Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1546033
in a crowded, warm, smoky restaurant. The Art Department altered the layout by adding curved, upholstered red velvet booths, replacing the existing wallpaper with red velvet wall panels, and placing smaller clothed tables and lighting to create a warm ambience. We included a performance stage for a jazz quartet and housed our group in a central booth near the bar, maintaining sightlines for the sequence. Mirrored wall panels created optical illusions as Ida becomes possessed. She is taken to the back, where the crew built a double-height basement stage set with long Victorian cast-iron stairs, tiles, embossed gold wallpaper, and peeling plaster for her encounter with her fate. Maggie wanted her fall to hang in space, so we exaggerated the set's height to achieve this illusion. Times Square The Times Square sequence required complex, specific geography. Shutting down a busy intersection with marquees and storefronts the film could dress was difficult, so we adapted our approach and built a backlot set at Steiner Studios. This set included two Broadway blocks and a side street, with theaters, marquees and various businesses. Initially, the Art Department built a 3D model, produced concept images with Photoshop enhancements and painted details to realize our vision for the final Times Square shots. From there, we worked backward from the required shots to decide how much needed to be built. We took cues from early 20th century vaudeville palaces converted into cinemas and from modern NYC mini-movie houses, particularly the brightly lit marquees and contemporary cinema fronts of Trans-Lux, the modern electric sign company- turned-cinema operator. A B E C D F A. CHICAGO RESTAURANT. ILLUSTRATION BY ALEXIOS CHRYSIKOS. B. CHICAGO RESTAURANT BASEMENT. CONCEPT ILLUSTRATION BY ALEXIOS CHRYSIKOS IN 3D STUDIO MAX AND PHOTOSHOP.