Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1546033
What fascinated me was watching how quickly these environments developed identities of their own. As designers, we can shape opportunities for interaction, but once people arrive, they inevitably begin writing their own story into the space. Protecting the Illusion Of course, when building a functional city, practical realities inevitably appear. People need places to eat, support facilities and the infrastructure that sustains daily life. The challenge wasn't accommodating those requirements, but making sure none of them stood out on camera. Throughout the design process, Isabella and I worked closely with production, cast care and producers to ensure that the practical needs of the City could coexist with the visual goals of the project. The objective was to never showcase the infrastructure, protecting the illusion. When audiences look at the City, we wanted them to see the world we created, not the mechanisms required to keep it functioning. In many ways, some of the most successful solutions were the ones viewers never noticed at all. Grand entrances, challenge venues, hidden doors and walls, and social areas were highlighted, but they all required infrastructure that we attempted to make invisible. Ninety Days and a Lot of Rain The schedule remains one of the most extraordinary aspects of the project. There were only three months between our first creative conversations and move-in day. That timeline would have been aggressive under the best of circumstances. But as it goes on most location projects, ideal circumstances are rarely realistic to expect, let alone achieve. The City was built in Greenville, North Carolina, during an early summer that seemed determined to test the will and patience of the entire production. When it wasn't raining the heat was sweltering. When it was raining, there were always lightning delays. And it was almost always raining. The delays threatened an already compressed timeline and forced the show into a 24-hour install schedule weeks before shooting began. Entire departments were forced to attempt to make up time by working at a fevered pace that A. THE CITY COMPLETED. DRONE FOOTAGE DURING MOVE-IN. B. THE CITY COMPLETED. DRONE FOOTAGE DURING MOVE-IN. C. THE CITY COMPLETED. SET PHOTO. A B C