Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1470106
1 4 P E R S P E C T I V E | M AY / J U N E 2 0 2 2 A. YESHIVA CLASSROOM. STAGE SET BUILT IN BUSHWICK, BROOKLYN SET PHOTO. B. EMERGENCY ROOM. ILLUSTRATION BY MICHAEL SIMMONS. C. EMERGENCY ROOM. SET PHOTO. D. EMERGENCY ROOM. FLOOR PLAN DRAWN BY MICHAEL SIMMONS. fl orescent fi xtures. I wanted to create the feeling that the class belongs to the building it once was yet is out of place in the hip apartment it is now. Authentic detail was paramount to the success of this gag. verall, I would say a guiding principle for the design aesthetic of the season was ement the fantasy with reality. Ruth Goes to the Emergency Room The hospital emergency room set was designed specifi cally around the beats of the script. haracters needed to move in and out of frame seamlessly. A circular layout would allow for this and was crucial to provide easy blocking for the scenes where time breaks and several versions of uth, Maxine and Lizzy appear simultaneously from diff erent moments of the season. The set is actually a deconstructed spiral in plan. ircles and spirals are important reoccurring motifs of the season, the circle of life, a recurring theme. Nadia Is Nora Many of the sets supported sight gags that were done practically rather than with post visual eff ects. Nora's apartment bathroom, where Nadia fi rst discovers her time leap, was one of my favorites. The crew built a mirror image double set, with a hole where the bathroom mirror would be, and piece of clear glass inserted between. Nadia (Lyonne) would stand on one side allowing her to see herself as Nora (Sevigny), who stood on the other. All set elements were custom built mirrored doubles of each other. A poster created for wall art was printed backward for the mirrored side of the set. When Nadia then sees herself, as herself, we put a real mirror back over the hole. It worked really well. The Circle Train A top priority for shooting the subway car scenes was how to shoot a seuence referred to as The D A B C