Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1495092
I follow the scouting period by making design boards for each set in chronological order, on which are situated at the top a current location photo and below key reference images that speak to the desired mood and tone. On Babylon, I put up over one hundred boards, due to the number of sets. These started in the Art Department and wrapped out all the way around the hallway and became an inspiration to other departments as we all discussed tonal goals for each set. Supervising Art Director Eric Sundahl led the Art Department team to focus on designing and drawing the most significant set builds first. Assistant Art Director May Mitchell marshaled the 100-plus site plans in collaboration with the Art Directors, site reps, location securers and all heads of department. Early images of extreme depravity captured the Art Department's attention, as did opulent constructions built up and out extravagantly in the California desert. We noted the exaggerated lifestyles these characters were projecting, the life they were manifesting. We wanted constant reminders of the severity of the desert land they were building on. The design aimed to dig into the characters' dreams, exposing the reality and harshness of what it had taken them to get to this place. Poverty would be contrasted with wealth, but what is so specific to Los Angeles is how there are—and always were—structures in the midst of either being formed or torn apart; even today, how very quickly something beautiful gets old and is replaced with the next new thing. Don Wallach's Party The opening sequence of Babylon was by far the most challenging, because the film had to instantly impart the fervor and the setting of the story about to be told. The film opens on a dusty barren farm road in Piru, with freshly planted orange trees. This was inspired by research of early Los Angeles, a city not yet formed, with newly cut roads and palm trees planted as mile markers. The big challenge was the mansion of movie mogul Wallach; how could the production create a castle on a hilltop without resorting to heavy A. OPENING SEQUENCE DESIGN BOARD. B. OPENING SEQUENCE WITH ELEPHANT TRUCK. PRODUCTION STILL. C. SPFX ELEPHANT POSTERIOR. SET PHOTO. D. EXTERIOR DON WALLACH'S MANSION. ILLUSTRATION BY JOANNA BUSH. A B C D