Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1438629
Because all of the scripts were already in a good stage of development, we could determine with some confidence what should be shot on location and what should be built in a studio. For example, I would draw the Imperial shuttle while Chris and I were ying oer reenland, and d ask him, ow about I build this part practically and you take over that part in VFX?" On this type of project, the relationship between Production Design and VFX is crucial. We discussed early on at great length how to integrate the practical and the virtual, as opposed to some shows that rely entirely on VFX to create new worlds. Some of my maor inuences in the design preparation for Foundation include 2001: A Space Odyssey, and artists like Chris Foss and Wayne Barlowe. I'm also a big fan of movies like Blade Runner, Aliens, Arrival and Interstellar. This kind of enormous undertaking called for a likewise large Art Department. I started in my home base of Toronto with about thirtyfie designers working there. At the same time, I set up another group in reland, with another twentyfie people draftspersons, Graphic Designers, prop designers, industrial designers. When I went to Ireland to work with them, my team in Toronto continued finaliing construction drawings without me being there. There were also more teams in Iceland and Germany, with Art Directors managing each country, plus illustrators working in the US, Australia, France and Egypt. In addition, there were literally hundreds of construction managers, carpenters, metalworkers, Scenic Artists, painters, riggers, sculptors, stagehands, plasterers, buyers and drivers. In all, the production designed and built one hundred seventy sets and thirteen spacecraft, as well as a variety of planets. Everyone was working around the clock to meet deadlines. hat ciiliation will look like twenty thousand years in the future is impossible to fathom.ather than trying to predict reality, my goal was to design a future that iewers will find grounded and relatable. There are thousands of planets in the Galactic Empire. In season one, the series concentrates on six: Synnax, Trantor, Maiden Moon, Anacreon, Terminus and Thespis. Each of these six planets had to have its own culture (in the case of Trantor, hundreds of cultures), and its own technologies. A. TRANTOR SPACE STATION. ILLUSTRATION BY PAUL CHADEISSON. B. TRANTOR ARRIVAL TERMINAL. ILLUSTRATON BY HENRY FONG ON A BASE IMAGE OF A LOCATION IN BERLIN. C. EXTERIOR TRANTOR TRIBUNAL. ILLUSTRATION BY HENRY FONG ON A BASE IMAGE OF A LOCATION IN MALTA. D. THE MURAL OF SOULS. ILLUSTRATION BY HENRY FONG. E. THE IMPERIAL PALACE SET WITH THE MURAL OF SOULS. STUDIO SET BUILD IN IRELAND. SET PHOTO. F. IMPERIAL PALACE INTERIOR. PRODUCTION STILL. A B C