Dream House
Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz return to the big screen this week with their new movie Dream House - which sees Jim Sheridan in the director's chair.
When he envisioned how his team would bring to life Loucka’s script, Sheridan knew that he would have to differentiate the two worlds.
He says: 'One is of a dream house, and the second is a derelict house with everything decrepit. In movies, it can be difficult to see change in two-dimensional space. A lot of the time the audience won’t notice if you just change a background.'
To compensate for that issue, Sheridan felt 'changes in an environment have to be conveyed in a three-dimensional way, like showing someone falling through the floor or putting your hand through a wall or seeing something hanging.
'We designed the sets in a way that it becomes very obvious in the backgrounds that the house has become decrepit. For example, in one shot, Will comes back and the house is boarded up.'
It would be up to cinematographer Caleb Deschanel to expertly lens the vision created by production designer Carol Spier.
Spier, who rejoins her Eastern Promises star Naomi Watts in this film, returned to her Silent Hill and Blade II roots for inspiration.
On the overall look of the house, she shares: 'I’ve made it look as realistic as possible, even though some of it is refracted through Will’s imagination.
'At the beginning, I made the house look comfortable and homey, like it was a historical home that Will and Libby wanted to restore. The derelict stage of the house is a bit over the top because you have to make it a little more than it would actually be - but also make it as real as possible.'
Deschanel agrees with Spier’s assessment of an initial delicate touch: 'We’ve made the differences simple, with lighting changes or with mood changes. We haven’t used a lot of special visual effects where you spin around and shoot at something against the green screen and change the backgrounds.
'This creates a reality that an audience can relate to in a way where they’re not feeling like they’re being fooled. It’s like watching a magic trick where you don’t cut away, where you actually watch the person do it.'
Notes costume designer Delphine White: 'My challenge was to create two worlds without it being obvious that one was the real world and the other is imagined.
'I tried to give the lead actors an ephemeral feel, choosing somewhat diaphanous clothing. Libby’s clothing got darker near the end as Will wondered if she was dead and/or a figment of his imagination.'
As well, makeup department head Donald Mowat discusses the impact of Will’s character development.
The designer notes: 'We came up with some ideas, wigs, facial hair, dirt, blood, a breakdown of makeup that we could play with a bit and see what Daniel was comfortable with. Less is more in makeup and hair; it’s usually the things you don’t notice that we’re looking to come up with.
'The dark shadows under the eyes, the chapped lips: things that indicate somebody who’s distressed and been through quite a lot.'
Though it was important for Sheridan to limit the amount of special effects used in Dream House, those tools were brought in when needed.
Special effects designer Sophie Vertigan explains the motif in a key sequence: 'In the beginning of the film, we have a heavy snowstorm in April with a lot of white snow.
'As we proceed through the movie and begin to discover what happened, the snow begins to melt away.'
Dream House is in cinemas now