Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1490572
After several trips to Charleston and calls with the cooperative US Navy, the Art Department began the spotting and drafting of the set. Nealy Orillion, the Senior Set Designer, cranked out working drawings to keep feeding the show's incredible construction team with plans. Thomas Morris Jr. and his group worked out the intricate network of scaffolding, wood and metal that not only had to hold the weight of the cantilevered decks and bridges, but also up to one hundred background on the upper decks. As the structure began to take shape, the crew battled winds, wet weather, grade issues and the rising cost of steel. And this was before we solved the issue of our "deck." The FAA does not allow painting of active runways without incurring several hundred thousand dollars of restorative costs. Building a platform out of wood or metal to satisfy the nearly forty thousand square footage of coverage was not viable, especially since we needed to land real Corsairs in front of the set. We need a smooth substrate that could take paint or could be printed on and would hold up to the plane's movement. And to complicate things, E. LIVING ROOM. SET PHOTO. F. BEDROOM. SET PHOTO. G. KITCHEN. SET PHOTO. H. USS LEYTE RUNWAY IN PROGRESS. the USS Leyte had a deck made of wooden planks. "So now what?" we pondered. VFX couldn't realistically add deck with the amount of work on the set. I searched for a solution and came across a product that was the best option yet. It is called Multi-Grip and is produced by a company called Briteline. We did a test print of a photo realistic wood plank and it looked fabulous. We even put a strip down in the production office parking lot and encouraged crew to drive over it daily. After a week, it was holding onto the rough asphalt. Things were looking promising…the aerial team signed off on it as well. The final test was bringing it out to the location to do a light study with the DP. The dream solution suddenly became a nightmare as the printed graphic disappeared at certain angles during the day. E F G H