Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/859699
P E R S P E C T I V E | S E P T E M B E R / O C TO B E R 2 0 1 7 27 Top: Joe Studzinski's Photoshop painting over a location photograph of the apes' journey to Mount St. Helens in Washington. Conceiving utopia for the apes is an interesting challenge: Mount St. Helens provided shelter, geothermal heat, water and lots of raw timbers to launch a new ape city. Center: Another Photoshop painting by Joe Studzinski, this time showing the apes' journey near Las Vegas, Nevada. After fleeing the prison camp, they travel across eastern California into Nevada. "I was excited to show evidence of human history, and Las Vegas represented the peak of our hubris," said Mr. Chinlund. Above: Joe Studzinski's drawing for Caesar's dwelling helped kick off the set construction at Mammoth Studios in Vancouver. techniques and materials the apes' used on the last film so their world would be immediately recognizable to the audience. Working on the design from interior to exterior, I used a spiral ramp to organize the interior spaces of the cavern. Model Maker Brett Phillips proved himself invaluable once again; working with Set Designers Luis Hoyos and Chris Sanford, he brought the apes' new home into focus, designing a stage set with extensions... but how would we enter the waterfall from the exterior? Where would we find a set of falls big enough to hide this entrance and still have good access for production? Combing through my research, I came across Coquihalla Canyon Provincial Park in British Columbia, which contained a network of tunnels created for a now- decommissioned railway line. It looked perfect in the photos and I cautiously sent it to the locations team in Vancouver, hoping it might work. It turned out the park allowed filming, but only in the summer months, and the film was scheduled to start shooting in early fall. It was, as usual, right down to the wire, but the timing just barely worked. The canyon was just the piece I needed to connect the stage work to the outside world and once I was standing on the ground looking up at the inspiring granite cliffs of the Coquihalla River, there was no doubt I had found the spot. Now, to get it prepped and shot before the winter set in. Mountain Journey Winter drove the shooting schedule. A big piece of the film takes place in the Sierras in the snowy winter months as the apes pursue their human enemies through the empty forest. At one point on the journey, they take shelter in