Amazon Prime Video's “Fallout” is set in the post-apocalyptic world of one of the most beloved video game franchises of all time, which offered the filmmakers a rich world to build on, deepen and expand. When production designer Howard Cummings came on board, the first thing he did was immerse himself in the game and its various environments. “I really had to study it like I was doing a period piece,” Cummings told IndieWire, noting that there was a vast network of fans whose YouTube videos he could glean reference from. Not only were these videos informative, but they also made Cummings fully aware of how much scrutiny his work would be subjected to from die-hard video game fans. “I realized, 'Wow, if I do this, everything I do is going to be analyzed.'”
But the appeal for Cummings and other department heads wasn't just the detailed world, but the fact that the series told a story not directly based on any game. “What's interesting is that Fallout has a very rich world, but we didn't make a specific version of the game,” visual effects supervisor Jay Wirth told IndieWire. Told. “We were able to really develop within that world.” Wirth, visual effects producer Andrea Knoll and head of prosthetics Jake Gerber were not limited by the parameters of a video game. Freed by the possibilities offered to new environments, creatures, and characters. Cummings, in particular, was pleasantly surprised by the freedom he had to let his imagination run wild. “Bethesda [the company behind the video game] “They had input into the story, but they weren’t dictatorial, they were collaborative in a really great way,” he said.
That meant the filmmakers were able to create a post-apocalyptic Los Angeles, with plenty of echoes from video games. The creature Gerber helped bring to life, played by Walton Goggins, has origins similar to those of the game. Gulper is a terrifying creature that appears in the story, but there are just as many new inventions and innovations. Watch the video below to see how Cummings, Garber, Knoll, and Wirth conceived and executed some of the series' most memorable moments.
Fallout Production Design
Surprisingly, Los Angeles, the central location of “Fallout,” was not the original location in the script. According to production designer Howard Cummings, the original concept was to set the film in Colorado. However, location scouting changed that, providing Cummings with not only a stunning environment, but also inspiration for a whole new setting. “Setting it in Los Angeles was a reaction to finding a beautiful location,” Cummings said. The location was an abandoned mining town in Namibia, which provided Cummings with vast landscapes and decades-old wreckage to use to build a post-apocalyptic world. “When the town was abandoned, all the processing facilities were blown up, too, so that was great for us. There was 100-year-old steel corroding with wind and rust.” When Cummings saw the ocean, he had a vision of the Santa Monica Pier being there, and as soon as he had that idea, he ran to one of the showrunners and suggested setting it in Los Angeles.
Much of “Fallout” was shot in Namibia as well as New York and Utah, where Cummings built huge sets and used LED volumes to make them even bigger. [the volume] “We had to expand the basement to give it a sense of scale,” Cummings said, noting that it would have been impossible to find a stage large enough to accommodate the set, which is part of the basement with a huge cornfield. It pointed out. In addition to expanding on what was built, Cummings came up with the idea of creating projections inspired by the story itself to create a more dynamic backdrop. “The expanded fake farm was written as a painted wall, and I said, 'Wouldn't it be better if it was projected?'” This led Cummings to change the time zone. We were able to modify it and give the environment more visual dynamism. This was possible on sets throughout the series thanks to the freedom this concept gave us. “The story wasn't part of the game, it was its own thing,” Cummings said. “As a designer, that was the freeing part. I was able to understand what the language of Fallout was and apply it to my ideas.”
Watch Cummings explore the world he created for Fallout in the video above.
Fallout prosthetics'
When Jake Garber, head of special effects makeup, was asked to help create Walton Goggins' role as the ghoul in “Fallout,” he initially thought about turning him down. “I was a little hesitant because I've been doing 'The Walking Dead' for eight years and wanted to make a little change,” Gerber told IndieWire. Fortunately, variety was exactly what the creators of Fallout wanted, and Gerber jumped at the chance when he realized he could take the ghoul makeup in a new direction. Surprisingly, given this character's gruesome role in the story, Gerber didn't want to make him too uncomfortable. “I didn't want to make him look uncomfortable,” he said.[We wanted] “I want it to look like dry leather.” This was a difficult challenge since leather tends to be a single color. There, Gerber spent a lot of time experimenting with makeup colors. “I tried to make it look like dry leather without looking like I had a catcher's mitt on my face.”
The ghoul's missing nose meant that some kind of visual effect had to be added, but luckily the effects artists were able to overcome the traditional idea of making Goggins' nose green or another color. I told Gerber that I didn't have to choose the route. All I needed was a few tracking dots on the nose. This means the actor won't be distracted by seeing green in the corner of his eye. According to Gerber, the makeup included nine prosthetics, and while the initial test took him five hours, he ultimately shortened the application process. “I think the fastest we could solve it was an hour and a half,” he said. “After applying makeup many times, [finding] “There were no shortcuts.” Gerber pre-painted the fixtures to save Goggins time in the chair, who would sit in them and watch Westerns for inspiration. One of the biggest challenges was maintaining the same look throughout the series. “I liken it to being a chef who has to recreate the same recipe every time and make it taste the same.”
Check out the video above to see how Gerber created the innovative, terrifying makeup look for “Ghoul.”
Fallout visual effects
Just as ghouls were important characters for Gerber, the visual effects artists had some important characters to work on themselves. Most notable is the extremely frightening, yet strangely funny monster known as the “Gulper.” Although The Gulper is a totally bizarre and unique creature, visual effects producer Andrea Knoll still wanted to start with a reference point based in reality. “My preference is to lean toward a hands-on approach where the visual effects support the characters and support the story,” Knoll told IndieWire. To that end, Gulper is created digitally, but visual effects artists worked with the props department to develop a stand-in Gulper puppet that can be used on set to ensure ideal framing and lighting conditions. The doll, made to scale, could even swallow the actor. “It really helps that the actors can be involved in the scenes where they fight Gulper, so the performance is really there, making the ultimate act feel as photoreal as possible.”
The visual effects team's biggest concern was unifying the various environments in which “Fallout” was filmed to represent post-apocalyptic Los Angeles. “The biggest challenge was connecting Namibia, Utah, and New York as if they were one world,” visual effects supervisor Jay Wirth told IndieWire. “So we started using more and more iconic landmarks.” Los Angeles touchstones like the Capitol, LAX, and Randy's Donuts have been digitally adapted to anchor viewers in the city. Created. One of his most memorable LA scenes is in episode 1, when the city is destroyed by an atomic bomb. Again, the team wanted the effects to be as realistic as possible, but there was a fine line between being realistic and not necessarily believable or impactful. Yes, Worth said. “When you see a real nuclear weapon detonate, the mushroom cloud rises up pretty quickly, but it doesn't really have that turbulent atmosphere,” Wirth said, adding that the visual effects department took a more hybrid approach to the sequence. It was pointed out that it was adopted. Explosions are a characteristic of rampaging monsters. According to Wirth, the key questions are: feel like? “
In the video above, Knoll and Worth explain how they achieved Fallout's photorealistic effects.
