Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1546033
R O O S T E R | P E R S P E C T I V E 6 9 one place—every corridor, office, stair, window and molding belonging to the same world. A Campus in Transition Clayton: The Elizabeth Stoddard Student Center became one of the show's central visual metaphors. How did that develop? Cabot: It was designed to express the transitional moment higher education is in right now— institutions holding onto tradition while adapting to a very different cultural and political climate. Ludlow had an original, classically structured Neo-Gothic building, and at some point, trying to modernize, the college attached a contemporary glass addition to it—well-intentioned, expensive, slightly awkward, which felt very true. There's a line where Walt, played by John C. McGinley, says they took a beautiful old building and slapped a greenhouse on the side. That made me happy, because it meant the metaphor was readable. Raf: It gave us two worlds in one set—old architecture carrying institutional history, the glass addition bringing transparency and contemporary tension—and multiple ways for directors and the DP to stage a scene, private to chaotic, depending on where it happened. Cabot: And it supported Bill's directive about motion. The student center had to be a racetrack —connected paths horizontally and vertically, loops, usable stairs, upper and lower levels—so the camera could keep moving, actors could enter, exit, re-enter, and be discovered, and Ludlow always felt like a working campus, not a static set. SketchUp TV Clayton: Let's talk about "SketchUp TV," because that became part of the department culture. Cabot: It started with hand-drawn quarter-inch scale ground plans—drawing by hand helps me think, and forces you to understand relationships, C. CLASSROOM. TWINMOTION STILL FROM FLYTHROUGH OF LUDLOW COLLEGE GREG'S CLASSROOM MODEL BY TAURA RIVERA AND CLAYTON FORD. D. LUDLOW COLLEGE HALLWAYS. TWINMOTION STILL FROM FLYTHROUGH OF LUDLOW COLLEGE MAIN HALLWAY MODEL BY CLAYTON FORD. E. LUDLOW COLLEGE HALLWAYS. SKETCHUP RENDERING BY CLAYTON FORD. F. ELIZABETH STODDARD STUDENT CENTER. TWINMOTION STILL BY CLAYTON FORD. B E C F D