Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/765720
Patrice Vermette, Production Designer Isabelle Guay, Supervising Art Director Jean-Pierre Paquet, Robert Parle, Art Directors Aaron Morrison, Assistant Art Director Jason Sweers, Graphic Designer Meinert Hansen, Peter Konig, Concept Artists Martine Bertrand, Alien Language Design Sam Hudecki, Storyboard Artist Paul Hotte, Set Decorator logograms were created by the award-winning artist (and my wife) Martine Bertrand, and provided the eureka moment. We all felt that we were on to something quite different: the ink particles would float to create strange circular shapes, their movements would be inspired by the distribution of ink drops in water on a piece of paper, and also by the massive formations of flies as they swarm over Lake Victoria in Africa. Using the script's description of how Louise deciphers the alien language, graphic designer Aaron Morrison divided the logograms into twelve equal parts. The portions of the logograms that appealed to us aesthetically were set aside to form a dictionary of shapes to which meanings would be assigned—words, ideas, concepts, feelings. This bank of shapes became very useful in creating new logograms used for the conversations between Louise and the aliens. The shapes are assembled together in a circular fashion to form complete logograms, which all have their own meaning. Logograms could be considered to work in a similar fashion to cursive writing. The same way that letters have extra embellishments on either end to enable them to flow into each other, logogram shapes could vary depending on which alien is writing, or even have certain modulations to express a feeling or mood. Arrival was an intensive labor of love from the whole production team, an extraordinary experience. Everybody involved was aiming toward the same goal, and I would like to thank everyone, especially director Denis Villeneuve, set decorator Paul Hotte and Supervising Art Director Isabelle Guay and their teams, for sharing their passion toward this goal with me. ADG Below, clockwise from upper left: A circular auditorium classroom location at HEC school in Montréal was Louise's classroom with a big whiteboard and an incased television—a window on the world. The circular foyer of the Place de Arts in Montréal was used for the ballroom where Louise meets General Chang. The circular design suggests the underlying theme of the film, the non-linearity of time. The University of Montreal was used for this exterior quadrangle location, the university where Louise teaches. Its rectilinear elevation suggests the rigidity of human thinking. A location in Vaudreuil-sur- le-Lac outside Montréal was used for Louise's romantic, dream-like house, its huge windows open to the misty lake and the horizon beyond.