Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1485934
Surprisingly, quarantine had a silver lining—two weeks to research, plan and simply think about the film's design. There were films to watch and books to read—Chickie's memoir of course, Michael Herr's classic novel Dispatches, and the great war photographers Tim Page and Larry Burrows; military archives, veterans' organizations, social media and blogs to scour; the work of US combat artists and harder-to-find North Vietnamese source material to seek out. But hindsight can distort historical events too. To stay in the character's present, and seek accuracy, the film had advisors: for military aspects, Hans Bush; for all things Vietnamese, Thuy Vu Thanh; and our own costume designer, Bao Tranchi (a refugee herself). They brought the truth. Design for a Beer Run The story's structure is a hero's journey, with a New York prologue and epilogue bookending Chickie's traumatic experience in Vietnam; the design had to clearly illustrate this odyssey. It's my practice to develop a film's design with a graphic chart of the script's action and scene relationships (no two are alike). Color, texture, materials, and other style elements are noted to create a cohesive whole. Stylistically, The Greatest Beer Run Ever is foremost a war story, and that permeates everything in the design, at home and abroad. It's also a study of contrasts. The scheme is anchored by opposing cities, New York and Saigon, connected through their ports. The Inwood scenes express Chickie's social world and show time and place quickly (fortunately shot in correct season). In Vietnam, Saigon is a vibrant island in a sea of war, protected by a military ring- of-steel. It's exotic and dangerous streets lead Chickie to the shelter of American installations, until Tet destroys that fantasy. Naturally, the design inverts its elements; dark winter vs eternal summer; cold concrete vs steaming jungle; muted tones vs vibrant color, A. DESIGN SCHEME. DRAWN BY TIM GALVIN. B. NY SNOWFALL STREET. DRESSED LOCATION. PATTERSON, NJ. PRODUCTION STILL. C. SAIGON JEEP STREET CHICKIE AND COATES. DRESSED LOCATION. BANGKOK, THAILAND. PRODUCTION STILL. A B C