Post by Meg on Nov 12, 2008 21:00:44 GMT
OTH in the 1940s: Set designers create retro looks for special "One Tree Hill" episode
After searching a month and a half for the perfect place to shoot a 1940s dance club, Production Designer Alan Hook and Art Director Bill Davis decided Wilmington just didn’t have what they were looking for.
So, with only two weeks left to transform teen drama “One Tree Hill,” which is set in the present day, into a film noir gangster show, they built the club themselves. Or, at least, the interior of a nightclub.
It took about 40 carpenters and 15 scenic artists to get the job done on deadline inside a soundstage at EUE/Screen Gems on North 23rd Street. Davis said the total number of crew usually working on a job like this is only about 12.
And everything had to be period-acurate, from the bottles on the bar to the lighting fixtures on the walls.
“Normally, we have four soundstages filled with sets that are . . . what we call our permanent sets that we go back to on a regular basis from episode to episode,” Hook said. “And for the most part, at least 50 percent of an episode will be in those sets, on average. But on this one . . . start to finish, it was like doing a whole new show. A whole new series or something.”
They started with actor Chad Michael Murray’s script, but worked more closely with director Joe Davola, who they talked to about the “look” they needed to go for.
While that was going on, the men began pouring over period photos and advertisements, they even looked at period movies to help come up with ideas to get the message across that this was 1941.
Even after the episode wrapped, clippings from this research remained on a bulletin board in the production office.
Originally, the episode was supposed to be shot in black and white, an idea nixed by the network.
“So then the fall back positions was, ‘Well how can we make this sort of a stylized look that still gets the feel of 1940s noir episode but isn’t black and white?’ ” Hook said. “(We) came up with the idea that we would try to do everything in de-saturated, sort of monochromatic colors. And then only have hints of really strong colors in with, like, the neon lighting that we used and through the costumes. That way, in a way, the sets were almost black and white but not really. And then, hopefully in the costumes that they wore, you know, red gowns and gold gowns, that that would really pop off of the back grounds.”
At this time, Hook and Davis also had several people out looking for period props and set dressings. Some came from local antique stores, some were pulled from catalogues of companies that specialize in reproductions, others were ordered from prop houses in Los Angeles.
Form floor to ceiling, everything was hand-picked with a purpose in mind.
“There’s a balance between what we want it to be and what we can get our hands on that fast,” Hook said. “So, there was sort of that mad rush of going through all of our catalogues and our on-line references that we have, our companies, vendors, and start really just searching for elements that they have in stock. And then once we see pieces that they have, we start pulling those out of there.”
They lucked out one item.
Prop Master Robbie Beck collects old liquor bottle labels. But he didn’t have the bottles. Those had to be shipped in from a prop house in Los Angeles, then he applied the labels. Most of those liquor companies, Hook said, aren’t even in business anymore. No detail was left unturned.
When they couldn’t finding carpet that would go with the art deco “Ziggurat” style that is copied in everything from the hand railings to the piano, they convinced a company to make it.
“(Set decorator) Matt (Sullivan) finally convinced them to do a run of it just for us, before it’s even in the showrooms, so they quickly cranked out just enough carpet,” Hook said. “And I don’t know if you noticed right on the end of the sets, we really pieced it together. We had inches to spare.”
Even the light fixtures became an issue.
“Matt and I were going ‘round and ‘round trying to find sconces that worked, that were appropriate in period fixtures,” Hook said. “And we ended up having to ship those in from a prop house in Los Angeles that had them. Because the other issue, you know, sometimes you find just the right sconce but there are only two of them available and, of course, we needed 20 of one kind, 15 of another.”
A metal company custom made the railing that surrounds the dance floor to match the art deco Ziggurat style that had been chose as the main theme. That step-like shape was also repeated in everything from the designs in the doorways to the proscenium that frames the band area.
A local upholstery business made the padded doors, a local neon company made the blue martini sign and another local company sewed the swirl pattern onto the table toppers.
“We have a whole army of local vendors that help us all the times. We build relationships locally with a lot of people,” Hook said. “We were able to call in some favors, too, to have people to drop what they were doing, whatever other projects they were working on, and be able to do this stuff right away. So that’s something that’s pretty important, counting on the local vendors that help us out.”
It was a whirlwind process to create the sets in a short time within the production’s budget. But for the art department, it paid off in the end.
“It was a nice break from basketball,” Davis said.
Hook agreed, “It wasn’t another teenage bedroom with posters of rock bands. . . And I would say, top to bottom, everybody in our department, it was a good chance for everybody to sort of show off their skills. And I think everybody was happy with the finished product. It’s the kind of thing that we got into this business to do. We joke, ‘We’re not architects, we just play them on TV.’ ”
Murray was happy with the outcome, too. This episode was his vision come to life.
“Oh, it was awesome,” he said. “It’s a fantastic feeling to see all the steps come together, to see the world that you wrote come to life. Especially due to the fact it was really, honestly, almost like we were doing a complete new show. You know, it was all new sets, all new locations; it was kind of like doing a pilot. That’s what was really, really exciting about it. This entire world got created.”
