Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1546033
our design team translated concepts into construction documents; Meagen Brooks gave Ludlow its graphic identity; set decoration and construction gave the sets evidence of life and physical truth; Kei Rowan-Young's team found the real-world pieces; camera and lighting shaped the sets into images; and Kip Kroeger's VFX team completed the seasonal illusion. It takes a village to make a fictional village. We Fooled Them Again In the end, Rooster was about a father and daughter trying to find their way back to each other inside an institution trying to define its own future. That made Ludlow College more than a setting—it became a visual expression of the show's central themes: tradition and change, love and embarrassment, authority and relevance, the old world and the new one arguing in the same room. We built what we could not find. We found what we could not build. We made summer pretend to be fall, and turned California into Massachusetts, using hand drawings, 3D modeling, Unreal studies, practical locations, stage builds, graphics, costumes, lighting, post-production and a lot of shared trust to create a college that never existed. And if we did it right, the audience never thought about any of that—they just believed Ludlow was real. That is what David Hyman meant when he said, "We fooled them again." It was funny because it was true. But it was also a compliment to everyone who helped make the illusion work. Production Design isn't always about showing the audience what you made. Sometimes it's about making sure they never question it. On Rooster, that was the magic trick. And we were very happy to fool them. ADG A. CABOT MASSACHUSETTS STREET. SHOT ON LOCATION ON HONOLULU AVE. MONTROSE, CA. SET PHOTO. B. ART'S DELI EXTERIOR. WARNER BROS. BACKLOT PRODUCTION STILL. C. ART'S DELI INTERIOR. WARNER BROS. BACKLOT. PRODUCTION STILL. Cabot McMullen, Production Designer Raf Lydon, Art Director Clayton Ford, Assistant Art Director George Maya, Taura Rivera, Colin DeRouin, Victoria Ruskin, Set Designers Meagen Brooks, Graphic Artist Christopher Carlson, Set Decorator B A C