Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1512164
a studio backlot (and stages) for any reason. The goal was to design a timeless film using subtle modern touches and perfectly appointed locations. I was intent on honoring historical accuracy by seeing the real thing, understanding its essence, and then divorcing myself from its form and committing to our own design. I wanted there to be space, breath and sparseness throughout. Neither Chris nor I wanted to crowd the frame with overly dressed sets. I wanted to captivate the audience and transport them to the exact moment in time they were watching. Finding the film's Los Alamos checked a huge box, but then there was the rest of the film to figure out: one hundred fifty sets spanning 1925 to 1963. Using still images, I boarded every scene in the script on my office walls, giving me a better understanding of the film's visual language and a tool to use in conversations with Chris. It provided a roadmap of our interests, and a pictorial of the most visually stimulating storytelling material. Some of it felt like a documentary, other parts of it felt exciting, raw and metaphorical. Depictions of each of the necessary VFX elements were also represented and me, Andrew Jackson (VFX supervisor), Scott Fisher (SPX supervisor), Hoyte and Chris talked through these beats and how to practically achieve them in camera. Throughout my design process, the heartbeat of preproduction was cracking the combination of budget, location and schedule. Like a game of Tetris. It was this framework that shaped where we ended up shooting and why, and that guided me on what to really push for, as well as where to bend and accept that an idea needed to be pursued in another form. Initially, Nilo Otero (first AD) assembled an 80- to 85-day shoot that included filming in various states, as well as Europe. Despite herculean efforts from every department, no one was hitting their budget marks, and yet it was clear that the allotted amount to make this picture wasn't going to grow. The first town I designed came in vastly over budget—a hard "NO." My team and I went back to the drawing A. ONE OF TWO GUARD TOWERS SURROUNDING LOS ALAMOS, BUILT ON LOCATION AT GHOST RANCH, NEW MEXICO. SET PHOTO. B. LOS ALAMOS GUARD TOWER. DRAWN IN CAD BY TAMMY LEE. C. SERVICE CLUB SET ON MAIN ST., LOS ALAMOS. DRAWN BY EASTON SMITH. D. LOS ALAMOS MAIN STREET INT./EXT. BUILT ON LOCATION AT GHOST RANCH, NEW MEXICO. SET PHOTO. A B C D