Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1490572
6 0 P E R S P E C T I V E | J A N U A R Y / F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 3 Wynn Thomas Devotion is a film that tells the story of Jesse Brown, the first Black naval aviator pilot. The time is late 1940s-1950s America. The movie takes place at the Quonset Point Naval Air Station in Rhode Island, the exterior/interior of the USS Leyte, the shores of Cannes, France, and in the mountains and battlefields of North Korea. The main challenge on this job was how to do all of the above in Savannah, GA. The movie is a large-scale independent film produced by Molly and Rachel Smith, Trent and Thad Luckinbill of Black Label Media. The director is a very talented young man named JD Dilllard. The movie was originally scheduled to be shot in Vancouver. But the cold Canadian winters and the strict COVID restrictions forced the production to move to Savannah. Savannah provided us with River Street, which we could convert to 1950s Cannes Streets, Tybee Beach standing in for the Cannes beaches and using a lovely resort on Sea Island called The Cloisters for a fancy French casino. Working with the talented set decorators Jay Hart and Merissa Lombardo, we were able to transform the streets and beaches of Savannah into the robust bustling streets of 1950s Cannes. D e s i g n B Y W Y N N T H O M A S , P R O D U C T I O N D E S I G N E R D E V O T I O N Of course, this emotional and difficult scene had to be recreated in the spring sunshine of Savannah. In a quarry no less... It had to be done without any video or photographs, just from interviews with the deceased Thomas Hudner. A