Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1485934
cavernous yet inviting, with tall ceilings and long corridors. I wanted Adam and Amy's condo to feel agreeable and intentional, similar to a museum where one is meant to look but not touch—design just out of reach. Locations had been scouting the Upper East Side of Manhattan weeks before I was hired on the project. Many of the possibilities were high-rise penthouse suites that had a superficial gloss to them. They felt more like hotels than actual places of permanent residence. Because of the production's limited budget and time, building the entire condo was out of the question. The production began searching in Lower Manhattan and found some exciting possibilities that sparked visual interest and answered some special effects questions that were slowly rolling to a boil. We zeroed in on a fourth-floor residence in the Tribeca neighborhood owned by an architect and gallery curator. The space had been designed by the couple and sported a minimalist open floor plan with high-end modern finishes. A large wall of windows led the eye to an exterior deck overlooking Canal Street. This was the perfect scenario for cinematographer Rina Yang to light from outside—otherwise a difficult task without the luxury of equipment, crew or the capability to close down the streets below. The location had just enough hallways and nooks to retain the element of mystery and suspense, while the exposed industrial core offered a warmly weathered look. A stark office space crisply enclosed with matte metal and glass menaced in a corner of the main living area. I couldn't have designed it any better myself! (Although it could have been a tad bigger.) It was the perfect votive for Adam's large-scale photographs, which were to be heavily featured as a plot device. Furthermore, the ensuite bathroom served actor choreography and fit within the tonal palette I had been playing with for the characters. Adam and Amy's color palette needed to be rigid and instantly recognizable—an immediate departure from the otherwise bright and vivid environments Aisha inhabited on her days off. I was fixated on desaturated greens and teals. Art Director Chloé Seytre headed up the guest bathroom/bedroom builds at GUM Studios in Brooklyn, NY, where we were to shoot the special effects sequences. I wanted to carry the eerie green into these sets, making them even darker and richer. The extreme use of green worked to convey the opulence and envy associated with the color, while still representing the ambiguity of fertility and growth. It also acted as a connective tissue between the multiple bodies of water featured throughout the film: bath, pool, river, sea. These surroundings were to purposefully perplex the audience and muddy the waters of reality. Adam and Amy's space had to figuratively feel as if it was slowly sinking into a lagoon. I wanted to encapsulate the living behind glass as if they were forced to reside in a filling fishbowl. The more immersed Aisha became with the family, the more prevalent the aquatic tones appeared. Set decorator Caroline Scott cleverly integrated objects nodding to the nightmarish nautical theme. Each piece of décor, from the sea foam flecked marble dining table to the Capiz sconce lights, had some semblance to the ocean or underwater tie that foreshadowed the story to come. There was even an elaborate plant story that flourished throughout, highlighting the String-of-pearls—a creeping succulent vine native to southwest Africa. All of these elements were to mirror the behavior of mischievous mythological creatures and to echo their warnings to Aisha. As a design team, we would jump at the chance to make a parallel connection between our real world and the folkloric realm. C. AMY AND ADAM'S BEDROOM. SET PHOTO. C