Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/820551
P E R S P E C T I V E | M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 7 43 elevators and hallway that ran the length of the stage. Set Designer Brian Waits created detailed drawings from the model and the first set began construction with construction coordinator Steve DeSantis' crew at the NASA Michoud Facility, also known as Big Easy Studios. After a few scouts and one recon mission to Northern Louisiana (via two propeller airplanes), an 1830s farmhouse and farm were locked in to serve as a stop on the road trip. Set Designers Kevin Loo and Trinh Vu, with a new drone in hand, were able to create an accurate 3D model of the expansive farm using photogrammetry processed from the drone's bird's- eye 4K video. Trinh began the process of drawing the interior sets matching the location for construction at NASA, including all the ground-floor rooms and the second floor as a separate set on the same stage. The exterior farm was laid out with notes from François and James Mangold, addressing blocking and lighting for the night scenes and consideration for practical effects and stunts. Cornfields were designed into the action and had to be as close as possible to the farmhouse without seeming forced. The unplowed fields were prepared and planted to be an exact height when the company began filming, slated for later in the schedule as it took about two weeks to prep and build the exteriors. A new horse barn and corral were added, constructed over a maintenance shed and a pump house located at the rear of the farm. Extensive tree trimming and cutting of roads through the cornfields were all handled by the greens department. With these stage sets well underway, the actors' schedule shifted unexpectedly. The emphasis was now to shoot out Patrick Stewart by the end of the first four weeks of production. We shuffled priorities and set about the task of completing certain sets much earlier than anticipated, which also meant building a partial side of the smelting plant in the parking lot outside the stages. With this hiccup handled, the New Orleans Art Department began processing locations. Scott Plauché and Assistant Art Directors Matt Gatlin and Christina Kim tended to the exterior cemetery, US/Mexico border crossing, the research lab and the Liberty Motel, among others. Below, left and right: Landon Lott was tasked with envisioning the New Orleans Superdome as an Oklahoma City casino exterior using a series of Photoshop sketches. The finished exterior set for the casino hotel. Early in the writing process, a more typical Las Vegas casino was specified, but Oklahoma City was substituted when Las Vegas was deemed too far west. Above, left and right: An early key frame sketch of the Liberty Motel by storyboard artist Gabriel Hardman. A photograph of the finished Liberty Motel set where Logan travels to meet Laura (aka X-23, an eleven- year-old clone of Logan/ Wolverine).