Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1349602
As is always the story when shooting in a busy tax incentive city, finding a team is the first concern. I reached out to a few friends who I knew had recently shot in Vancouver, got some excellent recommendations, and within a few weeks had the core of a stellar team built around Supervising Art Director Justin Ludwig, set decorator Renee Read, construction coordinator Alan Burdett and prop master Dean Barker. As soon as the film landed this team, I knew we would be okay. Shooting was to take place from September through March, the exact time when the weather in Vancouver would be at its worst. When Mother Abigail said, There's dark days ahead, she wasn't kidding. Besides the weather, of course, shooting in the Vancouver area has other equally problematic pitfalls when it comes to locations. Issue number one for me are the trees. There is something that screams Pacific Northwest the moment you see a moss-covered fir tree. I asked location manager Matt Palmer to show me everything, ust don't show me any locations with fir trees Of course, despite the crew's best efforts, one might catch a few of the dreaded fir or cedar trees here and there. The production also took advantage of some of the diversity of terrain in the interior of the province to enhance the variety of our looks. Drive a few hours east of Vancouver and suddenly you could be in Idaho or tah, and if you squint, maybe even Nevada. When the story's heroes travel on foot to Las Vegas, most of that ourney was shot in the deserts of interior BC. Even that far afield though, there is no escaping from Hollywood North, as we crossed paths with at least two other big film proects shooting nearby while in the amloops area. This, despite the fact that there were days when the thermometer topped out at - C. As my first real foray into long form entertainment and streaming media, The Stand was not quite a film or a TV series. It would involve creating nine hours of content, but unlike a traditional series, there were virtually no amort sets. sually with serialized content, one is able to amortize costs over the length of the shoot, coming back to a set multiple times and over multiple episodes, but The Stand is constantly moving, and the only sets that would play over more than one block were those built for Las Vegas in the later episodes. In the end, there were over two hundred thirty unique sets and locations spread out over nine episodes, while working with six different directors, an exhausting but exciting challenge for the relatively small art team. It was quite a ourney, but together, we made our stand. A. SCOUTING IN BRITISH COLUMBIA. B. STU'S ROOM CONCEPT CREATED BY LINDSAY LEDOHOWSKI IN SOLID WORKS, RENDERED IN ENSCAPE. C. STU'S ROOM IN STOVINGTON, VT. BUILT AT IRONWOOD STUDIOS, VANCOUVER, BC. SET PHOTO. D. LLOYD'S ARIZONA PRISON BLOCK WAS BUILT IN AN OLD HYDRO POWER PLANT IN VANCOUVER, BC. THE SECOND FLOOR WAS ONLY PARTIALLY BUILT, ALLOWING SFX TO THROW FLAMING TOILET PAPER FROM THE CELLS ABOVE. SET PHOTO. A B