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Friday, February 07, 2025
"September 5" Production Designer Julian Wagner on Recreating the 1972 Olympic Attack From the Inside Out
The Credits: Speaking from a German village where he sometimes lives, Wagner talked about crafting a claustrophobic space and filling it with an enormous collection of vintage devices from around the world.
At least once a week I wonder how precious our everyday objects will be in 50 years. Will our iPhones one day be museum relics? For September 5, the production team scoured the world for period-accurate tech for their production, as opposed to the simple solution of using modern screens and editing. To create the claustrophobic feeling of this movie they made the physical 360 set very tight and cramped, even adding the ability to move the wall of screens in the control room inches closer to the actors. How does the space in which we create art influence the performance? We so often work in illusions making the audience believe we’re in one place while the actors and production team know exactly that we’re simply in a theater, but what if we took that team to location, like filming in location in movies, except live theatre. What if we performed plays exactly where they’re set?
I really like how this article discuss trying to balance historical accuracy with cinematography. I really enjoy watching behind the scenes footage for movies and tv shows and every single time, someone inevitably makes a comment about how difficult it was to build the set to be faithful to the historically or emotions associated with it, while still making it possible for the space to actually be filmed in. If I've ever thought set/production designers have to take a lot into account for the stage, I can't imagine what can of worms filming for the screen opens. All the lights, all the cameras, all the crew running around, that takes up so much SPACE, and that space can't ever be show obviously to the audience! It reminds me of an article I read about Bridgerton, how for their newest season they filmed inside a historical castle/manor and they had to put down a manufactured 1x1 recreation of the floor over the original floor because otherwise the busyness of the film crew would destroy that centuries old artifact.
I really like it when movies go for historical details instead of just prioritizing what is the most entertaining for the viewers, it provides a better feeling of nuance and makes a more well rounded movie in general. That being said the film set is still very impressive and I can tell a lot of work went in to make the control room look as realistic as possible which is important since most of the movie is set up there, it’s important to make sure that it’s good enough to spend a whole movie in and they did a good job with that.( the prop makers did a really good job with devices, I really am impressed a lot by tech props since they are some of the more intricate ones) the most impressive thing to me however is that the integrated the lighting with the set, which is something I realized probably happens a lot on these kind of sets
This production design is a detail filled world I want to get lost in. It was particularly interesting to me to see the development from the concept art to the final product, especially with such a heavy research project. To know that they took what would have been the reality from the 1972 Munich Olympics ABC Studio and changed it for the practicality of the set while maintaining the essence and meaning behind the film is impressive. The trailer (as well as other things I found during a small journey down the internet rabbit hole) seem very intriguing in regard to how the production design interacts with the performance, lighting, sound, and special effects. The claustrophobia, shock, and fear involved are certainly emphasized. I find it so cool that they decided to make a moveable monitor wall to further that, even though the viewer might not consciously recognize the practical effect quality of it.
4 comments:
At least once a week I wonder how precious our everyday objects will be in 50 years. Will our iPhones one day be museum relics? For September 5, the production team scoured the world for period-accurate tech for their production, as opposed to the simple solution of using modern screens and editing. To create the claustrophobic feeling of this movie they made the physical 360 set very tight and cramped, even adding the ability to move the wall of screens in the control room inches closer to the actors. How does the space in which we create art influence the performance? We so often work in illusions making the audience believe we’re in one place while the actors and production team know exactly that we’re simply in a theater, but what if we took that team to location, like filming in location in movies, except live theatre. What if we performed plays exactly where they’re set?
I really like how this article discuss trying to balance historical accuracy with cinematography. I really enjoy watching behind the scenes footage for movies and tv shows and every single time, someone inevitably makes a comment about how difficult it was to build the set to be faithful to the historically or emotions associated with it, while still making it possible for the space to actually be filmed in. If I've ever thought set/production designers have to take a lot into account for the stage, I can't imagine what can of worms filming for the screen opens. All the lights, all the cameras, all the crew running around, that takes up so much SPACE, and that space can't ever be show obviously to the audience! It reminds me of an article I read about Bridgerton, how for their newest season they filmed inside a historical castle/manor and they had to put down a manufactured 1x1 recreation of the floor over the original floor because otherwise the busyness of the film crew would destroy that centuries old artifact.
I really like it when movies go for historical details instead of just prioritizing what is the most entertaining for the viewers, it provides a better feeling of nuance and makes a more well rounded movie in general. That being said the film set is still very impressive and I can tell a lot of work went in to make the control room look as realistic as possible which is important since most of the movie is set up there, it’s important to make sure that it’s good enough to spend a whole movie in and they did a good job with that.( the prop makers did a really good job with devices, I really am impressed a lot by tech props since they are some of the more intricate ones) the most impressive thing to me however is that the integrated the lighting with the set, which is something I realized probably happens a lot on these kind of sets
This production design is a detail filled world I want to get lost in. It was particularly interesting to me to see the development from the concept art to the final product, especially with such a heavy research project. To know that they took what would have been the reality from the 1972 Munich Olympics ABC Studio and changed it for the practicality of the set while maintaining the essence and meaning behind the film is impressive. The trailer (as well as other things I found during a small journey down the internet rabbit hole) seem very intriguing in regard to how the production design interacts with the performance, lighting, sound, and special effects. The claustrophobia, shock, and fear involved are certainly emphasized. I find it so cool that they decided to make a moveable monitor wall to further that, even though the viewer might not consciously recognize the practical effect quality of it.
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