Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1521244
T H E A M E R I C A N S O C I E T Y O F M A G I C A L N E G R O E S | P E R S P E C T I V E 9 9 The American Society of Magical Negroes…catchy title. Honestly, I was not quite sure what to make of it when I saw it in the subject line of the first email regarding this project. But once I read the script—a meaningful racial satire wrapped up in a romantic comedy bow, featuring a magical society and a yarn artist—I was hooked. Count me in. The script called for two major set pieces—The American Society of Magical Negroes and the Meetbox offices. Knowing this was a smallish, tiered movie budget-wise, there was no way we would be building these sets from the ground up, so finding the right locations was a top priority. Based on some brief descriptions in the script, I put together a file of some of the great LA locations—the Bradbury Building, the libraries of USC, the Gausti Villa, the Los Angeles Theater, etc. It was a great opportunity to really get into a conversation with writer/ director Kobi Libii about the look and feel of the Society. We talked about connecting locations, for example, could the elevators of the Bradbury Building lead to the bowels of the Los Angeles Theater? Yes! But returning to reality. No! Not with this film's budget and shooting schedule. We realized it would really be to our advantage to find all the scripted elements at one location, so I suggested we start with the LA Theater. I had shot an Aerosmith video there many years ago and knew it not only had a great ballroom downstairs, it had other unexpected rooms and surprises below the stage. Having lived and worked in Los Angeles for a minute, I did not think we would find a better option. Kobi and cinematographer Doug Emmett agreed and our Society had a home on our first day of scouting. The great advantage to making the decision on the location for the Society so early on, besides less time in the dreaded scout van, is getting to jump in and focus on how to make it work, how to tie the sets together, how to use and build on the existing architecture. There were quite a few scripted sets on the pages and that was the first big puzzle that needed solving. The production had selected the location but other than the grand ballroom, what was gonna go where?? Okay, so here we go… Art Director Charles Varga and I knew that it was going to be a challenge to give the Society scope and a sense of flow within one location. We knew the large grand ballroom downstairs would be our centerpiece with its dark wood walls and beautiful glass oval light-up ceiling. The old wood bar area off the grand room B C A. PRESENTATION BOARD FOR THE SOCIETY HALL AT THE LA THEATER—MIX OF SKETCHUP RENDERS, LOCATION PICTURES AND REFERENCES. B. SOCIETY HELP DESK. VRAY RENDERED SKETCHUP MODEL. C. SOCIETY HELP DESK. SHOT IN THE DRESSING ROOM AREA AT THE LA THEATER BELOW THE STAGE. SET PHOTO.