Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1470106
W O M E N O F T H E M O V E M E N T | P E R S P E C T I V E 8 5 incident that happened in that store with Emmett and Carolyn Bryant was the reason we were all a part of this important project. And it was a tough one. The location that was selected to create the strip of stores in Money, MS, where Emmett and his cousins went to for a snack was in Ripley, TN. It was two and a half hours from the production o ces, which meant, for hristine and I, walking the set with a foreman turned into all-day event with the long drive. An old school that was being used as a bar in the middle of cotton fi elds was acuired and turned into a backlot. The store interior and the backroom where the Bryant family lived were all built inside the location. The crew demolished part of the existing building which was the old cafeteria. Through historic videos and images, they built additional storefronts that were similar to what existed in Money. The gas station where Emmett and his cousins parked their car before entering the store was built in the exact proximity based on measurements from the actual site in Money. Set Designer Willie Blanchard hand-drafted the backlot set and the market in great detail using photographs and videos from the period. The gas station is still standing in Money, MS, and has been refurbished. The original Bryant Market building is still there in a dilapidated and crumbling state with a historical marker highlighting the Till incident and the subsequent events that happened. One of my most memorable moments was putting my paint deck to the sun- bleached green dado color of the existing building, extracting the detail of that piece of history from its exact spot. The Art Department had no images from inside of the store, only written descriptions of where things went, including the candy jar that Emmett pulled from before walking up to the cash register where Carolyn sat. Tyler and her team did an amazing job of fi nding period market dressing. Graphic Artist Kerri Mahoney fabulously created images for products and posters and laid out the infamous Coca-Cola signage, which was hand- painted by master sign writer Casey Kasemeier. E D F G