Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1541514
5 8 P E R S P E C T I V E I N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 2 5 raised in the Delta. Her photography took my breath away. It was both architectural and geometric, using shadows and silhouettes to create an abstract overlay. It was the way she captured the small details of her subjects, and the textures of their environments. You'd see a tiny delicate silk bow on the inside of a little girl's white gloves on a Sunday morning as she walked down a dirt road holding her shoes, or the little bit of mud around a woman's heels as she window shopped in the city. That was the feeling I wanted to portray in our world of Clarksdale. The design aesthetic became about the details, small exaggerated geometric shapes in front of a vast never-ending landscape, and the process of creating the tone and textures of the sets. Even with so tight a schedule for prep, the Art Department allowed the time to resource materials that were used during that era for each specific build. We found a great wood salvage yard where we were able to source quite a bit of siding for Bert and Joan's farmhouse, which became a reference for the wood that was scenic'd by grinding down the wood planks and using an acid wash, a couple different cool and warm gray washes, and then painting on the shadow under each plank on the exterior to define the lines. The farmhouse was all about lines. Annie's store was on Maybell Plantation (shot at Creedmoor Plantation in St. Bernard Parish), surrounded by centuries-old oak trees, their branches like tendrils reaching around her store, like the arms of the ancestors. Her store had a lean, as if it was moving into the arms of the oaks, and standing in spite of itself. One side of the porch overhang dropping down, held up by a mostly straight branch. Jars of colorful pickled food sitting at the porch's edge. The interior of her house, built with rough sawn wood, was acid washed and as time went on, it naturally grayed, and as the wood dried it shrunk, giving the edges a beautiful warped feeling and creating gaps that DP Autumn Durald could push light through. We used true-cut wood, as I call it, a two by four was exactly that, and so on and so forth with all the various sizes throughout the sets. It added a sense of heaviness, and almost an oddly skewed feel. Everything got considered, and it was important to me to steal the time to do just that. Of course, there were times when we were right up to the wire, but with the great team of talented craftspeople and department heads, I knew we'd get there. As I continued to research, I came upon a photo series of Clarksdale, Mississippi, and surrounding A. CLARKSDALE PASSENGER TRAIN STATION. LOCATION BOGALUSA, LOUISIANA. AUGMENTED LOCATION. SAMMIE AND STACK FIND DELTA SLIM AND MARY. PRODUCTION STILL. B. CHILDREN IN JEDIDIAH'S CHURCH. PRODUCTION STILL. A B