Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1470106
1 0 2 P E R S P E C T I V E | M AY / J U N E 2 0 2 2 exploration of all the internal spaces and entrances, while Art Director Danny lark and Assistant Art Director amie Shakespeare tackled the complexities of the exterior obstacle course. The great hall and exterior landing of the citadel needed to express both strength and decay simultaneously. We wanted the Witcher's home to refl ect its history and the destruction that had been brought upon it, but we also needed it to provide a sense of sanctuary and security. The outer walls were left partially destroyed, as was the great tower, but as one moves toward the great hall and the core elements of the castle, the rooms remain more intact, albeit in a state of disrepair. COVID – Time to Rethink In March of 2020, the production was four weeks into fi lming and keeping a vigilant eye on what was then a very new and concerning virus spreading across the European continent. What none of us expected was that very rapidly the UK government would put the entire country into lockdown, and that what we all thought might be a brief hiatus became a chasm between those fi rst four weeks of shooting for episode one and our eventual restart some twenty-two weeks later. How Netfl ix handled this situation was really uite extraordinary. With much of the industry releasing self-employed crew from contracts, leaving them to nervously face a potentially protracted period with no income, Netfl ix and the producers of The Witcher chose to keep the entire crew on full salary for the fi rst seven weeks of lockdown, only moving the majority into the government furlough scheme when it became clear that our shutdown could extend undeterminably. A. KAER MORHEN. TRAINING GROUNDS. ILLUSTRATION BY DANIEL VERES USING BLENDER AND 3DCOAT FOR THE 3D ELEMENTS AND PHOTOSHOP FOR PHOTOBASHING. B. KAER MORHEN. BASEMENT LAB. PLAN AND ELEVATIONS. C. KAER MORHEN. VFX STILLFRAME. A B