Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/747534
Oftentimes, the use of models and multiple photographs along the way to send to the director are very helpful. I always try to figure out what the camera angles are likely to be and try to take as many photographs from those angles as possible to see what problems or sightlines may exist so that they can be corrected before the completion of construction. The town of Volcano Springs, where we meet Goodnight Robicheaux (Ethan Hawke) and Billy Rocks (Byung-hun Lee), was built at the Ghost Ranch in Abiquiú, New Mexico. Something that I do on every script that I read (Antoine sent me a copy of his script months before the project was green-lit), is to read and make notes about what the town requires. Then, I will make sketches of the set or a rough layout of the town. It may change many times during this period, but I have to start somewhere. A lot of times, I am working on another project before the next one starts, so these sketches turn into more developed plans and designs before I have officially started work. On this particular project, Art Director Sean Jennings was working with me and he and I went back- and-forth with preliminary designs and concepts so that, when we did finally start working on the movie, we had something to start with. I like to use Panavision's Panascout app on my iPhone. I adjust the lens and frame to the format that the cinematographer plans to use, and then I take additional Above, clockwise from top left: Chisolm's point of view entering the town of Amador City, shown in Ms. Yingling's rendering, and a photograph of the nearly- completed set, showing that the camera can hold both hero locations in the same shot as the actor rides down the street. Ms. Yingling's black-and- white sketch, before color is added, of Chisolm's first sighting of the town. Bottom, left to right: The first version of Amador City, laid out as described in the script, in a treed location. The second version at the sand pits, a different location on the same property. The street under construction at the sand pits. Derek R. Hill, Production Designer Leslie McDonald, Supervising Art Director Sean Jennings, Art Director Al Hobbs, Senior Lead Set Designer Karl Martin, Lead Set Designer John Berger, Molly Mikula, Set Designers Kathryn Yingling, Illustrator & Graphic Designer Merissa Lombardo, Set Decorator