Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1490572
9 2 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 Production Designer Melanie Paizis-Jones said, as she was putting together a pitch for The Santa Clauses, a continuation of the movie series starring Tim Allen that was first released in 1994. Her reasoning, she said, was that the elves who built the North Pole and all it contained, found their inspiration in the sweet treats they consumed. The Art Department was tasked with bringing to life a new take on the North Pole, bringing back a few of the old sets together with a newly imagined series of sets in Santa's domain. Using latex caulk squeezed from tubes cut to mimic a frosting gun, three hundred pounds of gummy candy embedded into plaster for a jail set, and the perfect shades of chocolate and graham cracker brown, I think we did pretty good. Reimagining an established property is always an interesting challenge. There is the detective work involved, poring over frames of the original film to get a sense of the style or to directly match some sets. What colors did they use? Can we find that wallpaper again after twenty-eight years? Or if we have to recreate it, could we find a decent enough photo? Not much was saved from the original movies. Fortunately, the production only had to directly match Santa's main living quarters and a living E x p l a i n i n g a M y t h T H E S A N T A C L A U S E S B Y H U N T E R M . B R O W N , A R T D I R E C T O R "I want it to look delicious!" A. THE SNOW GLOBE WAS A WRAP GIFT FROM ADC OLIVIA MEREDITH AND PA JESSA ADAMA. THEY HELPED MAKE THE SNOW GLOBES FOR THE DEPOSITORY SCENE AND THEN MADE INDIVIDUAL GLOBES FOR EACH MEMBER OF THE ART DEPARTMENT. THE LITTLE RADIO WAS A GAG CHRISTMAS GIFT FROM GRIP LINDSAY BUTT THAT MADE IT TO SANTA'S OFFICE DESK. B. SANTA'S MAIN LIVING QUARTERS. SET PHOTO. C. SANTA'S LIVING ROOM FIREPLACE. D. FIREPLACE SCULPTURE IN PROGRESS. E. TEXTURE AND COLOR STUDY OF THE MAIN HALLWAY. DONE IN SKETCHUP VRAY AND PHOTOSHOP BY HUNTER BROWN. . A