The Revenant Production Designer on the Rigours of Filming Outdoors
Production designer Jack Fisk can certainly attest to the difficulties of designing for the outdoors. Nominated for an Oscar as well as an Art Directors Guild award for his work on The Revenant, he spoke with Variety on the difficulties he faced.
Designing DiCaprio's journey meant hiking for months with location scouts through the beautiful yet undeniably difficult terrain, making sure the locales would serve the story at the same time as it would depict the stunning and brutal surrounds.
And each location had to have a backup, in case nature decided to stretch its limbs and act out with some snow or flooding. Far from your everyday job requirements. Every set was built from scratch, such as the villages, campsites, and an entire fort.
Fisk also had to be weary of the sun's angle and its impact on the landscapes. Fisk had to work closely with director of photography Emmanuel Lubezki in order to avoid unwanted shadows. "We had to make sure the backlighting would not reveal the camera," Fisk said. It's another reminder that filmmaking is a collaborative process, first and foremost.
Source: Variety
