 – The Art Department recreated a bright looking beachside town and surfing community where everything was ‘not as it seemed’. Flowers hung from the street lamps, surfboards were carried around like handbags and everything and everyone was abnormally happy! Fake seagulls hung from the ceiling in the school café, and weird and wonderful culinary delights were on display. – A local school was transformed to become the sunny beachside school – Atlantis High. The exterior was completely repainted bright, light and dark blue, huge palm trees were planted at the school entrance, hot pink signs lined the exterior walls, the grass was always green and the sky always blue! – Several rooms were ‘dressed’ as Headmaster Q’s office with large goldfish tanks, huge bookshelves as secret doors and a creepy crawly dark atmosphere. ‘Q’ sat at his desk spying on life at Sunset Cove and Atlantis High through his monocle. – A unique and specially-equipped spaceship was made in the Cloud 9 studio. Its main feature was a global shell built with a large open screen at the front, to which special effects were added. The inside of the ship was made from a type of fluffy material and there were three special seats within the spaceship where the aliens sat while spying and flying through life at Atlantis High. – The entire show featured a special image, as though manufactured from an idyllic magazine, where all was rosy/cheerful/bright and multi-coloured and where every member of the community displayed strange behaviour. This all stemmed from the fact that there was a covert spy network/alien force surrounding Sunset Cove which also ultimately affected the life of Giles Gordon. – The school field was transformed into an American football field with huge plastic/rubber moulded goal posts flying in the breeze at either end. A couple of days the breeze was stronger than expected and the posts almost bent in half!  – The Props Department had the task of finding suitable props that were often meant to be tacky and fake, for extra special effects or for the purpose of making life at Sunset Cove look abnormally idylic! These included fake flower leis, birds, daisies and other such items.
– Many props were also required by the multitude of strange and eccentric characters, such as Commander Vermont, who because of his love of military style life, carried around big toy guns and huge spray hoses for protection. His wife, Mrs Vermont, had a liking for endorsing many products that also had to be carefully designed so as to be unique and original. This required many special computer graphics for the wrappers,  signs, photos, posters and banners. – A number of unique and often luxury vehicles were required on set, most of which are not readily available in New Zealand but were loaned to Cloud 9 by classic car collectors. These included US army jeeps, a jeep wrangler, a black Lincoln town car, a bright yellow bug VW, an old style Mercedes Benz and a classic Mustang. These types of cars were necessary to create a typical American-style beach life. |
– During the making of a television series, the Makeup Department are given special designs and instructions to recreate a professional and special ‘look’ required by the Executive Producers. They then use their specialist skills and techniques to enhance that image. Atlantis High required a bronzed and tanned image which meant the cast had to be body washed with a fake tan. The extras were also covered in a beige/bronze makeup for that tanned effect. Bright lipsticks and blush were also used on the “extras” in order to create a glowing and rosy ‘look’.
– Beanie had ears that protruded way beyond the normal length. They were almost alien-like and had to be attached every day before filming. These ears had to look real as they were an essential part of his bizarre character.
A variety of birds, reptiles, insects, crabs, fish, rodents, a cat and a dog all had starring roles in Atlantis High as well as a huge and scary hairy spider and a rub
ber chicken. All the animals were well looked after by our expert wranglers (even the rubber chicken!) and none were harmed during the making of the series. The spider itself got first class treatment and was flown down to the Cloud 9 Studios from Auckland. Some of the animals had personalities of their own but all of them acted very well.
The Chief Executive/Executive Producer, Executive in Charge of Production and Producer have the responsibility of auditioning and casting the core cast members during the pre-production period several weeks before actual production starts. Negotiations with the actors, usually through their agents, are held. and timetables are then planned by the Cast Coordinator.
There are a multitude of special effects used in Atlantis High from the green laser beams that shoot out of Mr. Dorsey’s eyes to a specially made (and quite revolting) oesophagus! As well as the actual special effects, certain tricks of the eye are used in scenes such as the one where Mr. Dorsey eats a mouse and the aliens eat rats! The stunning spaceship is the one effect used most frequently in the series and was created by a team of experts in Wellington especially for the show. It houses three alien beings that come from the strange world of Fenorg, a star system in a far away galaxy undiscovered by mankindÜun
