Memoirs Of A Geisha (cont'd)

Another major seasonal consideration was light. Although the location had many charms, it did not offer the flat winter light of Kyoto -- another test of the filmmakers’ creative mettle. Altering light by filtering it through a “silk” is a common technique, but covering an enormous set with a retractable silent grid cloth or “silk” was a bold undertaking. The crew had to cover nearly two acres with the largest freestanding structure ever built over a set. The cloth could subdue light by day or keep out the dark at night, which allowed the filmmakers to shoot night for day.

Most buildings at the Ventura Farms set were only exteriors, but several had fully executed interiors on Sony soundstages. Many of the walls of these rooms were formed from paper-covered doors of the period -- shoji -- from Japan. The ranma, or intricately carved wooden grills above the shoji, were also Japanese antiques, along with most of the furnishings in the okiya, or geisha household. Myhre’s team even found and reproduced vintage Japanese newspapers from the period to plug holes in the okiya walls for scenes when the household has fallen on hard times.

Beebe enjoyed the opportunity to explore the story’s contrast between electricity and oil lamps on this set. “Rob loves a faded, aged aesthetic, an almost tobacco-stained world of layers and textures,” he said. “We lit a lot of things in the okiya from oil lamps and flame. Those warm, flickering light sources added mystery and depth.”