Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1535796
C A P T A I N A M E R I C A : B R AV E N E W W O R L D | P E R S P E C T I V E 3 7 The directive seemed straightforward: Make a Marvel movie, but make it grounded and make it on a tight budget. I said, "Sure! Bring it on!" Then, after I was hired, I got to read the script: superhero conflicts all over the world, including with the naval fleets of four countries, a secret prison/laboratory, a particle accelerator, fights destroying various parts of the White House, and a final battle with a telekinetic foe inside the head of a giant stone Celestial rising five miles out of the Indian Ocean. And a Red Hulk smashing!!! Fortunately, I had a great partner to sort this all out—the director, Julius Onah. Julius and I had met a decade before and tried to work together several times, but schedules never panned out. This time, the stars aligned, and we embarked on a fascinating journey of how Production Design can truly inform and shape the development of a movie. His intent was to focus the movie on the converging character arcs of Sam Wilson, as he assumes the role of Captain America, and Thunderbolt Ross, as he works to give up his martial background to lead America and the world to some sense of peace and security. To do this, Julius wanted to go back to the political thriller vibe that proved compelling for Captain America: Winter Soldier. Julius is one of those amazing folks who seems to have seen every movie ever made—and remembers them all. He found a through line for this film in period dramas like Point Blank, Le Samouraï, The Parallax View, Vertigo and The Day of the Jackal. Plus, he liked the visual sense of more modern movies like I Saw the Devil, Trance, The Killing of the Sacred Deer and Sunshine. While that is a remarkable range of styles, they are tied together through what Julius called "meticulous design." By that, he meant shots were composed carefully with shapes, light, and, especially, color. That focus created a specific emotional moment for both the character and the audience to experience within the flow of the story. To get that shape, the first thing we did was pull a key frame from each scene in each of the movies Julius was referencing, arraying them vertically in small rectangles. What emerged was a clear theory of design in each film. Point Blank and Le Samourai had specific color progressions; Parallax View and Sacred Deer were very organized in framing compositions; Trance was all about reflections and transparencies; Devil showed an extreme contrast in color and lighting between the "normal" world and the places where the killer appeared. They all had tightly controlled palettes. We set out to apply these ideas to this script. Alan Hook, our fearlessly calm Supervising Art Director, brought together a powerful crew of Concept Artists and Set Designers, and we set about solving multiple sequences simultaneously. First up were sequences in and around Tiamat. The Art Department had to craft an initial beat where the Adamantium was stolen from a lab there and, also, the climax fight sequence where it was being mined. We pursued a theory of how the exotic materials in the body were creating a sort of "Genesis Effect" around it, gathering sand and corals, plus accelerating plant growth. A. CELESTIAL HEAD MINING FACILITY. CONCEPT ART BY JULIEN GAUTIER BASED ON CONCEPT MODELS BY THANG LE, FAUSTO DE MARTINI AND DAVID SWAYZE. B. CELESTIAL ISLAND - MINING DERRICK. CONCEPT ART BY JULIEN GAUTIER BASED ON CONCEPT MODELS BY FAUSTO DE MARTINI AND DAVID SWAYZE.