After searching a month and a half for the perfect place to shoot a 1940s dance club, Production Designer Alan Hook and Art Director Bill Davis decided Wilmington just didn’t have what they were looking for.
So, with only two weeks left to transform teen drama “One Tree Hill,” which is set in the present day, into a film noir gangster show, they built the club themselves. Or, at least, the interior of a nightclub.
It took about 40 carpenters and 15 scenic artists to get the job done on deadline inside a soundstage at EUE/Screen Gems on North 23rd Street. Davis said the total number of crew usually working on a job like this is only about 12.
And everything had to be period-acurate, from the bottles on the bar to the lighting fixtures on the walls.
“Normally, we have four soundstages filled with sets that are . . . what we call our permanent sets that we go back to on a regular basis from episode to episode,” Hook said. “And for the most part, at least 50 percent of an episode will be in those sets, on average. But on this one . . . start to finish, it was like doing a whole new show. A whole new series or something.”
They started with actor Chad Michael Murray’s script, but worked more closely with director Joe Davola, who they talked to about the “look” they needed to go for.
While that was going on, the men began pouring over period photos and advertisements, they even looked at period movies to help come up with ideas to get the message across that this was 1941.
Even after the episode wrapped, clippings from this research remained on a bulletin board in the production office.
Originally, the episode was supposed to be shot in black and white, an idea nixed by the network.
“So then the fall back positions was, ‘Well how can we make this sort of a stylized look that still gets the feel of 1940s noir episode but isn’t black and white?’ ” Hook said. “(We) came up with the idea that we would try to do everything in de-saturated, sort of monochromatic colors. And then only have hints of really strong colors in with, like, the neon lighting that we used and through the costumes. That way, in a way, the sets were almost black and white but not really. And then, hopefully in the costumes that they wore, you know, red gowns and gold gowns, that that would really pop off of the back grounds.”
At this time, Hook and Davis also had several people out looking for period props and set dressings. Some came from local antique stores, some were pulled from catalogues of companies that specialize in reproductions, others were ordered from prop houses in Los Angeles.
Form floor to ceiling, everything was hand-picked with a purpose in mind.
“There’s a balance between what we want it to be and what we can get our hands on that fast,” Hook said. “So, there was sort of that mad rush of going through all of our catalogues and our on-line references that we have, our companies, vendors, and start really just searching for elements that they have in stock. And then once we see pieces that they have, we start pulling those out of there.”
They lucked out one item.
Prop Master Robbie Beck collects old liquor bottle labels. But he didn’t have the bottles. Those had to be shipped in from a prop house in Los Angeles, then he applied the labels. Most of those liquor companies, Hook said, aren’t even in business anymore. No detail was left unturned.
When they couldn’t finding carpet that would go with the art deco “Ziggurat” style that is copied in everything from the hand railings to the piano, they convinced a company to make it.
“(Set decorator) Matt (Sullivan) finally convinced them to do a run of it just for us, before it’s even in the showrooms, so they quickly cranked out just enough carpet,” Hook said. “And I don’t know if you noticed right on the end of the sets, we really pieced it together. We had inches to spare.”
Even the light fixtures became an issue.
“Matt and I were going ‘round and ‘round trying to find sconces that worked, that were appropriate in period fixtures,” Hook said. “And we ended up having to ship those in from a prop house in Los Angeles that had them. Because the other issue, you know, sometimes you find just the right sconce but there are only two of them available and, of course, we needed 20 of one kind, 15 of another.”
A metal company custom made the railing that surrounds the dance floor to match the art deco Ziggurat style that had been chose as the main theme. That step-like shape was also repeated in everything from the designs in the doorways to the proscenium that frames the band area.
A local upholstery business made the padded doors, a local neon company made the blue martini sign and another local company sewed the swirl pattern onto the table toppers.
“We have a whole army of local vendors that help us all the times. We build relationships locally with a lot of people,” Hook said. “We were able to call in some favors, too, to have people to drop what they were doing, whatever other projects they were working on, and be able to do this stuff right away. So that’s something that’s pretty important, counting on the local vendors that help us out.”
It was a whirlwind process to create the sets in a short time within the production’s budget. But for the art department, it paid off in the end.
“It was a nice break from basketball,” Davis said.
Hook agreed, “It wasn’t another teenage bedroom with posters of rock bands. . . And I would say, top to bottom, everybody in our department, it was a good chance for everybody to sort of show off their skills. And I think everybody was happy with the finished product. It’s the kind of thing that we got into this business to do. We joke, ‘We’re not architects, we just play them on TV.’ ”
Murray was happy with the outcome, too. This episode was his vision come to life.
“Oh, it was awesome,” he said. “It’s a fantastic feeling to see all the steps come together, to see the world that you wrote come to life. Especially due to the fact it was really, honestly, almost like we were doing a complete new show. You know, it was all new sets, all new locations; it was kind of like doing a pilot. That’s what was really, really exciting about it. This entire world got created.”
