Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1538080
unlimited possibility. The set flows on to another stage, with depth as far as the eye can see. The camera eye is subtly led from space to space by the curvature of the floor, paralleled by the curvature in the soffits, and the graphical way the ceiling tile patterns rotate to make the eye move energetically forward, so filming can be continuously in motion. While the foreground story is the focus, there are simultaneous stories playing out in the mid- ground and background everywhere, minute-by- minute, in real time. Because there are no dead ends, everywhere the camera keeps moving and turning, it can keep shooting. After studying all kinds of hospital art direction traps that I wanted to avoid (too much use of blue, frequent over Art Direction, etc.), the Art Department gave birth to the exact opposite of what is commonly seen on medical dramas, leaning into the harsh, desaturated space that actually is everyone's triggering hospital experience. Johanna Coehlo (cinematographer) and everyone else bravely embraced this blanched palette. We camera-tested over fifty shades and multiple sheen levels for our white. The fully immersive experience of The Pitt, both emotionally and physically—for the actors, the hundreds of background and the crew— supports its intent to be closer to documentary than narrative. Every crew member wears scrubs. And from a production standpoint, all of the practical fixtures that light the show are imbedded in the design. Working with prepping gaffer Derrick Kolus, gaffer Keelan Carothers and cinematographer Johanna Coelho, we carefully placed every single one of the six hundred and eighty-nine lighting fixtures. All horizontal surfaces, including countertops and gurney sheets, are levels of white that function as hidden bounce for the top lighting. There are no C-stands and no lighting from the ground. Lighting is all baked into the design, each light independently controllable for color temperature and intensity off stage from a board, as in live theater, responsive to the choreography of each setup. So—though this is an over-simplification—the crew can go on set F. STAGE 22, PTMC. NORTH CORRIDOR. SKETCHUP MODEL BY JOSH LUSBY AND DEAN WOLCOTT. G. STAGE 22, PTMC. NORTH CORRIDOR. SET PHOTO BY KEN HABER. H. STAGE 22. HISTORICAL STAIRWELL TO LOBBY. CONSTRUCTION DRAWING BY DEAN WOLCOTT. I. STAGE 22. HISTORICAL STAIRWELL TO LOBBY. SET PHOTO BY KEN HABER. H F G I