PRODUCTION NOTES CONT.
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an old gas station which is destroyed by the black luck that follows Elvira on her sojourn. One particular challenge in filming "Elvira. Mistress of the Dark." according to director Signorelli and production designer john DeCuir. jr ..was designing the color schemes to effectively juxtapose "the little black silhouette" of Elvira against the straight-laced. manyhued world of FaUwell. actually the backlot of The Burbank Studios. Part of the solution. Signorelli says. was to tone down her surroundings and avoid creating great color contrasts. Says Signorelli, "Your eye naturally goes to her anyway. so we knew we had to tone things down to affect a more even blend of colors and images." Designer DeCuir, jr., whose other supernatural comedy assignments include "Ghostbusters" and "Fright Night," adds that the reality has to be disengaged just enough so that the comedic Elvira character plays against a background that isn't too far. but far enough out of synch to create the right level of visual fun. "We created around her a reality disengaged just enough so that this wild , beautiful. sexy character IS just comfortable enough to provide , by contrast. some visual fun. We found that colors, of her co-stars ' costumes. of the furniture and other art direction needed to be selected very carefully in order to create a certain veracity to her environment. Granted the reality is pushed. but we're playing the comedy against fairly realistic backgrounds in order to pull reality in closer to her character."
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