Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/916056
82 P E R S P E C T I V E From the beginning of our discussions about the design and look of Elisa's apartment, Guillermo always wanted it to be sparsely dressed and devoid of art. One main wall was to be like a work of art in itself, and the reference for this was a picture of an old lady in front of a very intense blue wall with efflorescence in its plaster walls. I realized that I could literally look at famous depictions of water in art and then abstract them into a design for stains and cracks in the plaster. It would be so far removed from the source inspiration once finished, yet there would be subtle hidden meaning in the outcome. I have always thought of Hokusai's The Great Wave off Kanagawa as literally one of the most famous "shapes of water," and suggested it to del Toro; worried it might be too obvious. He loved the idea. The curling of the wave areas were treated as massively cracked and peeling paint, and then doused with many layers of complementary stains and washes to make the original image fade back into the wall, but still be recognizable if you know where to look. I wanted the wave to look like it was about to engulf anyone entering the room. Elisa's apartment's final finishes and look were conceived as shaped by water that had crept into it through neglect and disuse over the years, before she came to inhabit it. The walls, floors and ceilings were all shown to be heavily water damaged as depicted during the rains in the film when the entire apartment was scattered with leaks. The wave wall was perhaps the most visible result. The script described the light and sound of the theatre below to be continually emanating through the floorboards. I reasoned that the water damage here could be used as an excuse to have the finished floorboards removed, with the light coming through the gaps of the diagonally laid subfloor. The mood was to evoke a caustic light which would flicker through waves on water. THE FUTURE Of all the main characters, Strickland is represented as a man of the future. He has the picture-perfect family in a new house decorated with the latest furniture, and wallpaper which, truthfully, is from a little later in the sixties. His son talks about jetpacks and time capsules, and he is sold on the latest model of the Cadillac with all A. 3D SketchUp model of Elisa's apartment and hallway rendered using Brighter 3D by Set Designer David Fremlin. B. Finished shot of Elisa's apartment. Photo by Paul D. Austerberry C. Giles' apartment, the finished set. Photo by Paul D. Austerberry D. SketchUp model of the Cadillac dealership by Paul D. Austerberry. E. Concept drawing by Guy Davis of the bus stop street. F. Del Toro is so hands-on that I brought him some art supplies to paint the master copy of Dixie Doug the mascot. G. The only B&W scene in the film was the dream sequence with Elisa dancing with the Asset. Photo from the film. A C B D