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| Movie poster |
For production designer Andy Nicholson, creating the
detailed exterior and interior sets of the space vehicles in Gravity required
an unmatched integration of traditional art direction techniques with
state-of-the art computerized special effects.
"I approached designing
this movie the same way I would a period piece," says Andy Nicholson of
"Gravity," a film that looks not at all like an old costume drama set
amidst ornate sets. But he believes the analogy is apt due to the space flick's
extraordinary attention to detail.
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| Andy Nicholson, Production designer |
A movie with absolutely non-virtual sets, the kind you can
touch, such as the interior of abandoned Russian Soyuz capsule which Bullock’s
astronaut manages to reach and includes a fantasy dream sequence with another
astronaut, portrayed by George Clooney, Gravity has been successful in creating
a literal and genuine experience for its viewers. The Soyuz capsule set was
built in segments to accommodate long continuous shots. There are five sections of the set on individual
tracks so as the scene progressed, each piece would be moved out of the way to
let the camera travel past. Then, on
cue, each section would be quietly slid back for when the camera looked back at
where it had just come from. For some shots up to 16 people were needed to push
pieces of the capsule in and out, choreographed to the camera shots.
One of the most complicated sequences takes place earlier in
the film when Bullock manages to make it back to the ISS, grabs handholds along
the exterior in order to reach the airlock. This required designing things for
Bullock to grab onto and pull on to show her physical exertions.
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| Team working on a set |
Since the public is very familiar with live broadcasts and
photos of space stations and space walks, a challenge was to make the vehicles
as accurate as possible down to the smallest details. That required extensive
research, with the trove at NASA serving as a key repository.
“Without the huge
amount of NASA photography and technical data in the public domain, nothing
could have been as detailed,” Nicholson noted. Several astronauts also served
as consultants.
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