Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1514626
Dead Oak Beach In contrast to the joy and life around this tree, the production used a small forest of dead and bare oaks along a beach to introduce the sinister character Mister. He is trying to seduce Nettie on her way home from school and the song "Mister/Nettie" is set here. Much later in the film, we revisit this beach, where we discover Celie sitting in a dead oak tree reading the first of Nettie's long-lost letters from Africa. It was a conscious decision not to show the stories in Nettie's letters in their real settings but through Celie's imagination, using the small part of Georgia that she knows. The letter describes her arrival to the coastline of Ghana, where she meets the local Ashanti king who welcomes them with the song "Agoo." We took the deadwood beach setting and, with the help of VFX supervisor Ariel Shaw's team, transformed them with lush green leaves and flowers to accompany the vividly colored costumes of the Ashanti dancers. Backcountry Road and African Village The second letter Celie reads describes the destruction of Nettie's village by British colonialists. We discovered an open area under a canopy of southern live oak trees on Jekyll Island. She reads the letter while walking through the town's A. THE TREE OF LIFE. EASTER DINNER. PHOTO BY DAN LAUSTSEN. B. DEAD OAK BEACH. JEKYLL ISLAND. SET PHOTO. A B