Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1400113
K E N A N | P E R S P E C T I V E 4 5 Daily questions from the design team about how to do our jobs eff ectively started to emerge. How would we do show and tells now? Studying fi ne arts and illustration at the School of Visual Arts in NYC taught me how to think and draw fast. Approvals? I get fast approvals because I am never without my sketchbook and simultaneously drawing the set as the director is explaining it. This benefi t was removed from the equation in 2020 and Kenan was a big show with big expectations. Produced by NBC, Universal Television and Broadway Video, the show also had a big boss. For me the biggest there is, Lorne Michaels. For a comedy and variety show Production Designer like me, there truly is no one bigger. Impressing Lorne and getting his approval was of paramount importance. Some of the fi rst decisions that were made were based on the safety of the cast and crew during the pandemic. Despite Kenan being intended as a single-camera show, the decision was made to not turn around for reverse shots in order to make the days shorter (and therefore safer). Three cameras would shoot the scenes simultaneously to decrease the number of crew members needed on set. There would be no pulling walls. Shooting portals were placed everywhere and the footprint was expanded to allow the crew easy access in and out of the spaces while keeping a safe distance from one another. Interdepartmental pods and quarantining of goods were implemented to keep the crew safe. Rentals and purchases were delivered to a location away from the stage and disinfected, followed by a day- long stay in prop limbo prior to arriving to stage and offl oaded by a diff erent pod of dressers. D. WAKE UP WITH KENAN MORNING SHOW GRAPHIC. E. WAKE UP WITH KENAN SPOTTING PLAN OF MORNING SHOW SET AND OFFICES ON STAGE 23 UNIVERSAL STUDIOS. DRAWN BY SET DESIGNER A.E. CHADWICK IN VECTORWORKS 2021. F. WAKE UP WITH KENAN MORNING SHOW SET. MODEL STUDY. G. WAKE UP WITH KENAN TWO STORY OFFICE SET ON STAGE 23. MODEL STUDY. D F G E