Production Log 20

March is in the books folks! The first quarter of the year is complete and boy, did it fly by. As far as Gauntlet goes, I’m still learning and designing my first major set location for the film, so let’s see what we got. On this Production Log, I have updated screenshots for the location set of the 1920’s theater domain of one of the film’s main villains, Suriv. If you’ve visited our previous log, Production Log 19, you’ll see that the set has more props, mannequins, and architectural borders in the main lobby area. I thought adding in custom-made mannequins would help you, the viewer, get a better sense of realism on how grandiose the set actually is. I should’ve done this earlier since I created our railing to the staircase a little too high, however, it’s a blunder of which I’ll fix in the future.

For a better explanation to the rooms, I’ve annotated a letter system so you could see the rooms better in the above picture. Below is the legend:

A. Main Lobby
B. Coat check-in’s
C. Main Hallway
D. Ballroom/Dance floor
E. Main Entrance

Just like in any film scene, you want to visually establish the location of your story so that the viewer understands where they are. So I’ll give you my plans on how I’ll open up this scene by taking you through the above checkpoints.

Aerial shot of the exterior building (not pictured) CUT TO:
Main entrance doors open (E) CAMERA CONTINUOUS
- Dollies forward into the main lobby (A) trucks right up the stairwell through the main hallway (C) and into the ballroom (D).
- Camera goes all the way up on stage where musicians are playing, rotates 360 degrees, dollies forward out past the ballroom (D) and back to the main hallway (C) where Suriv’s office is located and LANDS on his name plate above his office door.

I know what you’re probably thinking. Why put all this work and effort for a shot that could probably last for about forty seconds? Because, any chance where I have an opportunity to make my film that much more realistic, I’m going to do it. Not only do you get respect from your fellow creatives in the industry, but you can sit back and look at what you’ve learned in order to apply it to your next project. Or at least that’s what I believe.

As you can see above, my April plans are to model tapestries, lighting fixtures, stage curtains and the lobby entrance before I begin texturing and adding materials to all of the objects. Once that’s complete, I’ll begin lighting the set. In the next two months, I’ll be able to see this set really come to life. I can’t wait! Until then, below are more images for you to see. Enjoy!