THE LOST CITY
Directed By Adam & Aaron Nee
Production Designed by Jim Bissell
The Lost City, originally titled The Lost City of D, is a sprawling romantic adventure that begins in Los Angeles and climaxes in the jungle of the fictional Isla Hundida off the coast of northern Africa. While admittedly you don't find alot graphics in the jungle, we did manage to drench the civilized world portions with a dizzying array of graphics. The convention where Loretta Sage debuts her book near the beginning of the film represents the bulk of my work on the film. Getting the finished look for the 'The Lost City of D' took several weeks to get dialed in on it's own. The book jackets, posters, table aprons and bookmarks for a dozen or more books on display at the convention added quite a load. Each book was carefully considered, titled, covers designed, with synopses written and reviews concocted. I became quite the blurb writer for books that don't exist. I went beyond blurbs when an insert shot of Loretta's book is front and center. I penned six original pages to anchor the symbols that are referenced. Some steamy stuff on those pages. Loretta's smart watch is an original design which I also animated.
Rights usage and clearances has become a major part of providing background to a scene. Whether it's a map, or 10 maps, or airlines, bookspines... anything that someone else created either needs to be cleared for use, altered substantially or just plain made from scratch to look similar. Maps are a big part of this. Several maps from various time periods needed to be created for our fictitious island. Phone apps and screens need to be created and animated. You can see in the background of Loretta's publisher's home, photos, book jackets, awards etc. All these things need to be created. We also needed an airline. A name was chosen, logos created, signs, tickets and brochures designed as well as arrivals and departures and booking software. The bulk of which you will never see. Fortunately for you I have provided a few closer looks at some of what you missed. The penultimate scene in the film finds Loretta and Alan embracing on a rock after a harrowing adventure. The scene wipes away to reveal the cover of the latest Sage masterpiece. Take a closer look.
While my name was omitted from the on screen credits for unknown reasons, I take great pride in this film. I pushed my skills to the limit. Added to which I was working remotely, away from the Dominican Republic crew and locations. I found myself frequently working with little or no supervision or direction. The volume of design work on this film was some of, if not the most of any film I have done.
NWC