Beyonce's "Formation" hasn't been out for a full week yet, and it's already taking the world by storm! From the music video, to Queen Bey's Super Bowl 50 performance with Bruno Mars and Coldplay, everyone just can't get over it.
As it turns out, the video shoot went by pretty fast - even as late as mid January, production designer Ethan Tobman, who served as the set designer for the surprise video, didn't even know about the video shoot.
"Literally three weeks ago, I'm sitting on my couch reading a book," Tobman said. "Then cut to today."
Although the video seemed to have been shot in New Orleans, it was actually shot in Los Angeles. Not only that, but Tobman and the rest of his crew had to transform a Pasadena home into a gothic masterpiece. Curbed reports:
"Despite the themes of the video, nothing was shot in New Orleans. Everything was shot in Los Angeles and peppered with footage licensed from the documentary 'That B.E.A.T.' The concept and quick turnaround required Tobman and the rest of the crew to convert a historic home they found in Pasadena into a fitting Southern Gothic set for Beyonce's new song, part of a whirlwind shooting schedule that saw them put together arguably the biggest music video in recent memory in a mere week."
"Beyonce is a pleasure to work with, and she really knows New Orleans well," recalled Tobman. "She asked me, 'Are you going to be able to do this with the time that we have?'"
Apparently, Tobman - who has previously worked with Beyonce - said that the challenge was finding a property in Los Angeles with a porch that imitated those typically found in New Orleans.
Unfortunately, the crew wasn't able to find a home fitting to the criteria, so the crew enlisted the Fenyes Mansion, which is the home of the Pasadena Museum of History, and turned it into "a Southern Gothic plantation."