Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1521244
Department did a kind of mash-up a several of them. Jonathan Nolan wanted it to feel like it was at the bottom of a big hole. Illustrator Matt Sama developed a full virtual model of the settlement based on my scribbles and research pulls, and later fully illustrated each structure. We actually virtually scouted and blocked the action sequences using the VR setup we already were using for the Volume work. This was incredibly useful, especially as Matt could place the sun in exactly the right place for the days in the shooting schedule. Set Designer Michael Auszura headed up this ambitious undertaking working with Matt Sama and a small team of Set Designers. Michael continued on through the build process, which needed a lot of supervision because of the handmade quality. He also worked closely with Regina Graves, who found the bulk of the finished building materials for the set. Besides literally tons of junk and scrap she sourced all the windows, doors, siding, weathered wood and metal supports. She also sourced jet plane parts that were shipped from Lancaster, California, including the nose of a 747 that was placed on top of one of the buildings. Michael developed material schedules for all of this and assigned elements to the different buildings. One thing that helped visually ground this set was that early on in research we came upon a really amazing junkyard in New Jersey, Wade's Salvage. This yard was frozen in time from about the '60s and was near an airfield, so it was also a source for airplane parts. There was literally a forest of cars from the late '40s and streets of vintage school buses with jet fuselages stacked on top. This place could have come directly from the game. This place was the Grand Canyon of junk. It also set the bar pretty high for the set we had to build. Thankfully, the construction department was willing to work with the materials Graves gathered, which meant using extra care. It also required a substantial steel super structure as the main entrance into the town was forty-eight feet off the ground. Parts of these buildings included cars, buses and trailers that need support as well. Laura Ballinger Gardner understood that all this needed engineering time and really pressed me to get this set out in enough time to get the engineering accomplished. The steel needs in the show were probably more than all the shows I have designed combined. At a certain point, we were using close to thirty-five daily calls for the welding team. This was not only for the "Filly" set but also making the fuselage of the "Vertibird" which was sort of like an Osprey helicopter and a bugged-eyed goldfish. Turns out our welding coordinator, Daniel "Sharpie" McNabb, first learned welding for airplane construction, so he suggested we actually make A. FILLI AT NIGHT, ILLUSTRATION BY MATT SAMA, BUILT AND SHOT IN A CONTAINER YARD AT STEINER STUDIOS. MATT FULLY MODELED THIS SET AND WE USED VR TO SCOUT IT AND BLOCK OUT THE ELABORATE STUNT WORK. B. FILLI, SET PHOTO BY JOJO WHILDEN. C. MA JUNE'S SUPPLY, CONSTRUCTION DRAWING BY MICHAEL AUSZURA. AS MUCH OF WHAT WAS BEING USED TO BUILD THE TOWN BUILDINGS WAS SOURCED THROUGH SET DECORATION, MICHAEL DEVELOPED THE SCHEDULES OF ASSETS AND WORKED WITH THE SET DESIGNERS ON THEIR USE. A B