Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/929567
After the mine took the lives of the town's men, there was no longer a real need for a whorehouse, so Magdalena's House of Rapture was converted into the town's school. To visually tell that story, a few humble school desks were placed as an obvious addition against the lavish Victorian bordello's original furnishings, and a few books placed on the bar's shelves among the booze bottles, creating an incoherent and amusing layered dichotomy. The whorehouse was topped with a widow's walk, providing not only a bit of irony and humor, but also foreshadowing the grim fate of the town's women. Saloons are always the social heart of all towns. The Good Lode Saloon is no exception. Its sheer size, finishes, elaborate and almost overscaled bar, reflect that life in this mining town was once booming and business was great. Leopold's Dry Goods has both shelves and store half empty, suggesting that times in La Belle have changed, and the boom days have vanished along with the men at the mine. The emptiness of the store is a reminder of the town's void. The design for the town's undertaker was to be somewhat rich, with fine interior finishes and furniture, a classic exterior presence, attention to detail, and quality signs and graphics to reflect that thanks to the mine, business for the undertaker had been good. The mine is where the Main Street starts; the under- construction church is where it ends. The church is being built by the women of La Belle at the end of town, and it posed a continuity challenge. Since the story did not get shot in sequence, the church had to be designed and built so that it could quickly be set up in three different stages of construction, or picked up and removed completely by a crane. All the lumber for the framing had to be specially milled to the standard sizes of the period. From a design perspective, the key was to attain a clear shape with just the wood framing so it would be evident that it was a church, and not just any building under construction. In addition, the construction scaffolding (also made of lumber) was aged and darkened to look much older, and provide contrast to the freshly milled lumber used in the framing, thus ensuring that the shape of the church would not be obscured, and easy to read at a glance. Most of the homes in town are simple cabins designed to infer that they had been mass produced and built exactly the same to meet the housing needs of the miners and their families, but in time, made unique by the alterations each owner made to best fit their individual needs and styles. This gave a visually rich variety that reflects the personalities of each inhabitant's character. Not far from La Belle and in the middle of the open plains sits Alice's ranch. In selecting a site for the ranch, it was crucial to convey the idea of Alice being vulnerable, exposed, an easy prey with nowhere to A B C