Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1433736
8 2 P E R S P E C T I V E | N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 2 1 very clear vision. I began imagining how the tone might translate to my work and how I could support it visually. I met Jeymes on a video call and felt an immediate creative connection. We were on the exact same page from the start. We talked about how important it was to present a new, unique and relevant look to the fi lm, and neither of us had any interest in making a historical piece. We wanted to make our own version of how we felt this Western should look. Something new, "not historically inaccurate," but not necessarily bound by history either. He told me he loved my work on Bad Times at the El Royale and he wanted "that" in 1870. I was all in. y the end of the call, we had basically had our fi rst meeting. Less interview, more start of a dynamic, trusting collaboration. Shortly thereafter, I was on a plane to Santa Fe to scout the Western towns with location manager Rebecca Puck Stair. Jeymes had already been there and felt he could make ew Mexico work. I spent a day there touring and taking pictures and then returned home to Georgia to begin my concept work. Unfortunately, upon my return home the fi lm was put on hold due to a scheduling con ict. I moved on but kept in contact with Jeymes over the summer. In ctober, I got a call that the fi lm was fi ring back up. I was very excited to start up where we had left o . asically, the beginning. Jeymes and I began the fi rst steps of trying to home in on the look. He in London and myself in Georgia. I started researcher Roy Ishikawa immediately, and we started to pull a wide range of images and looks. Jeymes was clear he was not interested in a typical, dusty old Western. He wanted color and was not shy about it. We both wanted it to look original, new and fresh but I also knew it had to remain grounded and believable. The town of edwood was the fi rst and primary challenge. As described by Jeymes, the town was one hundred percent African American, a uent, and charged with a vitality and hopeful energy that needed to be re ected in the colors and all the styling. We were creating a town that had not been represented in fi lm before. ur mantra remained, accompanied by mischievous grins, "It's not historically inaccurate…" Let's just say 1870 was a loose guideline and making it the bomb was the actual goal. We looked at the colored streets in New Orleans and the painted houses of the Caribbean. Although colorful, the brightness of the color tone was jarring in our western landscape. I realized the colors need to be tinted and crushed down. Deeper shades of varying hues started to work. The photography of Alex Webb was helpful for color levels and contrast, as were the immaculate illustrations of Kadir Nelson. Primarily, Nelson's Bright Star. (Take a look online, you'll be surprised.) This image became the go-to image for Jeymes in terms of light, vitality, mood and color for the edwood ity exterior. I was looking at loads of contemporary interior and fashion photography for di erent palettes and textures I could apply to all the sets. Images were A. FORD RANCH. LOCATION FOR TOWN OF REDWOOD. B. REDWOOD COLOR STUDY. C. REDWOOD LAYOUT. SKETCHUP MODEL. A B C