric banners in '70s oranges, yellows and reds, drawn directly from photos of the 1978 Chicago Auto Show. The back wall of the set still needed treatment, and the solution came from Art Director David Utley, who suggested renting the zip-up façades frequently used in exhibition design. We found a perfect '70s pattern, and the units even came ready to be lit from inside. To create an authentic period world, a huge amount of effort was put into the graphics. A broad range of media needed to be covered, from newspapers and magazines to porn posters with period illustrations. All this was created by graphic designer Jason Sweers, who also handled the large-scale designs for the '70s bowling alley location that were realized as giant wallpapers. The film required centerspread photographs of the porn star character, and her porn movie poster illustrations, which would appear on locations, at the party house, and finally, as a giant billboard near the end of the movie. For the centerspread photography, we discovered Arny Freytag, one of the main Playboy centerspread photographers in the 1970s. The photos were crucial, as they would appear in magazines in the Richard Bridgland, Production Designer David Utley, Art Director Jason Sweers, Lead Graphic Designer Sean Ryan Jennings, Mayumi Konishi- Valentine, Nate Dahlkemper, Set Designers J. Todd Anderson, Jesse Michael Owen, Ryon Peck, Storyboard Artists Danielle Berman, Set Decorator