The principal set that most of the action takes place in is the juke joint, twins Stack and Smoke’s (Michael B. Jordan) new business venture. Starting as a place filled with life and music at the beginning of the evening, it soon becomes a claustrophobic trap as a group of vampires descend. The juke joint is supposed to be in an old barn, so lots of rusting and aging of the materials was required to give the place a sense of dilapidation, and the way the set was lit was a key element for altering the mood of the place as the story develops.
The juke joint is vibrantly brought to life.Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
One of the most celebrated sequences in the film is the film’s ‘history of music’ sequence. While Sammie (Miles Caton), a talented blues musician, is performing, an array of black musicians representing different periods, from disco to hip hop, appear in a kaleidoscopic one-take shot that wordlessly expresses how musical genres refract and reflect through time, influencing and connecting one another. Ruth E. Carter’s costume designs were an incredibly important part of bringing this scene to life; there’s also an element of surrealism through the distinctive outfits from so many different time periods being in one place together. Another design touch in the costuming is the signature colour of Smoke and Stack – Stack’s accessories are red, alongside his impeccably tailored suit, while Smoke wears blue with his more slightly more relaxed suit.
Michael B. Jordan as Smoke and as Stack.Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
Bugonia
Yorgos Lanthimos’ oddball, conspiracy theory comedy drama starring Jesse Plemons and Emma Stone is packed with contrasts in design, led by production designer James Price, that reflect the two main characters’ opposing mindsets and values. Stone’s ruthless CEO (who may or may not be an extraterrestrial being) lives in a spare, impersonal, ultra-contemporary home, while her vast office space is equally as clinical and cold, decorated with designer furniture such as the famous 1920s Barcelona Chair, designed by designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Lilly Reich. Meanwhile, the paranoid Teddy (Jesse Plemons) and his brother (Aidan Delbis) live in their cluttered, dated and grubby family house that mirrors Teddy’s obsessive, crumbling state of mind. Remarkably, the whole house, interior and exterior, was built as a set on location in Henley-on-Thames, although the film is set in America. Michelle’s office building was also filmed in the UK.
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