Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1504681
Anyway You Slice It, aka "The Autopsy" When I started designing sets for this, there was not a director on board yet, but the timing was such that the crew had to start building, so I worked on something that I felt Guillermo would want to shoot in as the main set, a disused refrigeration factory. When director David Prior arrived to an almost fully built set, with little chance to be part of the design process, he stood in it and said… "yes, this really is a Guillermo set"—full of pipes, pilasters, expertly aged by our talented scenics. David and cinematographer Anastas Michos made the most of this favorite build of mine, shooting every angle from looking up at the lofty ceiling with skylights, to extreme wide high shots of this abandoned ice factory space repurposed as an autopsy room. Creating the ice (using layers of melted wax) for the back refrigeration room was a challenge and a success. Researching and considering various fractal art pieces (particularly the work of artist Julius Horsthuis) with David for the "inner mind" of the main character was intriguing. One of the greatest challenges was building the mine: the mine shaft elevator, the control room and the mine walls that explode and trap dozens of men, all built on location at a closed power plant nearby. Making it real, we imported vast quantities of coal from Pennsylvania, and many times I would arrive back at the office from the set looking like one of the 1970s miners we had so carefully researched. Overstuffed, aka "The Outside" This strange comic horror subgenre story was born out of a graphic novel (Some Other Animal's Meat by Emily Carroll) and was the perfect framework for doing a 1970s/1980s-stylized romp into what I call the "ugly-beautiful." Shot entirely with extreme wide angles by director Ana Lily Amirpour and cinematographer Jeremy Benning, it was a H. "THE AUTOPSY" MORGUE AND COLD ROOM. DIRECTOR'S PLAN. BY JANE STOIACICO. I. "THE AUTOPSY" COLD ROOM. ILLUSTRATION BY ANDY TSANG. J. "THE AUTOPSY" ICE PLANT INTERIOR. IN PROGRESS. H J I G