‘Fallout’ artisans chat with Jonathan Nolan

Before joining Prime Video’s Emmy-nominated series ‘Fallout’, few of the artisans were gamers and had even played the popular video game. Only make-up artist Michael Harvey had in-depth knowledge and had been playing it for more than 20 years.

Based on the video game franchise of the same name, the series is set 200 years after the apocalypse with people living in underground communities known as Vaults. After a nuclear disaster, a young woman named Lucy (Ella Purnell) begins to venture into the devastated landscape to find her father. Along the way she encounters The Ghoul by Walton Goggins.

Thanks to executive producer Jonathan Nolan’s writing and research, the creatives didn’t have to spend hours learning the video game to successfully adapt it to their work. Sitting Down for “Fallout”: A Master Crafts Conversation in the Variety Streaming Room Presented by Prime Video, production designer Howard Cummings explained that Nolan had captured the essence of the game’s humor, violence and silliness. “The writing was so close to the spirit of the game,” Cummings said.

Cummings was joined by his fellow Emmy nominees Harvey, editor Yoni Reiss, sound editor Sue Cahill and sound mixer Steve Buchino.

Cahill did not play the game himself. But Bethesda, the gaming company behind ‘Fallout’ provided its team with sounds. “We were able to incorporate real sounds from the game into the show. So I think you can recognize those, and that gave us the opportunity to have a palette of sounds that we could build on, based on the little snippets we got from Bethesda,” Cahill said.

Buchino added: “The DNA of the game is in everything, but we had to make it much more detailed and comprehensive.”

Cummings similarly watched playthroughs of the game, going on YouTube and learning from the fans “who would write endless histories. I was able to learn more about the game and what the things were that they were drawn to.”

In Episode 4, ‘The Ghouls’ Lucy and the Ghoul spend much of the episode walking through the Wasteland, an abandoned pre-war place full of dilapidated buildings, cars of yesteryear, and all signs of infrastructure have collapsed.

Instead of using CGI, Nolan wanted the sets in-camera, so Cummings was tasked with building them. The game inspired some details, right down to the amount of trash that would be spread across the wasteland.

That helped shape Reiss’s editorial decisions. The production design was a character in itself; Reiss wanted to give the sets room to breathe. Reiss explained, “30% of it is these characters walking through Howard’s amazing sets and figuring out what’s going on. The pacing of the episode is quite slow. There isn’t much dialogue and it’s Lucy walking through Super Duper Mart.

As for the appearance of The Ghoul, the instruction was simple. Harvey said, “We were told to use the game and the characters in the game as a reference, and never actually recreate anyone from the game or completely copy and put them on screen.” Goggins’ transformation process required nine pieces of silicone. The application started at five o’clock and was reduced to less than two hours.

Watch the conversation below.

For the second interview, prosthetic makeup artist Jake Garber; VFX Supervisor, Jay Worth; editor Ali Comperchio; costume designer, Amy Wescott; and music supervisor Trygge Toven discussed the importance of the collaborative process, especially with Nolan.

Worth’s conversations with Nolan focused on what Goggins would look like. Worth said: “I remember those first meetings about how do you create this vicious, gruesome, multi-complex character who also has a bit of intrigue and a bit of appeal to him?”

Garber added, “That was a concern early on because when you hire Walton, you want Walton.” He went on to say that Nolan was adamant that The Ghoul would not be about grotesque images. “We kept those pieces as thin as possible so we could help Walton get through that.”

Westcott was involved early on in bringing Cooper Howard to life. Working with Nolan so early allowed her to have conversations with him. “He runs a tight ship and is very demanding and very specific, but is super creative and allows his creative departments to have fun and do things that are unique,” ​​Westcott said.

Nolan was also equally collaborative on the sound front, working with Toven to build the show’s soundtrack with artists like Dinah Washington and Nat King Cole. “He really loves music and knows what he wants.”

As for securing the licenses for Cole’s hit “Orange Colored Sky,” set before the nuclear apocalypse, Toven said the estate was easy to manage. “But you never know. Often the rights will be missing or they will move.”

Nolan was just as collaborative in post, working closely with Comperchio. “He creates an environment where he expects a lot and encourages everyone to do their best, but also enables everyone to do their best.” She said: “As a director he brings such a strong point of view. Part of that is allowing his department heads to bring such detail and texture to the world, and he’s so strong at world building.

Watch the video below.