Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1531774
down the scene and trying to develop how many sets we actually needed to tell the story. In the end, we decided we needed two—a platform with adjoining corridors and an enormous escalator. It was most important to Steve that the experience of the event feel as real as possible at all times. Building two larger, fully finished environments would allow him to move around freely and let the action develop without breaking the sequence into tiny bits and pieces. The escalator side starts off as a traditional tank set where the bottom of the set actually sits in a tank. What's unusual here though is that the escalator rides up and out of the tank all the way to the roof of the stage. The water floods in from the top, running down and recycling with pumps. The real challenge was the platform set. There simply wasn't a tank at Leavesden big enough to hold it. Supervising Art Director Oliver Van Der Vijver, construction manager Dan Marsden and the engineering team had to figure out a way to put this giant flood on a dry stage. They decided the best approach would be multiayer formed rings of plywood coated with an epoxy...all sitting underneath the ceramic tile. The outside of the structure was reinforced with what looked like all the scaffolding tube in London. All rigging points had to be predetermined and set in place before the waterproofing layers started, as any drilling or fixing after the fact would compromise the water seal. In the end, it was all worth it—the thing held water…six hundred tons of it in fact, all planned and executed by Hayley Williams' special effects team. Hull, Arcade and Pilkington In the end, the production couldn't find everything we needed in London. The train station was the E. SUBWAY PLATFORM. SET ILLUSTRATION BY QINGLING ZHANG. 3D MODEL WITH PHOTOSHOP OVERPAINTING. F. SUBWAY PLATFORM. SET PHOTO. G. LONDON TUBE PLATFORM FLOODED. SET ILLUSTRATION BY QINGLING ZHANG. 3D MODEL WITH PHOTOSHOP OVERPAINTING. H. SUBWAY PLATFORM ON STAGE. SET PHOTO BY OLIVER VAN DER VIJVER. I. CHILDREN EVACUATING TRAIN STATION. SET ILLUSTRATION BY QINGLING ZHANG. PHOTOSHOP OVERPAINTING OF LOCATION PHOTO. J. CHILDREN EVACUATING TRAIN STATION. SET PHOTO. F E G H I J