Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1546033
This moment marks the story when the monsters' too-much-ness is celebrated. We filmed this scene last, in a single take. Niagara Falls Frustrated by contemporary elements on smaller main streets, the production scouted for this set in New York City's filming zone and found a historic environment that would be additive rather than extractive. We were excited by the possibilities the layout and buildings of the Snug Harbor Cultural Center in Staten Island offered for designing a series of street-level shopfronts and lighting, and for filming without city traffic. Using 18th century buildings as a foundation, we envisioned a larger Niagara Falls town as a proof of concept. From there, the practical builds were defined: street- level shopfronts, signage, architectural follies, and refreshment stands inspired by honeymoon and spa destinations around the world at the time. Lead Graphic Designer Eddie Ioffreda and his team did a wonderful job designing signs for the many stores, booths and hotels on this set. Our idea was once again to blend the old and the very new, pairing modern neon with hand-painted 19th century signs. On the Run To give the film scope beyond the urban context, we filmed in the Catskills and on Long Island, finding locations for driving scenes, a railway siding, a gas station and a 1930s drive-in theater. The sequence in which Frankenstein is fatally shot was originally set in a cinema, but we settled on a drive-in to emphasize both cinematic scale and modernity. We built a streamlined concrete ticket-and-drive-thru booth with modern, backlit sign to highlight the letters, and a large, concrete-framed screen to display scenes from the Ronnie Reed film. We A. GRAND BALLROOM. SET PHOTO BY NITHYA SHRINIVASAN. B. GRAND BALLROOM IN PRODUCTION. PHOTO BY NIKO TAVERNISE. C. NIAGARA FALLS. FILM STILL. D. GAS STATION. NEON SIGN GRAPHICS BY EDDIE IOFFREDA. CONCEPT ILLUSTRATION BY ALEXIOS CHRYSIKOS IN PHOTOSHOP. E. DRIVE-IN ENTRANCE. SET BUILD ON LOCATION, LONG ISLAND, NEW YORK. SIGN GRAPHICS BY EDDIE IOFFREDA. CONCEPT ILLUSTRATION BY ALEXIOS CHRYSIKOS IN 3D STUDIO MAX. F. DR. EUPHRONIOUS'S LAB. PRODUCTION STILL. A B C